Box Office

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Despite its brutal violence and bleak subject matter, The Brave One topped all movies at the box office this weekend.
And it was thanks to the older women, who continue to turn out for Jodie Foster films.


BOX OFFICE BOTTOM DOLLAR: Check out how your favorite film performed

Brave took in $14 million, according to studio estimates from box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI.

The debut marked Foster's third straight No. 1 film, following last year's Inside Man and 2005's Flightplan. It fell short of the expectations of most analysts, though, who expected it to take in about $18 million.

"It's tough subject matter, and we knew that the violence could turn some people off," says Dan Fellman, distribution chief for Warner Bros., which distributed Brave. "But response has been very good, especially from women."

About 71% of the audience was 30 and older, and 55% of that group was female — an unusually high number for a violent urban film.

But "Jodie has a track record, especially with women, that brings fans to whatever she does," Fellman says. "We don't see much competing with it next week (when the comedy Good Luck Chuck and video game adaptation Resident Evil: Extinction open), so we think we're in good shape for a longer run."

The Western 3:10 to Yuma held nicely from last week's No. 1 debut, dropping only 35% to take $9.2 million and second place. The Russell Crowe film has done $28.5 million so far.

The Billy Bob Thornton comedy Mr. Woodcock did better than expected with third place and $9.1 million, while the fantasy Dragon Wars did a middling $5.4 million, good for fourth place.

Superbad continued its strong run, dropping just 31% to take fifth place and $5.2 million.

Despite the mediocre overall turnout, ticket sales were up 9% from the same weekend last year.