
- Takers movie box office: Featuring Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, and Hayden Christensen, John Luessenhop’s modestly budgeted heist thriller has managed to beat – by a thread – Daniel Stamm’s low-budget horror thriller The Last Exorcism. Sunday estimates had both titles tied atop the domestic chart.
Takers movie box office: John Luessenhop’s heist thriller is the no. 1 title – by a thread
Aug. 27–29 weekend box office: Forget this past weekend’s unusual studio estimates – a tie at the top? – for in point of fact there weren’t two no. 1 movies on the North American (U.S. and Canada only) chart.
According to final studio figures found at boxofficemojo.com, Screen Gems/Sony Pictures’ John Luessenhop-directed heist thriller Takers was the de facto top movie, followed closely by Lionsgate’s Daniel Stamm-directed horror thriller The Last Exorcism: $20.5 million from 2,206 theaters vs. $20.4 million from 2,874 theaters.
Budgeted at a relatively modest $32 million (as always, not including marketing and distribution expenses), Takers features Oscar nominee Matt Dillon (Crash, 2005) and Jay Hernandez as detectives investigating elusive bank robbers Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown, and Idris Elba, now gearing up to relieve an armored truck of its weighty-but-precious ($12 million) cargo.
For comparison’s sake: Another Screen Gems’ release featuring a similar plot and a nearly all-male ensemble (Takers’ Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Milo Ventimiglia, Amaury Nolasco, Fred Ward, Laurence Fishburne), Nimród Antal’s $20 million heist thriller Armored debuted with a mere $6.5 million from 1,915 locations in December 2009.
Takers will definitely have stronger legs than the by now largely forgotten Armored, but possibly not strong enough.
Commercial disappointment despite modest budget
Update: Takers ultimately collected a barely okay $57.7 million domestically and a paltry $11.3 million (likely incomplete) internationally, for a worldwide total of $69 million. Overall, hardly a hit, even for a mid-level production. (Note: Due to an apparent glitch, Box Office Mojo has nearly doubled Takers’ international gross.)
Its top international markets were Spain ($2.9 million) and Russia/CIS ($1.3 million).
The Last Exorcism box office: Ahead of Takers in the final round?
According to reports, The Last Exorcism was budgeted at a measly $1.8 million. That, as always, doesn’t include marketing and distribution expenses, which, viral Chatroulette video or no (see above), were surely heftier than usual for such a small movie. Besides, it’s unclear how much Lionsgate shelled out for the film’s domestic distribution rights.
In the cast: Patrick Fabian as a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Evangelical priest out to delegitimize the practice of exorcism; Ashley Bell as a young woman possibly possessed by some demonic demon; Louis Herthum as the woman’s understandably concerned farmer father (his daughter has been slaughtering his cows); Caleb Landry Jones as the woman’s unfortunate brother; and Iris Bahr and Adam Grimes as two filmmakers out to get it all on camera.
Update: The low-budget horror thriller The Last Exorcism ultimately collected $41 million domestically and $28.4 million internationally, for a relatively strong worldwide total of $69.4 million – thus beating Takers by about $370,000. (Caveat: International figures for both titles are likely incomplete.)
The Last Exorcism’s top international markets were the United Kingdom/Ireland ($5.9 million), Mexico ($3 million), Italy ($2.4 million), France ($2.2 million), Russia/CIS ($2.1 million), and Brazil ($2 million).
Sylvester Stallone, Julia Roberts & Will Ferrell round out the Top Five
For the record, rounding out the Top Five on this past weekend’s box office chart were:
- Actor-director Sylvester Stallone’s blow-’em-up actioner The Expendables, costarring Jason Statham, with $9.5 million (down 44 percent on its third weekend out).
- Ryan Murphy’s romantic drama Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, with $6.8 million (also down 44 percent on its third weekend).
- Adam McKay’s action comedy The Other Guys, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, with $6.3 million (down 38 percent on its fourth weekend).
“Takers Movie Box Office” endnotes
Unless otherwise noted, “Takers Movie Box Office: When Two Titles ‘Tie’ for the No. 1 Slot” box office information via Box Office Mojo. Budget info – which should be taken with a grain of salt – via BOM and/or other sources (e.g., the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline.com, etc.).
Comments about Takers, The Last Exorcism, and other titles being hits/profitable or flops/money-losers at the box office (see paragraph below) are based on the available data about their production budget, additional marketing and distribution expenses (as a general rule of thumb, around 50 percent of the production cost), and worldwide gross (as a general rule of thumb when it comes to the Hollywood studios, around 50–55 percent of the domestic gross and 40 percent of the international gross goes to the distributing/producing companies).
Bear in mind that data regarding rebates, domestic/international sales/pre-sales, and other credits and/or contractual details that help to alleviate/split production costs and apportion revenues are oftentimes unavailable, and that reported international grosses may be incomplete (i.e., not every territory is fully – or even partially – accounted for).
Also bear in mind that ancillary revenues (domestic/global television rights, home video sales, streaming, merchandising, etc.) can represent anywhere between 40–70 percent of a movie’s total take. However, these revenues and their apportionment are only infrequently made public.
Hayden Christensen Takers movie image: Screen Gems | Sony Pictures.
The Last Exorcism promo video: Lionsgate.
“Takers Movie Box Office: When Two Titles ‘Tie’ for the No. 1 Slot” last updated in October 2022.
1 comment
The Switch and Scott Pilgrim vs the World are huge flops. That is what happens when lazy studios hire Michael Cera and Jennifer Anniston to play the same character for the millionth time. I saw Takers and it was pretty good. LE looks like a good horror. No surprises to me. Lionsgate bought The Last Exorcism for less than $1 mil. Most of the advertising was viral like those reaction videos and the trailer. They should already be in the black and enjoying a profit.