S. Samuel
T.I. has disregarded the box office performance of his new action movie, Takers, and said that the star-studded thriller had the strongest opening of all movie releases for this past weekend.
Writing on Twitter, T.I. said his film was indeed the top flick.
“The real #’s are out and we did it!!! #TAKERS is #1!!!,” T.I. tweeted Monday (August 30) afternoon. (T.I.’s Twitter)
The movie’s co-star Chris Brown also tweeted that the film, indeed, was the top box office debut.
“RT RainforestFilms IT’S OFFICAL!!!!!!! TAKERS IS THE #1 MOVIE IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!” (Chris Brown’s Twitter)
Current reports show horror film The Last Exorcism, which also opened over the weekend, won the box office battle.
Movie theaters were quiet over the weekend, with ticket sales for the Top 12 films down 11 percent compared with the same period last year. A PG-13 rating and a wide release helped push the horror movie “The Last Exorcism” (Lionsgate) to No. 1 with about $21.3 million in grosses, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles sales data. (Right, Ashley Bell, on bed and Caleb Landry Jones.) “Takers,” a moderately budgeted crime thriller from Sony Pictures Entertainment, was a close second with $21 million. (New York Times)
T.I.’s film reportedly performed well in Eastern markets.
When box office returns started coming in Friday afternoon, the heist film “Takers” looked like the clear winner. But as the sun faded on the West Coast, the horror movie “The Last Exorcism” leaped into the lead, ultimately grossing $9.5 million for the day, compared with $7.5 million for “Takers.” The reason? “Takers,” with stars including Chris Brown, T.I. and Zoe Saldana, generated disproportionately high interest among African Americans and had strong performances in East Coast cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., with large black populations. (Los Angeles Times)
Check out the film’s trailer down below:
