'Puss' purrs at surface of weekend B.O.

'Puss in Boots'Paramount-DreamWorks Animation three dimensional holdover "Puss in Boots" sunk its claws in to the domestic B.O.'s top place, having a amazing soph-sesh drop of just 3% that produced an believed $33 million through Sunday, while "The Adventures of Tintin: The Key from the Unicorn," also in the second weekend, totalled a fantastic $40.8 million overseas."Puss" has made Stateside $75.5 million up to now "Tintin" arrived at $125.3 million worldwide.The weekend's top domestic entry, Universal's "Tower Heist," arrived in the low-finish of anticipation by having an believed $25.a million, while Warner Bros.' "A Really Harold & Kumar three dimensional Christmas" underperformed, grossing an believed $13.a million.By mid-day on Friday, most B.O. commentators expected a significantly closer race for that weekend crown between "Puss" and "Tower Heist" -- it had been thought "Puss" would drop around 30%, showing the unpredictability of family auds, put into a unpredictable B.O. market recently.Based on Componen, "Puss'" 3% drop in the second frame is really a record. (In comparison, "The Blind Side" saw an 18% rise in its second outing, but which was throughout Thanksgiving weekend. The final time a film were built with a comparable non-holiday drop in the second weekend was "Twister," having a 10% dip in May 1996.)"Puss," which collected an overall total $15 million overseas, also handled to keep well in marketplaces like Russia, in which the toon fell just 10% with $13.six million, easily beating "Tintin," which bowed there with $5.9 million.Despite the fact that "Puss" certainly assisted buoy Stateside conditions, the general weekend B.O. was still being lower substantially from this past year, a higher-water November kickoff, by roughly 23%."I was looking to be closer," stated Warner distribution professional Shaun Goldstein, mentioning towards the total box office versus. 2010.The benchmark hold for "Puss" demonstrated Wall Street wrong, when last weekend's $34 million opening was considered a troubling start and triggered DWA's stock to decrease. But as Variety stated (Daily Variety, March 31), DWA characters possess a strong tradition of legging out better-than-expected, using the studio's marketing chief Anne Globe saying, "I believe 'Puss' is poised to possess a greater multiple than is common.Inch Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com