Summit EntertainmentGuess vampires are mortal, too.
The lure of a new New Moon trailer didn't hook much business for Vanessa Hudgens' Bandslam, which despite good reviews, debuted with just $2.3 million at the weekend box office, per estimates, and failed to finish in the Top 10. Or even the Top 12.
Elsewhere, District 9 had a fantastic start, with the $30 million Peter Jackson-produced alien flick grossing $37 million, and handily topping the likes of G.I. Joe.
As for Bandslam, its bad weekend probably started on Thursday. When the New Moon trailer was leaked online.
It's believed the leak cut into Bandslam ticket sales. Considerably. The promise of the trailer had been central to the Bandslam marketing campaign.
To Exhibitor Relations box-office analyst Jeff Bock, relying on trailers to help sell tickets is an increasingly dicey strategy.
"Whether or not you attach an exclusive trailer onto a film," Bock said in an email today, "it will be available online for download practically minutes after it debuts."
If not a day before it debuts.
Stay tuned for more box-office results, and the complete Top 10 standings.