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Los Angeles - Little blue Smurfs and not-so-little green men from space are in a photo finish for the number one spot at the weekend box office in the US.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford's science-fiction Western Cowboys & Aliens and the family adventure The Smurfs both opened with $36.2m, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
That leaves Sony's Smurfs and Universal's Cowboys & Aliens tied for the top spot. Figuring out the number one movie will have to wait until final numbers are counted on Monday.
"In all my years, I've never really seen a race this close," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "Generally, in the world of movie box office, $1m is a close call, so to have two films in a dollar-to-dollar tie is somewhat unprecedented."
'Too close to call'
Studios often round off their Sunday numbers, which include Friday and Saturday totals plus an estimate of Sunday business based on how similar movies have done in the past.
So Sunday figures typically are rounded off to the nearest $50 000 or $100 000, with more accurate, to-the-dollar numbers generally coming in on Monday's final tally.
But Universal released an estimate of $36 206,250, which would have put Cowboys & Aliens a fraction ahead of The Smurfs in Sunday's rankings. So Sony, which had reported a rounded-off figure of $36.2m, matched that $36 206 250 estimate for The Smurfs.
"We're going with that extra $6 250, because it's just too close to call," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony. "It just seems like the most fair thing to do is call it a tie and let Monday sort it out."
Going into the weekend, Cowboys & Aliens seemed to have the edge, with analysts figuring it might top $40m, while The Smurfs might come in around $30m.
But the two movies met in the middle, Cowboys & Aliens doing worse than expected and The Smurfs doing better.
"This is truly a photo finish," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "Nobody can call it. The truth of the matter is, it's a tie, and with two totally different kinds of films."
Cowboys & Aliens stars Craig as an amnesiac wanderer who teams with cattle baron Ford to take on hulking aliens that invade a town in the Old West. The Smurfs brings the blue cartoon creatures to the big screen, with a voice and live-action cast that includes Katy Perry, Hank Azaria, George Lopez and Neil Patrick Harris.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford's science-fiction Western Cowboys & Aliens and the family adventure The Smurfs both opened with $36.2m, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
That leaves Sony's Smurfs and Universal's Cowboys & Aliens tied for the top spot. Figuring out the number one movie will have to wait until final numbers are counted on Monday.
"In all my years, I've never really seen a race this close," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "Generally, in the world of movie box office, $1m is a close call, so to have two films in a dollar-to-dollar tie is somewhat unprecedented."
'Too close to call'
Studios often round off their Sunday numbers, which include Friday and Saturday totals plus an estimate of Sunday business based on how similar movies have done in the past.
So Sunday figures typically are rounded off to the nearest $50 000 or $100 000, with more accurate, to-the-dollar numbers generally coming in on Monday's final tally.
But Universal released an estimate of $36 206,250, which would have put Cowboys & Aliens a fraction ahead of The Smurfs in Sunday's rankings. So Sony, which had reported a rounded-off figure of $36.2m, matched that $36 206 250 estimate for The Smurfs.
"We're going with that extra $6 250, because it's just too close to call," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony. "It just seems like the most fair thing to do is call it a tie and let Monday sort it out."
Going into the weekend, Cowboys & Aliens seemed to have the edge, with analysts figuring it might top $40m, while The Smurfs might come in around $30m.
But the two movies met in the middle, Cowboys & Aliens doing worse than expected and The Smurfs doing better.
"This is truly a photo finish," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "Nobody can call it. The truth of the matter is, it's a tie, and with two totally different kinds of films."
Cowboys & Aliens stars Craig as an amnesiac wanderer who teams with cattle baron Ford to take on hulking aliens that invade a town in the Old West. The Smurfs brings the blue cartoon creatures to the big screen, with a voice and live-action cast that includes Katy Perry, Hank Azaria, George Lopez and Neil Patrick Harris.
