You had your time in the sun, chick flicks, but now it's time for the big guns to take over. Martin Scorsese's noir film Shutter Island, an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's book of the same name, grossed $40.2 million at the weekend box office. The film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as tortured agent Teddy Daniels, who is sent to investigate the disappearance of an inmate at the titular island asylum, has received mixed reviews from critics. However, that didn't stop moviegoers, who helped the film earn back 40% of its $100 million budget.
Surprisingly enough, the film brought out more female audiences that than thought, with the male to female ratio for moviegoers being surprisingly close, which is unusual for a genre film. Some might call that the DiCaprio effect. The ratio was also evenly split, however, between moviegoers above and below 25. This is probably due to the fact that Shutter Island is directed by Martin Scorsese, and he has a fanbase that is older than most common moviegoers.
While Shutter Island couldn't top the $56.4 million that Valentine's Day generated last weekend, it was at least able to wrest away the top spot. The film's opening numbers the best in both Scorsese and DiCaprio's careers.
