First Look: 'Shutter Island' a big hit with moviegoers

First Look: ‘Shutter Island’ a big hit with moviegoers

Feb. 21, 2010 9:27 AM PT

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Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and a set of Gothic thrills proved to be a huge draw at the box office this weekend.

‘Shutter Island,’ Paramount Pictures’ psychological thriller based on Dennis Lehane’s bestselling novel, will earn a studio-estimated $40.2 million domestically over the three-day period, good enough for the best-ever opening for both director Scorsese and star DiCaprio. Many box-office experts had predicted an opening in the low mid-30s, with any gross over $35 million considered a notable success.

The film was not inexpensive to produce, however. The story, set in 1954, of a New England detective (DiCaprio) investigating a mysterious disappearance at an island-bound insane asylum cost nearly $100 million to make, according to a person close to the production, although a Paramount spokesperson said that tax incentives from the state of Massachusetts, where the film was shot, lowered the cost to about $75 million.

The successful box-office opening validates Paramount’s decision to move the release date for ‘Shutter Island’ out of a crowded fall into a relatively sparse February.

-- Steven Zeitchik

Company Town Blog

Steven Zeitchik

Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.