Box Office Report: Oliver Stone's 'Savages' Quietly Headed for $50 Mil-Plus Run

5:37 PM PDT 8/1/2012 by Pamela McClintock

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Universal Pictures

The R-rated crime drama is one of Stone's top grossing films of the last decade domestically.

In a summer of wild ups and downs at the domestic box office, Oliver Stone's Savages has been a steady performer at the North American box office.

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The Universal crime drama has grossed nearly $45 million since its debut over the July 4th frame and is now expected to turn in a lifetime gross north of $50 million, a solid showing for an ubre-violent R-rated film.

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It's also one of Stone's best showings of the best decade. The movie will end up on par with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which was a much broader film. World Trade Center, released in 2006 and likewise a broad play, earned $52.5 million domestically. W. grossed $25.5 million in 2008, while Alexander topped out at $34.3 million domestically.

Savages, based on the best-selling book by Don Winslow about two Laguna Beach pot dealers who go to battle with a Mexican drug cartel after their mutual girlfriend is kidnapped, stars Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, John Travolta and Benicio Del Toro.

Universal took a big gamble when moving up the release of Savages from September -- primetime for adult-skewing fare -- to the heart of summer. Designed to serve as counter programming, Savages opened just days after the debut of The Amazing Spider-Man.

"Given the formidable competition Savages was up against and the fact that it was a hard R film on fewer screens than any other major release we are really happy with the films domestic performance. It's very rewarding to see such a strong and sizeable audience for mid-budget adult dramas even in the height of summer," said Shane Salerno, who wrote the adapted screenplay for Savages in addition to executive producing.

Savages has only opened in a few international markets -- including Mexico, where it's earned nearly $3 million in two weeks -- and doesn't make its major push until fall.