Category: Weekend box office

The apes did rise!

The apes did rise after all.

The Planet of the Apes prequel, based on the old Charlton Heston SF movie franchise, raked in am impressive $54.8 million in its debut weekend, charged by tremendous special effects and a great marketing campaign. Produced on a relatively modest budget by Hollywood standards (only $93 million) the film added $23.4 million in initial overseas box office and, with gains since the weekend, now stands at $84.8 million in global box office, meaning the movie will quickly reach black ink on studio ledgers. Considering all the skyscrapers and metal buildings that were done away with in that movie, that’s an impressive precision of their special-effects budget!

Nothing else even came close. The Smurfs did well enough to secure second place with $20.7 million, while Cowboys and Aliens plummeted to a distant third place with $15.7 million in new ticket sales. That was barely better than the healthy-but-fading older competition.

The Jason Bateman-Ryan Reynolds vehicle The Change-Up scored a mere $13.5 million, followed by Captain America with $13 million, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 with $12.4 million, and Crazy Stupid Love with $12 million. Beyond seventh place, nothing else managed to score even $5 million.

The coming weekend is heavily favored toward the supernatural slasher film, Final Destination 5, while the comedy 30 Minutes Or Less and period-comedy The Help are underdogs this coming weekend. The X-Factor is the 3D-powered GLEE concert movie, which boasts the weakest screen count but will be the first test of the FOX TV powerhouse ratings series on the big screen.

Cowboys and Aliens barely edges out Smurfs

You’d need a thin utility knife to cut the difference between the box office totals Cowboys and Aliens, and the Smurfs 3D movie. It was never supposed to be quite so close.

Cowboys and Aliens is the latest effort from the director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2, but without a Marvel superhero to power the box office, Han Solo and James Bond proved slightly less superpowerful. With a budget of $163 million, Cowboys and Aliens’ take was $36.4 million domestically with no foreign box office registering for the flick just yet. While it was barely good enough for first place, that placed the movie well behind where it needed to be to have the best chance to make their investment back prior to video release.

The Smurfs, however, overachieved against the action flick. The family-friendly movie boasted a budget that was lower by a third… around $110 million. And despite debuting on about 355 fewer screens, the Smurfs had a far better per-screen average, so drawing $35.6 million was a more impressive achievement. The Smurfs, more importantly, have done better since the weekend, giving them the advantage in current box office $51 million to Cowboys and Aliens’ $48 million.

Rom-com Crazy Stupid Love finished a distant fifth place with $19.1 million, but considering its much smaller, $50 million budget, it’s still in a good position to make investors’ money back.

Captain America: The First Avenger fared well against the still competition, drawing $25.5 million in its second week of release. To date, Captain America has earned $127 million domestically, and another $71.7 million overseas despite its American-centric, patriotic focus … good news for the future of the series.

Currently sitting at $199.2 million worldwide, the movie is now in the black against its $140 million production budget, making anything that happens from here on out gravy for Disney-owned Marvel Films.

Three weekends into its run, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 drew $21.9 million domestically and its global totals now stand at $328 million domestically and $713.2 million in foreign markets, for a total well over $1B in global box office.

But all bets are off this weekend as Rise of the Planet of the Apes debuts; it’s possible the last huge-event movie of the summer season and with 3,648 screens hosting, should live up to its promising ad campaign. I’m not saying there are no good releases remaining… but Rise is probably the last great one that could rank up there with Harry Potter in the summer box office totals.

Potter loses ground to Captain America

After celebrating the largest opening weekend of all time, pulling in a domestic take of over $169 million and currently standard at over $240 million domestically and over $452 million overseas, bringing their first week total to just under $700 million, no one expected Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, to continue at its record-shattering pace.

But not many necessarily expected the boy wizard’s swan song to be bested by Captain America, either. Yet that is the pattern that seems to be developing this weekend. On Friday, Captain America opened well, raking in $25.7 million on its first day of business; meanwhile, the Harry Potter finale drew only $14.6 million

An even more distant third is the Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis vehicle, Friends With Benefits, which $6.8 million and seems likely to be the only other film this weekend to break the $10 million barrier.

It’ll get even more competitive for Potter next weekend, when the trifecta of Cowboys and Aliens, The Smurfs and Crazy Stupid Love all open to close out July.

The whole summer is full of watchable movies this year, and makes me wish I had some Kmart coupons for the upcoming and inevitable Blu-Ray releases this winter. That would certainly take the edge off what seems destined to be a robust period for good movies once the snow begins piling up outside.

Green Lantern does OK, underperforms

There’s no denying Ryan Reynolds found the heart and soul of Hal Jordan in his interpretation of Green Lantern, but the superhero movie, which boasts a $200 million production budget, was really up against it to exceed expectations with a DC Comics character who, quite frankly, is a second-stringer. (Just like Marvel Comics’ Thor.)

But while Thor made a big splash with a $65 million domestic box office on its opening weekend, it also had a 25-percent lower production budget at $150 million. And Green Lantern, even with a much more well-known star in the lead role, couldn’t even match Thor’s opening weekend.

Green Lantern managed to draw $53.1 million last weekend, about 19 percent below Thor’s opening. While Lantern could prove to have some legs, it is hampered in that it lacks the strong foreign box office performance of Thor. Thor received nearly 60 percent of its total box office take from overseas markets, whereas Green Lantern so far has only 18 percent of its worldwide box office coming from foreign markets.

So it’ll be interesting to see if Green Lantern can overcome the odds and do okay in the end, or if the Norse god of thunder will prove mightier than a guy with a glowy green ring.

The Steven Spielberg-J.J. Abrams thriller Super 8 dropped to second place with $21.4 million, outperforming the Jim Carrey kids flick, Mister Popper’s Penguins, which was good for third place with $18.4 million against a $55 million budget… a good take for a movie at that budget. That’ll take care of Carrey’s bath salts budget after all that time around penguins.

X-Men First Class added nearly $12 million last weekend, bringing their domestic take to $126 million and the global take to $290 million for the mutant comic book movie relaunch. The $160 million budget helped make the movie easier to make money with, for such an effects-laden movie.

The Hangover, Part II slipped to fifth place, taking in just over $10 million, which brings the movie to $233 million domestically and an amazing $494 million worldwide.

And for those who thought Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides was a loser? Only in the US. Globally, the movie has drawn $967 million to date, with nearly 77 percent of its box office coming from foreign markets. Most expect the movie to top $1 billion worldwide before it’s played out, which makes its hefty $250 million budget slightly easier to stomach.

Hangover II looks to dominate

The Hangover, Part II, looks set to rule the weekend box office this weekend, as it opened Friday to a $30.0 million first day of business. That sets the film to finish in the $80-$100 million range, making it a strong open. Despite some trepidation on whether the sequel could hold up to the original, the results at least indicate that people were at least curious enough to find out that the showed up en force.

In a weak second spot is Kung Fu Panda 2 which had a Friday north of $13 million. Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides did less well, pulling in a $10.8 million total on Friday for what looks to be maybe a $30 million weekend and a third place finish in only its second week of release, behind the pace of previous Depp Pirates movies.

Nothing else looks close, and even the Clinicallix reviews are doing better than the rest of the films out there.

Next week’s premiere release is X-Men: First Class, which is debuting unopposed by any other fresh release, which must be a relief to Marvel Studios.

Pirates overtake Norse God of Thunder

Thor has proven mighty powerful at the box office for the Marvel Studios and Paramount, but it took a Sparrow to finally defeat him. Jack Sparrow, to be specific. The fourth entry in the Johnny Depp pirate film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, looked poised as of Friday to post a dominant box office performance, garnering over $35 million on Friday receipts alone in the US. That should land Pirates, like Thor, safely into the $80-100 million box office arena by the time the weekend dust settles.

Nothing else looked to even come near the Depp-appeal movie. Bridesmaids posted a $6.3 million Friday, which should help it past the $15 million mark. Thor grabbed $4.3 million which should help keep the superhero film above the $10 million mark in its third weekend. Thor, which cost $150 million to make, has grossed $134 million in the US, and when combined with foreign box office receipts, that figure climbs to $371 million. Not shabby. That’s enough to run a lot of electric fireplaces for a long, long time.

May should close strong as The Hangover II and Kung Fu Panda 2 sequel it up as the month winds down.

Thor opens strong, but behind expectations

Disney-Marvel Studios’ THOR opened strong this past weekend, easily winning the weekend by drawing $66 million domestically in its opening bow. But that’s well behind what FAST FIVE did last weekend ($83.6 milllion) and slightly behind expectations. The film, which cost $150 million to make, is still expected to do well, however.

Overseas, THOR has been out for an additional week already and has grossed $176 million in foreign markets; that means the film’s combined worldwide gross is $242 million, well above the film’s budget. Everything it makes from here on out is gravy. FAST FIVE had a strong second weekend, adding $32.5 million to bring its domestic 10-day take to $139.8 million. With foreign box office added in, FAST FIVE has reached $324.6 million worldwide take so far.

Only two other films grossed more than $10 million on the weekend. In third place, surprising the expectations of some, was the urban rom-com, JUMPING THE BROOM, at $13.7 million. Close behind was the similarly-themed Kate Hudson vehicle, SOMETHING BORROWED, which grossed $13.1 million Out of those two, however, it’s JUMPING THE BROOM that did better because it drew box office at twice its budget on opening weekend, whereas SOMETHING BORROWED make back only one-third of its budget.

Next weekend brings the SNL-alumni chick-flick, BRIDESMAIDS, as well as the 3D action-horror movie, PRIEST, and that’s the weakest slate of openers the rest of May. Expect upsets, and not a few free dating online offers.

Fast Five off to fast start

If Friday’s box office results are any indication, and they usually are, Fast Five, the fifth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, is off to a very fast start. How fast? Try fast enough for producers to keep Lipofuze on hand of the starting-to-show-some-age cast.

On Friday, Fast Five drew an impressive $33.2 million in its first 24 hours of release and seems set to draw close to $100 million this weekend. That would be impressive. Nothing else looked poised to draw more than $10 million this weekend, including the box office champ of the past two weeks, Rio.

It’ll be interesting to see how the weekend finishes for Fast Five after such a g

Rio nearly doubles Scream 4

Often referred to as “the Angry Birds movie,” Rio proved almost twice as popular as the Wes Craven-Kevin Williamson revival of the Scream franchise. With $39.2 million on its opening weekend domestically, and a whopping $144.3 million in global box office outside the US, Rio netted a nifty $183.5 million in its debut, over twice as much as the film’s $90 million budget.

That’s enough to classify the film as crazy-popular.

Meanwhile Scream 4 did well, but underperformed, failing to crack even $20 million in its opening weekend. The film’s $18.6 million was behind pace, despite an all-star cast, but with $17.9 million in worldwide box office they’re close to making back the film’s $40 million investment, so it’s hardly a failure, just a disappointment. And hopefully it’ll help original franchise stars like Cortney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell postpone their Medicare part D plans just a little bit longer.

The Easter-themed Hop held onto third place and was the only other film to break $10 million on the weekend. Everything else trailed badly. Things won’t necessarily perk up this coming weekend, though; the only films coming out are the dreary-sounding drama, Water for Elephants, and the formulaic and predictable Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family.

Hop hops ahead of new competition

Hop is the once and future box office champion and a flick off which several unique baby gifts can likely be spun. Last weekend’s top draw is on top of the box office once again, as Hop drew $21.6 million in its second weekend of release. While business dropped for the title over 40 percent, it still drew nearly twice as many ticket-buyers as anything else on display.

Coming in second place, at least at the moment, is the remake of Arthur, which drew $12.6 million, about one third lower than even the most modest expectations. In fact, action-suspense flick Hanna drew in a healthy $12.3 million for third place, and it’s still not impossible that in the final tally, Hanna could inch ahead of Arthur.

Surfing feel-good flick Soul Surfer wasn’t too far behind in fourth place, with a respectable $11.1 million, given the low budget and skimpy promotion that film received. Nothing else topped $10 million. That includes ultra-cheap thriller Insidious ($9.7 million/$27 million to date/$1.5 million budget) in fifth place and the extremely disappointing performance of Your Highness ($9.5 million debut/$49.9 million budget).

Source Code managed just over $9 million to secure seventh place, and after that receipts really fell off. Source Code should make its money back, but won’t post big profits as it fell precipitously in its second week of release.

Things won’t get any less competitive ahead; expected to open big is the “Angry Birds” movie, RIO. Also, Wes Craven debuts Scream 4, a modern update of the decade-old franchise. After that, new releases look dismal until May.

Hop hits, Source Code stale?

The Easter-themed animated movie Hop dominated box office returns this weekend. The movie drew in $38.1 million in domestic receipts, earning back nearly two-thirds of its $63 million budget in the first three days. Thanks to an in-control budget, Hop seems set to balance its books for the studio.

A similar fate seems certain for the SF thriller Source Code, starring Jake Gyllenhall. The Prince of Persia star performs well in the critically-acclaimed drama, but the film itself was a very distant second to Hop, drawing in a mere $15 million in its opening nod. Fortunately, only $32 million went into making the flick, so while the result may be disappointing, it avoided reaching bomb status.

Only a bit behind Source Code is the horror film Insidious, from the producers of the Paranormal Activity franchise. The film’s biggest stars are Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey, so while no official production budget has been released, the movie’s $13.4 million performance may be enough to render it a success.

In fourth place, Rodrick continued to rule as Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 won its way to another $10 million weekend. Nothing else came close and there was a conspicuous lack of films centered on a Maritime Lawyer in the top five. Who knows what next weekend will bring?

Wimpy Kid 2 bullies Sucker Punch

The Man of Steel may have cause to worry; his newly christened relaunch director, Zack Snyder, just got beat up (at the box office) by a wimpy kid.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules scored a major upset last weekend as the family-friendly, kid-lit flick drew $23.7 million, a healthy distance above its $21 million budget. It was a result no one expected, even though the series has clearly clicked with the pre-teen set it was aimed at. The kids-flick sequel limped into box office with barely any promotion until the week of release, but made a big impact nevertheless, earning them all a round of Brownie Pops, no doubt.

By comparison, Snyder’s Sucker Punch boasted a production budget in excess of $80 million and had been the subject of a vast pre-release advertising and publicity campaign; yet on opening weekend, the flick couldn’t even top $20 million, drawing only $19 million to US theaters. Even with foreign ticket sales factored in, Sucker Punch drew only $28 million, less than half its budget, generally considered the first indication of box office disappointment, if not an outright bomb.

Last weekend’s champ, Limitless, added $15 million to its take for third place, while the legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer added $10.7 million to secure fourth place. Behind those front four, no other movie broke the $10 million barrier.

The coming weekend features a similar showdown. The adult SF thriller Source Code, featuring Jake Gyllenhall and a hefty budget, will face off against the Easter-themed animated children’s flick, Hop. The horror flick, Insidious, is also arriving.

Should prove interesting.