Box Office Update

[Postman Dave]

David Otunga = Ratings

 

[Wang Chung]

The North American box office enjoyed a spring surge as two new films both scored terrific debuts bringing in business from different audiences. Families led the way driving the animated comedy The Croods to the top spot while the violent action thriller Olympus Has Fallen opened with authority in second place with better than expected results. Add in hot holdover Oz the Great and Powerful and it was a rare March weekend that saw three films gross north of $20M a piece.

DreamWorks Animation, and new distribution partner Fox, had much to celebrate as The Croods bowed at number one with an estimated $44.7M. That was on par with recent March non-sequel toons like How to Train Your Dragon ($43.7M in 2010), Rio ($39.2M in 2011), and the 2D Horton Hears a Who ($45M in 2008) and much better than the performance of the last effort from DreamWorks Rise of the Guardians. That holiday season offering debuted to $23.8M over three days and $32.3M across five days over last Thanksgiving's holiday frame. Reaching $103.2M total from North America, it caused concern over whether the powerhouse animation factory was losing its touch and producing too much content. The studio has now had three 3D toons over the last nine months.

Croods didn't have an A-list voice actor like Steve Carell or Jim Carrey from Horton and was not part of a top brand with a built-in audience like last year's The Lorax so the performance was encouraging. Plus the road ahead looks bright for a number of reasons. Easter holidays will give children plenty of time off over the coming two weeks so the target audience will be very available - not only on the weekends but during weekdays too. Croods earned a great A grade from CinemaScore meaning consumers are liking the entertainment on screen so word-of-mouth should be good. Plus, there are no other big-ticket options for kids opening for the rest of March and April so the cavepeople flick will have its audience to itself for a while. Expect good legs here as reaching $170M domestic is possible.

Featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds, the PG-rated toon averaged a sturdy $11,048 from 4,046 theaters. Friday kicked off with $11.6M, Saturday surged an impressive 63% to $18.9M, and the studio is estimating a 25% dip to $14.2M on Sunday. The weekend gross ended up in the middle of the same $40-50M neighborhood as the top toons from the last nine months like Hotel Transylvania ($42.5M), Ice Age: Continental Drift ($46.6M), and Wreck-it Ralph ($49M).

DreamWorks will be hoping for the kind of legs witnessed by its March 2010 hit Dragon which was seen as a disappointment after its first weekend but then went on to show amazing longevity that resulted in a final domestic take of $217.6M, five times its opening. Croods and Dragon both earned the same grade from CinemaScore, though critics were much more impressed by the latter. Reviews were good for Croods, but not glowing. 3D screens accounted for 38% of the gross, up slightly from the 35% for Guardians. Females made up 57% of the audience while 55% was 25 and older.

Worldwide, Croods raked in a towering $108M with $63.3M (including previews) coming from 47 international markets representing 60% of the overseas marketplace. Russia, a red hot market for Hollywood animation, led the way with a superb $12.9M start (74% from 3D screens) followed by Mexico's $9.5M and the United Kingdom's $8.3M. The prehistoric family was number one in 44 of those markets this weekend and will open in 19 additional territories next weekend for Easter. With school holidays coming up around the world, and overseas audiences more willing to pay 3D surcharges, the long-term outlook is incredibly promising.

Gerard Butler scored his first hit in three years with the presidential kidnapping thriller Olympus Has Fallen which opened in second place with a muscular $30.5M, according to estimates. The R-rated action film about the White House being seized by North Korean terrorists averaged a stellar $9,845 from 3,098 locations and delivered the actor's second biggest debut ever after the $70.9M of his career-making role in 300. Olympus also gave distributor FilmDistrict its best opening ever.

In a year when action films have been underperforming in almost every case, Olympus generated genuine audience excitement and brought out ticket buyers. Reviews were mixed and didn't help much. Audiences responded instead to the intriguing concept, effective marketing materials, and starpower with Butler back into a gritty hero role joined by Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, and Aaron Eckhart. A dose of patriotism added to the success too. Those polled by CinemaScore liked what they paid for as the grade was an encouraging A-. Adult men made up the largest demographic group for Olympus. Studio data showed that 53% was male and 73% was over 25. The opening weekend was especially impressive considering that the action film had to compete with the start of the NCAA college basketball tournament which has been attracting strong ratings everyday all weekend long.

Following its two-week reign atop the charts, the megahit Oz the Great and Powerful dropped down to third place but still posted a solid showing with an estimated $22M in business. The Disney smash declined by 47% which was not bad considering all the competition that entered the marketplace this weekend. With $177.6M to date, Oz has captured an additional $178.8M overseas for a potent $356.4M global gross to date with sales split evenly between North America and the rest of the world for this very American story. The kidnapping thriller The Call ranked fifth dropping 49% to an estimated $8.7M for Sony. Halle Berry's hit film has banked an impressive $30.9M in ten days and could finish with roughly $50M.

Moviegoers had little interest in the new comedy from Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, Admission, which debuted to soft results in fifth with an estimated $6.4M. The Focus release averaged a weak $2,984 from 2,160 locations and was hurt by bad reviews which Fey's more upscale fan base pays attention to. A dull B- CinemaScore indicates a rocky road ahead. Rudd has also struggled at the box office with his film Wanderlust with Jennifer Aniston flopping last spring with a puny $6.5M debut. With bigger options all doing well with adult women right now, Admission faced intense competition and failed to stand out as a must-see film.

After a scorching hot platform debut last weekend, Spring Breakers expanded nationwide and landed in the top ten but saw sales slump to just passable levels. The Selena Gomez-Vanessa Hudgens pic grossed an estimated $5M from 1,104 theaters for a lukewarm $4,529 average. Co-starring James Franco - who has two films in the top ten this weekend with Oz seeing much more cash - the R-rated drama has collected $5.4M for distributor A24 and has earned good reviews.

Tumbling a troubling 58% in its second weekend, the comedy flop The Incredible Burt Wonderstone grossed an estimated $4.3M for a weak ten-day tally of $17.4M. The Warner Bros. release should end up with a disappointing $25M or so. The studio's big-budget fairy tale adventure Jack the Giant Slayer also fell sharply dropping 53% to an estimated $3M for only $59.1M to date.

The hit comedy Identity Thief followed with an estimated $2.5M, off 43%, for a $128M cume to date. Dwayne Johnson's first of many 2013 releases Snitch rounded out the top ten falling 45% to an estimated $1.9M and a nice sum of $40.3M for Lionsgate. The wrestler-turned-action-star is now on week five of what could turn out to be a 20-week consecutive streak in the top ten. Next up, G.I. Joe Retaliation attacking over 3,500 theaters Thursday with the first shows at 7:00pm this Wednesday.

Some solid debuts occurred in the specialty marketplace. The critically-acclaimed Australian girl-group pic The Sapphires debuted in four locations with an estimated $41,000 for a $10,232 average. The Weinstein Co. will roll out the PG-13 film into more markets this spring. Also getting raves from critics, My Brother the Devil bowed to an estimated $12,000 from a pair of New York sites for a $6,070 average. Released by Paladin and 108 Media, the Sundance award winner expands next to Los Angeles on April 5.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $129M which was down 36% from last year when The Hunger Games opened at number one with a record $152.5M; but up 23% from 2011 when Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules debuted in the top spot with $23.8M.

The Croods $44.7M
Olympus Has Fallen $30.5M
Oz the Great and Powerful $22.0M
The Call $8.7M
Admission $6.4M
Spring Breakers $5.0M
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone $4.3M
Jack the Giant Slayer $3.0M
Identity Thief $2.5M
Snitch $1.9M

So Dwayne Johnson might have two movies in the top ten next week, David Otunga and WWE Studios could still be hanging around in the call. Not to surprised that the Croods did so well. The previews did not do much for me but my daughter loves the previews so I might be heading to see that soon too.

 

[Postman Dave]

Eh, it's half term over here so The Croods has got an easy road to the top.

 

[Wang Chung]

The horror remake Evil Dead led a solid session thanks to a number one debut while holdovers G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Croods fared well giving the marketplace three films grossing north of $20M each. Plus the 3D re-release of the dino-smash Jurassic Park also scored points with audiences driving the top ten to over $125M in ticket sales. Ticket buyers also caught up on recent hits as four films in the top ten enjoyed low declines of 20-30%.

Sam Raimi scored his second number one hit of the year, this time as just producer, with the horror remake Evil Dead which topped the box office this weekend with an opening of an estimated $26M. Averaging a sizzling $8,595 from 3,025 theaters, the R-rated fright flick earned good reviews and capitalized on a built-in fan base of genre lovers who idolized the 1983 original which Raimi directed. The filmmaker's Oz ranked seventh and remains the highest-grossing film of the year.

The Evil Dead performance was driven by upfront business and all signs show that sales will drop sharply in the days and weeks ahead. Friday kicked off with $11.9M in opening day business which included $1.8M from shows starting at 10:00pm on Thursday night. Saturday then tumbled a disturbing 26% while audiences gave the remake a lousy C+ grade from CinemaScore indicating low customer satisfaction. Sony estimates that Sunday will dip 40% to $5.3M. Studio research showed that 56% of the crowd was male while 56% was 25 and over.

It bested the $21.7M opening of Texas Chainsaw 3D from the first weekend of this year but did nearly match that film's $8,193 average from about 400 fewer theaters. But Evil did not benefit from any 3D surcharges. Dead nearly matched the $28.4M opening of the PG-13 spookfest Mama from January which remains the top horror opening of the year.

Two former number ones held up well and tied for second place with weekend estimates of $21.1M each. Paramount's G.I. Joe: Retaliation fell 48% which was good for an action sequel raising the cume to $86.7M after 11.5 days. The patriotic flick opened midweek taking opening day business off of Friday, but the Easter holidays helped pump up the Friday-to-Sunday opening frame so the decline was quite respectable given the way the film was launched. Joe should reach $130-140M domestically. Overseas markets grossed an estimated $40.2M boosting the international take to $145.2M and the worldwide tally up to $231.9M with China and Japan still to come. Produced for $130M, Retaliation may find itself with global grosses of $450M or more easily beating the $302M of its 2009 predecessor which cost more to make.

Pulling in the same weekend gross, but with a slimmer 21% dip, was the animated hit The Croods from Fox and DreamWorks Animation. The cavepeople pic, still the only toon in town for families, lifted its cume to a stellar $125.8M after 17 days and is now on course to reach roughly $190M from North America. If it continues to post strong holds - no new kidpics open this entire month - then it even has a shot at hitting the $200M mark.

Croods is now playing out much like the leggy DreamWorks hit How To Train Your Dragon from three years ago. Opening weekends were $43.6M and $43.7M, respectively. Second weekend declines were 39%/34% and third weekend drops were 21%/14%. After the same number of days, Croods is running less than 6% behind the $133.4M of Dragon which eventually ended with $217.6M. Worldwide, the pre-historic comedy has now amassed $332.6M surpassing the $304M final of the last DreamWorks title, Rise of the Guardians, on its way to the $500M mark and beyond.

The 3D re-release of Steven Spielberg's dinosaur mega-hit Jurassic Park found a sizable new audience grossing an estimated $18.2M from 2,771 theaters for a solid $6,585 average. Compared to recent 3D upgrades, it was better than the $16.7M of September's Finding Nemo and the $17.3M bow of Titanic from this same weekend last year, but below the $22.5M of Star Wars Episode I from February 2012. An amazingly high 32% ($6M+) of the weekend gross came from 312 IMAX screens. Moviegoers felt this was an experience worth paying extra for. Universal spent $10M to convert the film to 3D.

As a brand name, Spielberg remains popular with audiences continuing to pay to see his imaginative and thrilling adventures on the big screen. Studio research showed that 55% of the audience was male and 54% was 25 and older. Jurassic Park grossed $357.1M during its original run in 1993 and now stands at $375.3M lifetime putting it at number 20 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters. The 3D re-release was also aimed at re-invigorating the Jurassic Park brand since the fourth chapter in the series will be shot soon for a summer release next year. As with the last installment, Spielberg will produce but not direct.

Two spring hits tied for fifth place with $10M a piece, according to estimates. The FilmDistrict actioner Olympus Has Fallen declined by an encouraging 29% in its third round pumping the cume up to a sturdy $71.1M. Look for a final gross of more than $90M with an outside chance of even reaching $100M if positive buzz from action fans keeps spreading. Next weekend will see no new action titles opening. Tyler Perry's Temptation fell by 54% in its second weekend which was average for the filmmaker. With $38.4M in ten days, Lionsgate could end up with around $55M.

Oz the Great and Powerful held up well in its fifth weekend grossing an estimated $8.2M, off just 30%, for a $212.8M cume to date. With international markets kicking in an additional $13.6M, the worldwide total now stands at $454.1M as 2013's top blockbuster. The sci-fi flop The Host fell 51% in its sophomore round to an estimated $5.2M. Open Road has collected a dull $19.7M in ten days and will finish off with roughly $30M.

Female-driven movies The Call and Admission rounded out the top ten with estimated weekend takes of $3.5M and $2.1M, respectively. The Halle Berry thriller dipped only 29% for a healthy $45.5M cume for Sony while the Tina Fey dramedy declined by 37% giving Focus a lackluster $15.4M to date.

It was an active weekend in the specialty marketplace. Danny Boyle's new psychological crime thriller Trance debuted to sparkling results with an estimated $136,000 from only four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a potent $34,000 average. Fox Searchlight goes nationwide into nearly 400 theaters on Friday. Sony Classics opened Robert Redford's newest film The Company You Keep in just five locations grossing an estimated $146,000 for a sturdy $29,200 average. The Shia LaBeouf pic will take a slower path with another 25 sites next weekend, an additional 75 on April 19, and then nationwide on the 26th.

Focus enjoyed solid results for its second weekend expansion of the Ryan Gosling-Bradley Cooper starrer The Place Beyond The Pines which went from four to 30 playdates collecting an estimated $695,000 this weekend for an encouraging $23,167 average. Friday marks its national break with about 450 theaters in play.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $125.4M which was up 9% from last year when The Hunger Games stayed at number one for a third time with $33.1M; and up 28% from 2011 when Hop stayed in the top spot with $21.3M in its sophomore session.

Evil Dead $25.8M
G.I. Joe: Retaliation $20.9M
The Croods $20.7M
Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience $18.6M
Olympus Has Fallen $10.2M
Temptation $10.1M
Oz the Great and Powerful $8.0M
The Host $5.2M
The Call $3.5M
Admission $1.9M

No surprises this weekend. Still want to see Evil Dead. GI Joe was not bad and much better than the first POS. The Call is still going strong that is surprising.

 

[Wang Chung]

Jackie Robinson made history again as the new film 42 delivered the best opening ever for a baseball movie and clinched first place at the North American box office by racing past industry expectations. Meanwhile, the mindless spoof comedy Scary Movie 5 attracted a fraction of the once-popular franchise's audience and debuted in second place with unimpressive results. Overall ticket sales were about even with normal mid-April levels.

Warner Bros. scored its best opening of 2013 with the inspirational baseball drama 42 which grossed an estimated $27.3M from 3,003 theaters for a potent $9,074 average. The PG-13 hit ended up well ahead of pre-release expectations which had it opening to a ceiling of $20M. In the process the feel-good pic broke the record for the best debut ever for any baseball flick beating the $19.7M of 2006's The Benchwarmers as well as the $19.5M of the more recent Moneyball from 2011 which went on to become a major Oscar contender. Unlike football movies, films about America's national pastime have never driven in huge numbers on opening weekend.

But the stellar debut wasn't the only good news for 42 as its future looks exceptionally bright with a long-lasting rally ahead. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the story about Major League Baseball's first African-American player a sensational A+ grade indicating fantastic word-of-mouth for the coming weeks. Plus the crowd skewed very old and mature adults do not always rush out on opening weekend so a sizable audience still lies ahead. In addition, Monday is Jackie Robinson Day when all baseball players wear his famous number 42 jersey during their games adding a tremendous amount of free publicity for the film to exploit in the days ahead. The studio carefully slotted it during a time when the sport's new season was beginning to capitalize on fan excitement.

Studio research showed that 52% of the crowd was female and a very high 59% was part of the older than usual demographic category of "over 35." Though Warner Bros. had no data breakdown, African-Americans made up a significant portion of the audience too although not a majority as 42 had broad appeal to many groups. TV actor Chadwick Boseman played the famous ballplayer while Harrison Ford took the role of the 1940s Brooklyn Dodgers general manager that hired him. Outside of his fourth Indiana Jones film in 2008, Ford has had all flops over the past dozen years so this is a well-needed success for the 70-year-old legend who has starred in $100M+ blockbusters in each of the past five decades.

42 now joins a couple of other recent dramas that dealt with fighting racial discrimination against blacks - 2009's The Blind Side and 2011's The Help. All three films featured a large number of both black and white characters and earned A+ grades. Blind and Help both enjoyed sturdy legs finishing their domestic runs with six to seven times their opening weekend tallies. 42 is running during a weaker spring play period, but if it can also capitalize on positive buzz it will easily break through the $100M barrier and may even surpass $125M. It cost only $38M to produce.

Proving itself to be an unnecessary sequel, the spoof comedy Scary Movie 5 opened in second place with an estimated $15.2M from 3,402 theaters for a mild $4,454 average. That's a far cry from what the franchise has generated in the past as three of the four installments opened to north of $40M. The new PG-13 chapter came seven years after the last one, Scary Movie 4, bowed to a stellar $40.2M on this same weekend in 2006. Part 5's opening weekend was 62% smaller in gross and attracted nearly 70% fewer people. The four previous films carried low budgets and grossed a remarkable $752M in combined global box office.

The Weinstein Co. release was not screened for critics in advance and reviews were understandably horrible when they finally had a chance to see the film. The new Scary tried to sell itself as being hip and relevant by promoting its co-stars Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan who have been tabloid favorites in recent years. But audiences did not bite. They could see their wild antics for free anytime. Plus spoof comedies have lost their popularity and January's R-rated hit A Haunted House already satisfied what hunger there was for a movie send-up of the horror genre with an opening weekend average that was twice as big. The CinemaScore grade was a horrible C- and TV spots with lame jokes didn't help any.

Still holding up well in its fourth weekend was the pre-historic toon The Croods with an estimated $13.2M, off 36%. The Fox release has now banked an impressive $142.5M and has become the year's second highest-grossing film after Oz. Kids around the world are coming out for the cavepeople pic as Croods collected an estimated $25.5M overseas this weekend boosting international to $244.8M and the global gross to $387.3M on its way to $500M+.

Busting through the century mark was the action sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation which fell 48% to an estimated $10.8M for a cume to date of $102.4M. After its third frame, the Paramount franchise flick boosted its global total to $270.7M including $168.3M from overseas markets surpassing the $152.3M final international tally of its 2D predecessor from 2009. With China opening Monday and Japan to come on June 8, a worldwide haul of $400M is possible.

A pair of sophomores channeling films from years past followed with large declines. The horror remake Evil Dead tumbled 63% to an estimated $9.5M giving Sony $41.5M to date. Look for a $50-55M final. Universal's Jurassic Park 3D dropped 53% to an estimated $8.8M putting the classic dinosmash at $31.9M in ten days. The lifetime gross shot up to $389M allowing the Steven Spielberg hit to climb up to number 16 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters putting it in between the second Transformers and the final Harry Potter.

Benefiting from solid word-of-mouth, and continued news coverage of North Korea's nuclear threats, the action hit Olympus Has Fallen enjoyed the lowest decline for any film in wide release slipping only 28% to an estimated $7.3M. FilmDistrict has banked a stellar $81.9M and should find its way to the $100M mark. 2013's biggest blockbuster, Oz the Great and Powerful, followed with an estimated $4.9M sliding by 39%. Disney has amassed $219.4M domestically and a healthy $471M worldwide with its expensive fantasy pic.

Tyler Perry's Temptation fell sharply by 55% in its third round to an estimated $4.5M raising the cume for Lionsgate to $45.4M. Focus generated encouraging results for its Ryan Gosling-Bradley Cooper drama The Place Beyond The Pines which enjoyed a successful national expansion with an estimated $4.1M from 514 theaters (up from 30) for a solid $7,938 average. Platforming two weeks ago in just three locations, the R-rated pic has taken in $5.5M to date.

Tom Cruise's new sci-fi actioner Oblivion debuted in most of the world outside of North America this weekend and delivered strong results with an estimated $61.1M from 7,444 theaters in 52 international markets, ranking number one in 48 of them. Leading the way were Russia with $8.6M (a new career record for Cruise), the United Kingdom with $7.9M, and Korea with $4.1M. The futuristic thriller invades North America and seven overseas markets next weekend and is expected to rule the domestic box office.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $105.5M which was up 1% from last year when The Hunger Games stayed at number one for a fourth weekend with $21.1M; but down 5% from 2011 when Rio opened in the top spot with $39.2M.

42 $27.2M
Scary Movie 5 $15.2M
The Croods $13.2M
G.I. Joe: Retaliation $10.8M
Evil Dead $9.5M
Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience $8.8M
Olympus Has Fallen $7.3M
Oz the Great and Powerful $4.9M
Temptation $4.5M
The Place Beyond The Pines $4.1M

Not surprised with 42 doing well since it is the start of the baseball season and it has a good premise.

 

[JakeYourBooty]

sad to see ED had a such a decline already I was hoping it would have a strong few weeks...

 

[Postman Dave]

thank christ Scary Movie 5 opened up poorly, hopefully that'll out an end to this shit once and for all.

 

[Fuji Vice]

They're not kidding about 42 getting word of mouth advertising, I've already spoken to three people this morning who recommended it. I might try and check it out but I've still got to see The Place Beyond the Pines first. It's interesting to note that it actually grossed $7,938 per theatre, the second highest average this week next to 42.

sad to see ED had a such a decline already I was hoping it would have a strong few weeks...

60% is pretty much the standard drop for a horror movie these days, so it's not really that bad. Besides, these movies do good sales on DVD/Blu-Ray as well so it'll end up turning a tidy profit for sure.

thank christ Scary Movie 5 opened up poorly, hopefully that'll out an end to this shit once and for all.

Agreed, the last one was beyond awful and this one looks worse.

 

[JakeYourBooty]

I hope A Haunted House does better then SM5 just to show that it's the Wayans Brothers that made those movies good

 

[Wang Chung]

Now in his fourth decade of scoring number one hit movies, Tom Cruise enjoyed one of the best openings of his entire career with the futuristic science fiction film Oblivion which topped the box office worldwide. Universal saw its latest hit film open to an estimated $38.2M in North America from 3,783 theaters for a potent $10,085 average. 323 IMAX sites contributed a solid $5.5M, or 14% of the gross.

That was an impressive performance for an original 2D sci-fi film opening outside of summer. In fact, it was the second best sci-fi opening ever during the month of April after the $61.2M of 2010's 3D remake Clash of the Titans. Overall, it was the seventh best for the month but third biggest for a live-action non-sequel.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) and co-starring Morgan Freeman, Oblivion earned mixed reviews from critics, however paying audiences were not pleased. The CinemaScore grade was a disappointing B- indicating a rocky road ahead. Adult men made up the core audience - not surprising for a sci-fi film and for a Cruise actioner as the actor has lost some of his female fan base in recent years. Studio research showed that 57% of the audience was male and a very high 74% was 25 or older. Teen appeal was minimal here.

But for Cruise, Oblivion delivered the second biggest opening of his career outside of his signature Mission: Impossible franchise trailing just one other science fiction picture -- 2005's summer smash War of the Worlds from Steven Spielberg, which bowed to a holiday-boosted $64.9M. And it more than doubled the $15.2M debut of the actor's last film Jack Reacher from this last December.

Produced for a reported $120M, Oblivion is just one of many big-budget apocalyptic movies from some of Hollywood's hottest male action stars that will compete for the public's attention over the coming months. Next up, Will Smith stars in After Earth opening May 31, then Brad Pitt offers up World War Z in June, followed in August by Matt Damon's Elysium. The end of humanity is also a topic in the raunchy comedy This Is The End with Seth Rogen and James Franco arriving in June.

Made for a global audience, Oblivion pulled in a healthy $33.7M from 60 international markets this weekend dropping 42% from its overseas launch last week. The offshore take now stands at $112M with the global gross at $150.2M on its way to much more as major markets like Japan and China have yet to open.

After a spectacular opening weekend, the baseball drama 42 held up well in its second frame dipping 34% to an estimated $18M for a ten-day total of $54.1M. Warner Bros. should find its way across the $100M mark with this one. Breaking the $150M mark this weekend was the hit animated comedy The Croods, which continued to take advantage of no competition for kids with an estimated $9.5M in its fifth round. Off just 28%, the Fox release had the lowest decline of any film in the top ten and boosted its domestic cume to $154.9M. With $23.4M from offshore markets this weekend, the international total soared to $274.5M, putting The Croods at $429.4M worldwide.

The sequel flop Scary Movie 5 tumbled 56% in its sophomore frame to an estimated $6.3M giving The Weinstein Co. $22.9M after ten days. A final gross of $30-35M seems likely which would be about one-third of the $90.7M that part 4 in the franchise did seven years ago.

The action sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation followed in fifth with an estimated $5.8M, down 47%, for a $111.2M total for Paramount. Overseas action got a boost from a gigantic opening week in China where the American soldiers took in $33M from 7,000 screens over seven days including over $3M from 101 IMAX sites. That drove the international weekend to $40M, the overseas cume to $211.7M, and the global tally to a muscular $322.9M. With Japan yet to open, Joe could find its way to nearly $450M worldwide -- 50% more than the first movie in the franchise.

The Ryan Gosling pic The Place Beyond The Pines tripled its theater count and jumped from tenth to sixth place but saw its average drop down to a soft amount. The Focus release grossed an estimated $4.7M from 1,542 locations for a weak $3,078 average and $11.4M total.

Still on its way into the century club, the action hit Olympus Has Fallen placed seventh dropping 38% to an estimated $4.5M putting the year's first of two White-House-under-attack flicks at an impressive $88.8M for FilmDistrict. Sony's horror remake Evil Dead fell 57% to an estimated $4.1M and has scared up $48.4M to date.

Close behind with an estimated $4M was the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park which declined by 55% for a cume of $38.5M. The Universal blockbuster's lifetime gross has now shot up to $395.6M. Rounding out the top ten was 2013's biggest hit, Oz the Great and Powerful. The Disney smash held up well with an estimated $3M in its seventh weekend, off 37%. The wizard and trio of witches have now amassed $223.8M from North america and a stellar $478.6M worldwide.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $98.1M which was down 18% from last year when Think Like A Man opened at number one with $33.6M; and down 14% from 2011 when Rio stayed in the top spot with $26.3M.

Not surprised on Oblivion crushing the competition.

 

[Postman Dave]

Not surprised on Oblivion crushing the competition.

It's done decent over here but nothing to shout about, just about doing better than GI Joe 2 & Jack the Giant Slayer overall.

BTW, randomly looking up UK Box Office results, biggest grossing films so far in 2013 are:

1. Les Miserables
2. Life of Pi
3. Wreck-It Ralph
4. The Croods
5. Django Unchained

Oscar winners and kids films, we rule.

 

[Wang Chung]

It's done decent over here but nothing to shout about, just about doing better than GI Joe 2 & Jack the Giant Slayer overall.

BTW, randomly looking up UK Box Office results, biggest grossing films so far in 2013 are:

1. Les Miserables
2. Life of Pi
3. Wreck-It Ralph
4. The Croods
5. Django Unchained

Oscar winners and kids films, we rule.

You are more sophisticated than us here in America. I wonder how the sequels will do over there. IM3, FF6, Thor 2, and any of the others that are coming out but would think that those three will probably be tops.

 

[Wang Chung]

Tony Stark obliterated the competition as the much-anticipated super hero sequel Iron Man 3 generated the second biggest opening weekend in box office history and also became the top-grossing global blockbuster of 2013. Domestic audiences spent a jaw-dropping $175.3M this weekend, according to estimates, seeing the third installment in the Marvel franchise including grosses from Thursday night shows starting at 9:00pm. Playing in 4,253 theaters, the PG-13 actioner averaged a scorching $41,218 per location and was helped by surcharges for the 3D conversion.

9% of the weekend gross ($16.5M) came from the 326 higher-priced IMAX screens. Overall, 45% of the frame came from 3D screens representing a drop from The Avengers which was 52% a year ago this same weekend. That Marvel assembly of super heroes still holds the all-time record for opening weekend with a staggering $207.4M putting Robert Downey Jr. in the two biggest debuts in industry history. Both films were released by Disney on the first weekend of May kicking off the summer movie season against zero competition.

Iron Man 3's gargantuan run started off with $15.6M in Thursday night shows from 9:00pm into the post-midnight hours. The full opening day gross (including all Thursday night business) was $68.3M. That stands as the eighth best opening day ever. The real magic for the Stark-vs-Mandarin pic came on Saturday when the film declined by only 9% to $62.2M. By comparison, last year Avengers witnessed a larger 14% dip on Saturday coming off of a Friday gross that did not include Thursday night business starting so early. Iron Man 2's Saturday drop was 11%.

With threequels usually eroding faster than their predecessors - especially when release weekends are identical - it was extraordinary that Iron Man 3 held up so well in its second day. Disney projected that Sunday would drop by 28% to $44.8M. Sunday falls for Avengers and Iron Man 2 were 18% and 32%, respectively.

Iron Man 2 was seen as disappointing creatively by many fans and normally that would have prompted some of the audience to skip out on another chapter in the series. However, Avengers was so well-liked that it erased that bad taste and even expanded the overall fan base which Iron Man 3 capitalized on this weekend. Word of mouth is good so far as the CinemaScore grade was an A and also reviews have been fairly positive. Avengers scored higher in both categories, however for a threequel to earn these marks is terrific and bodes well for the weeks ahead. The next big action tentpole is Star Trek Into Darkness opening on IMAX on May 15 and in conventional theaters on Thursday May 16 so Iron Man 3 has a good week and a half of clear sailing to soar past the $200M and $300M marks. Even if it plays out with the same declines as Iron Man 2, it would break $400M as well by the end of the domestic run.

The new blockbuster was once again anchored by superstar Robert Downey Jr. who can now claim to be the only movie star with $500M+ global blockbusters over the last six consecutive years. This comes from three Iron Man films, two Sherlock Holmes movies, and of course Avengers. Once hitting rock bottom in his career, the acclaimed actor has used his immense skills to turn things around and make himself into the world's top box office draw.

Audience breakdown for Iron Man 3 was identical to Avengers when it came to gender - 61% male. But the new Stark movie played a little older with 55% being over 25 compared to 50% for the super hero value pack. As for the entire marketplace, with Iron Man 3 absorbing all the free screens within each multiplex it accounted for a whopping 80% of the entire box office this weekend with no other wide releases daring to open and no holdover hitting double digit millions. Iron Man completely dominated the marketplace. Avengers commanded the exact same share of the box office one year ago this weekend when it crushed its foes.

This is the seventh consecutive year that Marvel seized control over the lucrative first weekend in May to kickoff the summer movie season. Though its characters have done it before, the current streak started in 2007 with Sony's Spider-Man 3 continuing with 2008's Iron Man, 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2010's Iron Man 2, 2011's Thor, and Avengers last year. The comic giant has no intention of giving up this prime piece of box office real estate and has already planted its flag on May 2 next year with Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as well as May 1, 2015 for The Avengers 2 which could conceivably score an opening weekend that breaks the $250M mark. They are essentially telling every other film to backoff. And it would surprise nobody if Marvel and Disney claim May 6, 2016 for a fourth Iron Man film. But next up are super sequels with Thor returning this November and Captain America next April.

Iron Man 3 was also a colossal behemoth at the overseas box office this weekend where it played in its second round in most territories. The Marvel hero grossed a stellar $175.9M driven by new openings in China ($63.5M in 5 days), Russia ($21.7M in 4), and Germany ($10M in 5). That boosted the international total to a mammoth $504.8M and the global haul to a jaw-dropping $680.1M in under two weeks. That's even more than the $655M that Avengers grossed in the same 12 days last year. Release dates were mostly the same as it too opened in most overseas markets one week before domestic to capitalize on the May Day holiday which is not celebrated in the U.S. The main difference is that Iron Man 3 opened in China three days earlier. With local partner DMG involved in producing the film, extra footage for a special version only for Chinese audiences, and Chinese stars added in, the results were record-breaking for Iron Man 3 in that market where it smashed the all-time opening day record on Wednesday with an estimated $21.5M.

Trailing lucrative China, the next best results for Iron Man 3 came from two-week cumes in Korea ($42.6M), the U.K. ($38.3M), Mexico ($35.8M), Brazil ($30.1M), Australia ($28.4M), France ($27.8M), and Russia's $21.7M from just the opening weekend. With nearly two weeks of clear sailing in most offshore markets (Star Trek Into Darkness debuts in six markets next weekend plus previews in others), Iron Man 3 could very well be on a trajectory towards the $1.3 billion mark in worldwide box office.

The rest of the top ten featured scraps of spring leftovers fighting over what was left of the box office pie. The Mark Wahlberg-Dwayne Johnson action-comedy Pain & Gain tumbled from the number one spot and lost 63% of its business. Paramount grossed an estimated $7.6M putting the ten-day take at $33.9M. Produced for a reported $26M, the Michael Bay film should end its domestic run with about $45M.

The baseball drama 42 held up well dipping 42% to an estimated $6.2M giving Warner Bros. $78.3M to date. Tom Cruise's sci-fi adventure Oblivion followed with an estimated $5.8M, down 67%, for a $76M domestic total to date for Universal. Hit toon The Croods eased by just 37% to an estimated $4.2M and upped its cume to $168.7M.

Dropping 49% was the critically-panned Lionsgate title The Big Wedding with an estimated $3.9M for a lousy $14.2M cume in ten days. Matthew McConaughey's new film Mud jumped into the top ten in its second weekend of moderate play with an estimated $2.2M from 576 locations for a mild $3,733 per theater. Roadside Attractions added 213 new sites boosting the theater count by 59% following its eleventh place debut last week. The weekend dip in grosses was only 3% and the cume is $5.2M.

Also making about as much this weekend as last time was the year's top domestic blockbuster (for now) Oz the Great and Powerful with an estimated $1.8M, even with last weekend. Disney coupled the fantasy adventure with Iron Man 3 for many drive-in double features nationwide and got to loot some extra cash off of Tony Stark's popularity. The studio did the same thing with John Carter and The Avengers a year ago. Oz has now banked $228.6M from North America and $485.6M worldwide.

Crashing 58% was the spoof sequel Scary Movie 5 with an estimated $1.4M giving The Weinstein Co. $29.6M to date. The Focus title The Place Beyond The Pines rounded out the top ten with an estimated $1.3M, down 52%, for a $18.7M cume.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $209.7M which was down 15% from last year when The Avengers debuted at number one with a record $207.4M; but up 37% from 2011 when Thor opened in the top spot with $65.7M.

Have yet to see IM3 yet. Might go this week with all the time off which could be a fun time. No surprises really. Saw Pain & Gain last weekend not a bad film and I was dumb and didn't realize it was based on a true story until right before it started when I was looking up more info on it.

 

[Postman Dave]

Pain & Gain is lucky it's already made it's budget back, because I don't see it getting a lot from this point forward with IM3, Fast 6 and Star Trek all coming. It's still yet to be released here, but with blockbuster season in full flow I can see it getting lost in the crowd.

 

[Wang Chung]

Pain & Gain is lucky it's already made it's budget back, because I don't see it getting a lot from this point forward with IM3, Fast 6 and Star Trek all coming. It's still yet to be released here, but with blockbuster season in full flow I can see it getting lost in the crowd.

True and as long as it stays in the top ten when fast 6 comes out old Dwayne could be setting a record with having been in the top ten for 20 weeks with what is this 4 films going o.n 5