Everybody loves a good David and Goliath story and boy is this a humdinger of one. In this corner is Zack Snyder, director of big event movies beloved by the Comic Con cognoscenti, helming a movie featuring big explosions, pretty girls in short skirts and elaborate fight scenes, all released in gross-maximizing IMAX and PG-13. In this corner is Diary of a Wimpy Kid, an unassuming kids' movie rushed into production after the relative success of the first installment. And the Kid just cleaned Snyder's clock, despite the aforementioned IMAX surcharges and despite a large chunk of Kid's ticket sales coming from discounted child prices. Ladies and gentlemen, your Weekend Receipts are here.
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Gross: $24,400,000 (new)
Screens: 3,167 (PSA: $7,704)
Weeks: 1
Almost exactly one year ago, the first Wimpy Kid pulled in almost exactly the same opening weekend gross, embarrassing the Jen Aniston misfire, The Bounty Hunter, and bumping it down to third place. So, well done, Wimpy Kid! That's twice you've helpfully deflated a terrible bloated mess of a movie. Keep it up!
2. Sucker Punch
Gross: $19,015,000 (new)
Screens: 3,033 (PSA: $6,269)
Weeks: 1
I could expound in a million words about the million different things I hated about this movie, but let me just say this: whenever Babydoll began her "sexy dancing" which would lead into her various genre-bending fight sequences, I kept hoping Will Ferrell's Mugatu would poke in his head and exclaim "Oh! They're strippercise fighting!"
3. Limitless
Gross: $15,225,000 ($41,281,000)
Screens: 2,805 (PSA: $5,428)
Weeks: 2 (change: -19.5%)
I'd love to a triple-feature of this movie, Unstoppable and then finish it off with The Neverending Story.
4. The Lincoln Lawyer
Gross: $11,000,000 ($28,967,000)
Screens: 2,707 (PSA: $4,064)
Weeks: 2 (change: -16.7%)
A barely perceptible decline for one of McConaghey's rare non-Kate Hudson films. Perhaps that whole Groupon ticket coupon thing, wasn't such a bad idea after all.
5. Rango
Gross: $9,800,000 ($106,363,000)
Screens: 3,645 (PSA: $2,689)
Weeks: 4 (change: -35.0%)
Insult to injury for poor Zack Snyder: his anthropomorphic CG animated movie bombed hardcore at the box office. This one is doing swell! Do you think they've commissioned the sequel yet?
[Numbers via Box Office Mojo]