The week after the Fourth of July is historically a Hollywood crap shoot, but studios gambled smartly and reaped the benefits this weekends with strong openings from Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper. Meanwhile, last week's bombastic belle of the blockbuster ball staged an encore at the top of the box-office charts. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Gross: $47,025,000 ($261,000,000)
Screens: 4,088 (PSA: $11,503)
Weeks: 2 (change: -51.9%)
And just like that, the third Transformers film passes The Hangover Part II to become the highest-grossing film (domestically) of the year to date. Of course, the final Harry Potter entry probably has a spell to counter that; we'll find out next week.
2. Horrible Bosses
Gross: $28,110,000 (new)
Screens: 3,040 (PSA: $9,247)
Weeks: 1
The summer of R-rated comedy continues, with Seth Gordon's ensemble raunch-a-thon delivering a strong debut for the gang at New Line and Warner Bros. Sweeter still: These efforts have shown remarkable legs so far as counterprogramming against the all-ages tentpoles. With Potter, Captain America_, Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs all en route, don't be surprised if this cracks $100 million by the end of the month.
3. Zookeeper
Gross: $21,000,000 ($21,000,000)
Screens: 3,482 (PSA: $6,031)
Weeks: 1
Scathing reviews are no match for the dream team of the new Chris Farley, time-travel product placement and the Gorilla Technology Envelope.
4. Cars 2
Gross: $15,209,000 ($148,828,000)
Screens: 3,990 (PSA: $3,812)
Weeks: 3 (change: -42.1%)
You know, it's funny: I can't remember the last movie to make $150 million domestically that nobody I know either a) has seen or b) will admit to seeing. Is this just me? Help me understand.
5. Bad Teacher
Gross: $9,000,000 ($78,757,000)
Screens: 2,962 (PSA: $3,038)
Weeks: 3 (change: -38.0%)
See Horrible Bosses comments above.
[Numbers via Box Office Mojo]