Cheers to The Last Song star Miley Cyrus, whose first cinematic foray out of the Hannah Montana bubble opened yesterday to No. 1. Her two-day head start on Clash of the Titans grossed $5.1 million on 2,673 screens, capitalizing on spring-break crowds and the early fade of How to Train Your Dragon, which trailed Song by more than a half-million dollars in nearly 50 percent more theaters. Ouch. Release the Kraken, indeed. [Box Office Mojo]
Were any of the new entries at this weekend's box office breathing fire, or will they have to teleport back to the 80's to avoid embarrassment? The boombox is thumping with the news of some weekend receipts.
Here's something that might momentarily pause the rush to 3D: The well-reviewed DreamWorks/Paramount flick How to Train Your Dragon performed at the low end of expectations yesterday with a $12 million take, owing perhaps to the stubborn stranglehold that #2 Alice in Wonderland still has on 3D screens. In the third spot was Hot Tub Time Machine with a modest $4.85 million. Were you to travel back to the 80s with that number and factor in higher ticket prices and inflation...well, you don't want to know. Full figures after the jump:
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Maybe Tim Burton should plan on directing The Addams Family in 3D after all. For a third straight week, Alice in Wonderland topped the box office in dominating fashion and it now ranks as Burton's highest grossing movie ever. Congrats! No such praise is necessary for The Bounty Hunter co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, but despite what you've read, the opening for their film wasn't that disastrous. Find out why—and see the rest of the top-five—after the jump.
The highest-rated Academy Awards in years was perhaps all it took to remind the public of what it is they weren't missing, because aside from the mighty Alice in Wonderland, this weekend's box office came smothered in weak sauce. Even an 88% increase for Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker amounted to no more than $828k, or about half of what The Blind Side, the other Oscar winner to enjoy a post-awards bump, earned in the same frame. More results are on the next page.
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Moviegoers had a wealth of new options to choose from at the box office yesterday, and they responded with a resounding "Meh." Alice in Wonderland yet again took the top spot, and the returns in the next three slots were positively brutal: Green Zone at $5 million, Remember Me at $3.5 million, and She's Out of My League at $3.4 million. Matt Damon and Robert Pattinson, you're on notice.
The full figures:
Oscar Day brings an abbreviated Weekend Receipts: Disney execs were doing a feverish funderwhack today, as the final tallies for Tim Burton's 3D take on Alice in Wonderland were in the vicinity of $116.3 million -- a frabjous haul for the record books! In a distant second place was Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest, taking in $13.5 million, followed by Shutter Island, down 41.3% in its third session with $13.3 million. Kevin Smith's Cop Out fell 49.8% in week two, earning just over $9 million, while James Cameron's Avatar hung in at 5th place with $7.7 million. We'd look up the last time a Best Picture winner was in the box office Top 5 going into the Oscars, but we have a pitcher of potent blue cocktails to mix. Have a great awards, everyone! [BoxOfficeMojo]
American moviegoers' wallets are a stunning $41 million lighter today thanks to Alice in Wonderland, which is currently enjoying the biggest March opening ever. The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration is the latest film to capitalize on the 3D-ticket bump, and if you don't believe it, look where Avatar slid to on Friday -- its first without a monopoly on 3D screens. The week's only other wide release -- Brooklyn's Finest -- performed mediocre at best, while Shutter Island, Cop Out and The Crazies all managed respectable showings against the Disney juggernaut. Find Friday's complete top 10 after the jump.
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Despite the arrival of two new challengers of varying accomplishment (one pretty good!; the other, miserable, sub-mental dreck), it was Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island that walked (swam? hallucinated?) away with the weekend. And then there was Avatar -- whose gross now boasts more donuts than a Krispy Kreme franchise -- which managed to pass the storied (my fingers tremble) $700 million mark at some point yesterday. Yes. That.
Read on for a closer look at the numbers!
Shutter Island clung tenaciously to the top spot at the box office yesterday as two new challengers battled for second. Both Cop Out and The Crazies hovered a little below $6 million for the day, and even if that ends up near the low end of expectations for the former, it will still be director Kevin Smith's best opening ever. Meanwhile, what is Tooth Fairy still doing in the top ten, week after week? Enjoy this while it lasts, guys: Alice in Wonderland is about to do a number on you.
The full figures:
Monetarily speaking, that is. After the gluttonous sugar-rush of Valentine's Day, America lay crashed, dazed and brokenhearted in a drift of empty chocolate wrappers this weekend. It just so happens, however, that that was the ideal psychological state in which to fully appreciate a Shyamalanian thriller from Martin Scorsese set entirely on a water-locked prison for psychotic murderers. We'll ask now that you please relinquish your firearms as you join us on ... WEEKEND RECEIPTS ISLAND! (The forecast calls for hurricanes and heavy Boston accents.)
Shutter Island did what it was supposed to do Friday, riding the DiCaprio/Scorsese Express to $14.1 million and an easy number-one over some very soft competition. Last week's blockbuster Valentine's Day utterly folded -- setting itself up for a second-weekend drop of more than 70 percent -- while Percy Jackson fared only moderately better in third place. And behind them, Avatar made a decent-enough stride in its climb to $700 million. Read on for Friday's full top 10.
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As expected, couples flocked to the multiplex en masse this weekend, dutifully gorging on the biggest star-sweetened confection ever manufactured in Hollywood. The Valentine's Day turnout gave director Garry Marshall his first No. 1 opening since 1999's The Runaway Bride, presumably clearing the path for the resurgent filmmaker's franchising of the entire Gregorian calendar. Audiences didn't stop there, either, nibbling on a pair of other new releases that will duel into Monday for the distinction of America's second-place sweetheart. Let's review the numbers:
It was a day of nice openings yesterday at the box office, as this week's three new entries took the three top spots with decent-to-great debuts. In the lead was monster romcom mashup Valentine's Day, which made $14.6 million, though The Wolfman and Percy Jackson were nipping at its heels and battling it out for second place. Wolfman will probably sink through the weekend, while Valentine's Day will build its juggernaut-like power going into Sunday's titular holiday. Hollywood will not rest until everyone is either in this movie or buying a ticket to it.
The full figures:
Dear Jake,
For seven long weeks, you've been the only soldier for me. I'll always cherish those long rolls on the boardwalk, when we'd get ice cream cones (you loved chocolate!) and plan our future together. But I have to be honest with you, Jake. Since you've taken off on a dangerous secret mission, stationed at some godforsaken outpost somewhere in the cosmos, I feel as if we've been steadily growing apart. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I think it would be best if we start seeing other movies. I hope you understand.
Fondly,
America
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