Weekend Wrap-Up
Late-April Box Office Stumbles Towards Avengers
By John Hamann
April 29, 2012
Sixth is Safe, the new Jason Statham film, doing exactly what Jason Statham movies do at the box office – they open at or around $10 million, and fade quickly. Safe earned $7.7 million from only 2,266 venues, after being pushed back from an October 2011 release date. Safe was made for $30 million, and will likely out-earn what its domestic figures when it heads overseas, making this one a profitable venture... eventually.
Seventh is The Raven, with John Cusack playing Edgar Allen Poe. The Raven earned only $7.3 million for Relativity Media, and with that number, some would think this is a car accident in waiting. Actually, it will end up as a mild success for the distributor. Relativity picked up the North American rights for only $4 million, and after marketing, will likely only have a $20 million exposure, making it a push for the distributor.
Eighth goes to last weekend's number four film, Chimpanzee, the Disney Earth Day release. Now that Earth Day is behind us, this one has been abandoned. Chimpanzee grossed only $5.5 million and dropped 48% this weekend. It has a cume so far of $19.2 million, which isn't bad for a nature documentary.
Ninth goes to The Three Stooges, which surprised with a fifth place, $9.8 million finish last weekend. This weekend, the Stooges fell, earning $5.4 million and dropping 45%. The surprise for me with the Stooges is how much the kids dig it. Last weekend, the Fox film had an internal weekend multiplier of 4.1, which means the movie made more on Saturday and Sunday than it did on Friday. Give The Three Stooges $37.1 million so far, against a $30 million budget.
Finally in tenth is Cabin in the Woods, which earned $4.5 million and dropped 44% compared to last weekend. It has a gross so far of $34.7 million, and it's interesting that as this Josh Whedon film goes, another comes next weekend in the form of The Avengers, challenging box office records as it comes onto the scene.
Overall this weekend, for a late April weekend, things are where they should be, if not a little ahead. The top 12 films this weekend earned $99.6 million, an amount that will likely be eclipsed by a single film next weekend, Marvel's The Avengers, the weekend's sole opener. Last year, the top 12 earned $121.2 million thanks to Rio. The 2010 version of the same weekend brought in $91.7 million.
| 1 |
Think Like a Man |
SONY |
$18,000,000 |
- 46% |
$60,868,000 |
| 2 |
The Pirates! Band of Misfits |
Columbia Pictures (Sony) |
$11,400,000 |
New |
$11,400,000 |
| 3 |
The Lucky One |
Warner Bros. |
$11,325,000 |
- 50% |
$39,927,000 |
| 4 |
The Hunger Games |
Lionsgate |
$11,250,000 |
- 23% |
$372,454,750 |
| 5 |
The Five-year Engagement |
Universal |
$11,156,800 |
New |
$11,156,800 |
| 6 |
Safe |
Lionsgate |
$7,720,000 |
New |
$7,720,000 |
| 7 |
The Raven |
Relativity |
$7,250,000 |
New |
$7,250,000 |
| 8 |
Chimpanzee |
WALT DISNEY |
$5,500,000 |
- 48%5 |
$19,200,000 |
| 9 |
The Three Stooges |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$5,400,000 |
- 45% |
$37,140,544 |
| 10 |
The Cabin in the Woods |
MGM |
$4,500,000 |
- 44% |
$34,663,840 |
| 11 |
21 Jump Street |
Columbia Pictures (Sony) |
$3,100,000 |
- 35% |
$132,038,000 |
| 12 |
American Reunion |
Universal |
$3,004,830 |
- 45% |
$53,568,665 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
Bernie |
Millennium |
$90,438 |
New |
$90,438 |
| |
The Sound of My Voice |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$40,069 |
New |
$40,069 |
| |
Headhunters |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$40,000 |
New |
$40,000 |
| |
The Highest Pass |
Cinema Libre |
$9,000 |
New |
$9,000 |
| |
To the Arctic |
WARNER BROS. |
$225,000 |
- 17% |
$650,000 |
| |
Marley |
Magnolia |
$190,000 |
- 27% |
$550,000 |
| |
Darling Companion |
Sony Classics |
$71,614 |
+ 79% |
$126,515 |
| |
Bully |
The Weinstein Company |
$330,000 |
- 36% |
$2,126,479 |
| |
Titanic 3d |
Paramount |
$1,915,000 |
- 62% |
$56,282,000 |
| |
Mirror Mirror |
Relativity Media |
$2,242,000 |
- 49% |
$58,879,422 |
| |
Wrath of the Titans |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$1,985,000 |
- 49% |
$80,529,000 |
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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