Weekend Wrap-Up

Date Night overcomes Titans and Dragons

By John Hamann

April 11, 2010

Not even a shirtless Wahlberg makes up for the plant movie.

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Also just barely behind in third place is How to Train Your Dragon, which is now in its third frame. This weekend, How to Train Your Dragon earned $25.4 million, off a tiny 13% compared to last weekend's gross of $29 million. Theaters are obviously moving Dragon back to their 3D cinemas in place of Clash of the Titans, likely allowing for more marked-up 3D revenue for Dragons. With 3D volume being so new, we have really yet to see this phenomenon occur, and this is the first real example. Last weekend, when Clash of the Titans was fading after a big Friday, Dragon actually matched its Friday gross on Saturday, despite Friday being a holiday and a day off for the kids. That tells me that demand was not met for Dragons in 3D on Friday, and supply for Titans was over met on Saturday. How to Train Your Dragon is now turning into a small phenomenon, with word-of-mouth being excellent, and the 3D surreal. With no new kid fare (or 3D) until April 30th, Dragon has a real opportunity to earn in excess of $20 million over the next two weekends. So far, the $165 million Paramount/DreamWorks effort has earned $133.9 million, and a similar amount overseas.

Why Did I Get Married Too? is the big winner in the "plunge of the weekend" contest, as the Tyler Perry film flew way under its $29.3 million opening. While it is true that Tyler Perry films are usually one and done at the box office, Why Did I Get Married Too? also gets hit on the fact that last weekend was Easter, and many of Perry's films are religion based. The result is a fourth place finish this weekend. Married Too earns $11 million and drops a truly hefty 62% in the process. The original Why Did I Get Married opened to $21.4 million and dropped only 43% in its second frame (which is an extremely solid second weekend hold for a Perry film). While this Married will outgross the original ($55.2 million), it won't outdo it by all that much. So far, this $20 million production has earned $48.5 million.

Finishing fifth this weekend is The Last Song, the Miley Cyrus flick based on a book by Nicolas Sparks. After opening with an okay $16 million over the Easter frame, many thought The Last Song would be "one and done" as Cyrus's flock took the film in last weekend, and wisely won't be back. What we forget is that this is Nicolas Sparks' territory, so despite film quality and star, this one is likely to hold. In its second frame, The Last Song earned $10 million and dropped 37%, which isn't bad when your film is only 14% fresh. The also awful Dear John opened larger, and while it was in the top ten, had only one 50%+ drop, and that weekend marked the only time a Nicolas Sparks film had seen that kind of fall. Movies based on Sparks novels may be awful, but they make money – the latest example is The Last Song. It was made for only $20 million, and has already earned $42.4 million.




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Sixth spot goes to Alice In Wonderland, which finished fifth last weekend. Now in its sixth weekend, Alice in Wonderland earned a solid $5.6 million, and drops only 32%. This is the first weekend that the Tim Burton film hasn't seen a drop in the 45-55% range, and will help propel to a domestic total in the mid $330 million area. Currently, the Johnny Depp flick has taken in $319.3 million at the domestic box office, and is approaching $450 million overseas.

Seventh goes to Hot Tub Time Machine, which is now in its third frame. The John Cusack comedy took in $5.4 million and dropped 33% compared to last weekend. The $36 million MGM film has now earned $37 million as it manages to at least equal its production budget with its domestic gross.

Eighth is The Bounty Hunter, which can't leave the top ten fast enough. Bounty earned $4.3 million this weekend and dropped 29%. The film with the 8% rating at RT has now earned $56 million.

Ninth is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Diary, which opened strong with $22 million before caving with follow up drops of 54% and 48%, has a better hold this weekend. Diary earned $4.1 million and dropped 23%. The small, $15 million film now has a running total of $53.8 million.

Finally in tenth is a tiny film from Vivendi Entertainment called Letters to God. This film, targeted to a Christian/religious base, earned $1.1 million over the weekend. This is a case of a grass-roots effort at marketing making a difference, as it's unlikely that you had even heard of this movie prior to its surprise appearance on the Friday box office chart.

Overall this weekend, the box office was actually quite close to last year's totals, despite the 2009 frame being the Easter weekend and being the opening weekend for Hannah Montana: The Movie. A year ago, with Hannah on top with $32 million, the top 12 films at the box office took in $125.8 million. This year, the top 12 films earned $126.3 million, which is a strong number, considering there was only one opener, and it didn't finish in top spot. Next weekend could be quite interesting, as the much talked about superhero comedy Kick-Ass opens, along with Death at a Funeral.


Top Weekend Box Office for 4/9/10-4/11/10 (Actuals)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Actual Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Clash of the Titans Warner Bros. Pictures $26,875,000 $26,633,209 - 56.5% $110,226,524
2 Date Night 20th Century Fox $27,100,000 $25,207,599 New $25,207,599
3 How to Train Your Dragon DreamWorks Pictures $25,350,000 $24,863,535 - 14.3% $133,404,438
4 Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? Lionsgate $11,000,000 $11,017,379 - 62.4% $48,537,039
5 The Last Song WALT DISNEY $10,018,000 $9,832,326 -39% $42,255,196
6 Hot Tub Time Machine MGM $5,430,000 $5,431,021 - 32.7% $36,969,649
7 Alice in Wonderland Walt Disney Pictures $5,615,000 $5,301,730 - 35.4% $319,009,518
8 The Bounty Hunter Columbia Pictures (Sony) $4,300,000 $4,215,156 - 30.8% $55,916,622
9 Diary of a Wimpy Kid 20th Century Fox $4,100,000 $3,979,641 - 24.9% $53,636,368
10 Letters To God Vivendi $1,121,000 $1,101,204 New $1,101,204
11 Shutter Island Paramount $885,000 $885,288 - 40.5% $125,001,481
12 Avatar 20th Century Fox $870,000 $844,651 - 13.8% $743,688,973
  Also Opening/Notables
  The Black Waters of Echo's Pond Parallel Media $215,000 $215,000 New $215,000
  When You're Strange Abramorama $65,371 $66,833 New $66,833
  After.Life N/A $59,946 New $59,946
  The Square Apparition $16,564 $17,092 New $17,092
  Women Without Men Indiepix $15,210 $14,404 New $14,404
  The Cremaster Cycle Int'l Film Circuit N/A $7,982 New $7,982
  The Greatest Paladin $40,850 $37,113 + 10.4% $85,468
  The Sun Behind the Clouds Balcony $7,106 $7,134 New $28,308
  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Music Box $557,149 $554,661 -34% $2,183,555
  The Runaways Apparition $470,029 $469,260 +182.0% $2,517,227
  Greenberg Focus Features $447,406 $420,938 - 42.0% $2,943,653
  Hubble 3d WARNER BROS. $375,000 $354,967 -19% $2,765,774
  City Island Anchor Bay $215,000 $201,379 40% $513,275
  The Ghost Writer SUMMIT $867,000 $822,351 New $12,293,735
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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