Weekend Wrap-Up for April 23-25, 2010

Box Office Waits For Iron Man

By John Hamann

April 25, 2010

More charming than any recent romantic comedy.

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We then have to look back at Kick-Ass – this is an R-rated flick that has its biggest following amongst teens, who are legally not allowed to see this movie. So what happens? In the world of the googaplex, kids can buy a ticket for How to Train Your Dragon, and go see Kick-Ass. An argument can also be made that the wacky internal multipliers are due to the 3D effect – more product one weekend than another – and again denotes the new world we are in with 3D and its effect on box office. From a box office perspective, the answers aren't readily available, and I doubt theater owners care too much, as they have a butt in the seat anyway. This weekend, Dragon's internal multiplier was 4.17 and Kick-Ass has dropped off in a very big way, which likely means the trend has reversed, and we are seeing a more normal picture of box office this weekend.

Finishing in second this weekend is Ms. Taco Kisses herself, Jennifer Lopez, in The Back-Up Plan from CBS films. In her first film in three years, and only her second in five, Ms. Lopez definitely did not breakout, as The Back-Up Plan earned only $12.3 million this weekend from 3,280 venues. While soft, it is the biggest opening for Lopez since Monster-In-Law debuted in 2005 to $23 million, but even that open was an aberration for the singer, as her usual debuts are in the $10-$17 million area. This is the second release for upstart CBS Films, which struggled earlier this year with the Harrison Ford starrer, Extraordinary Measures, which tanked, earning only $12.5 million after opening to $6 million. Critics certainly did not like The Back Up Plan, as it earned only a 22% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes, with only 16 positive reviews out of a possible 58. While budget data is unavailable, CBS Films makes films that cost less than $50 million, and in this case, it feels like less than $35 million. Whatever the budget, CBS Films needs to chalk this one up as another loss, and hope that their summer release, Beastly, works better.




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Date Night finishes third despite being in its third weekend at the box office. Date Night earned $10.6 million and is having a decent run for 20th Century Fox. The Tina Fey/Steve Carell comedy was off 37% compared to last weekend's drop of 34%. Date Night cost Fox about $55 million to make, and has a gross so far of $63.5 million. Somewhat surprisingly, Date Night could see as much as $80-$90 million before it's done.

Fourth spot goes to our other major opener this weekend, The Losers, starring the lovely Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Avatar). The Losers has the Joel Silver brand, so is obviously about guns, testosterone and violence. The Losers has an appropriate title, as the film earned only $9.6 million from 2,936 venues. For Zoe Saldana, this is a big step backwards after scoring hits with Vantage Point in 2008 ($22 million opening, $72 million domestic finish), which was followed up by huge films like Star Trek ($79 million opening, $257 million finish) and Avatar ($745 million and counting). IMDb lists a budget for The Losers at $25 million, a number it should see eventually from its domestic run.


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