Weekend Wrap-Up for May 28-30, 2010

Sex and the City, Persia Continue Quiet Summer at the Box Office

By John Hamann

May 30, 2010

We hear the Hulk is their real father.

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
Fourth spot goes to Iron Man 2, which has a better weekend thanks to the holiday and some really questionable openers. Iron Man 2 earned $16 over the three-day portion of the Memorial Day weekend, and was off 39% from the previous frame. After drops of 60% and then 50%, Paramount and Iron Man 2 had to be looking forward to Memorial Day frame, if only to stop the bleeding. Iron Man 2 now has $300 million domestic in its sights, as the $170 million film has a running total of $274.6 million.

Fifth goes to Robin Hood, the Russell Crowe entry that has quickly fizzled on the domestic front, but continues to do okay overseas (where it is being saved from serious flop status). In its third weekend, Robin Hood earned $10.3 million – off 45% despite the help from the holiday. The $200 million Robin Hood is going to struggle to earn $100 million domestically, but will make up the difference it needs overseas. Give it a domestic total of $83 million so far.

Letters to Juliet, one of the few refreshing films in the top ten, finishes sixth in its third frame. Juliet earned $5.9 million this weekend and dipped 34%. This is a solid take considering the debut of Sex and the City 2, which would be pulling the demographic away from Letters to Juliet. The Summit release, which cost $30 million to make (that cost was reduced when foreign rights were sold), has now earned $36.6 million and will end up turning a tidy profit for the upstart Summit.

Fox Searchlight’s Just Wright earns $2.2 and drops 49%. The Queen Latifah flick has managed three top ten finishes, but still has a total that sits at only $18.2 million. Just Wright likely cost about $20 million to make, so it won’t turn out too badly for the arthouse arm of Fox.




Advertisement



Eighth goes to Date Night, the Tina Fey/Steve Carell flick that debuted back in early April. Eight weeks later, Date Night earns $1.8 million and now has a total of $93.4 million, all against a $55 million budget.

Ninth goes to MacGruber, last weekend’s new release that fell on its face. MacGruber earns only $1.5 million in its second frame and falls 63%. The $10 million flick has a total so far of $7.1 million.

Finally in tenth is How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks financially *and* critically successful entry in the top ten. Dragon, which debuted way back in March, added another $1 million to its coffers and now has a domestic total of $212.5 million, along with around $240 million overseas. DreamWorks should take note of this film's performance - it's proof that a wonderful story does wonders for bringing in audiences.

Overall, things just don’t stack up all that well compared to the same weekend last year - and that's even considering that Memorial Day was the week before on the calendar configuration. The top 12 films in 2009 earned $161 million, while this year, the top 12 earned only $145.8 million. Next weekend, four new releases will flush the crap out of the system. Openers include Killers with Ashton Kutcher, Get Him To The Greek from producer Judd Apatow, the horror flick Splice, and Marmaduke from Fox. Looks like flop city to me, but one never knows.


Top Weekend Box Office for 5/28/10-5/30/10 (Estimates)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Shrek Forever After DreamWorks $43,345,000 - 38.8% $133,000,000
2 Sex and the City 2 New Line Cinema $32,125,000 New $46,333,000
3 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Walt Disney Pictures $30,170,000 New $30,170,000
4 Iron Man 2 Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios $16,035,000 - 39.2% $274,600,000
5 Robin Hood Universal Pictures $10,304,515 - 45.1% $83,024,380
6 Letters to Juliet Summit Entertainment $5,912,000 - 34.4% $36,615,418
7 Just Wright Fox Searchlight Pictures $2,200,000 - 48.7% $18,197,518
8 Date Night 20th Century Fox $1,750,000 - 39.9% $93,447,708
9 MacGruber Rogue Pictures $1,476,680 - 63.5% $7,127,015
10 How to Train Your Dragon DreamWorks Pictures $1,025,000 - 46.1% $212,500,000
11 A Nightmare on Elm Street New Line Cinema $865,000 - 62.7% $61,644,000
12 Alice in Wonderland Walt Disney Pictures $560,000 + 15.5% $332,990,000
  Also Opening/Notables
13 Babies Focus $481,685 -34.0% $5,947,789
  Micmacs Sony Classics/entertainment One $48,717 New $48,717
  Breathless Rialto $32,700 New $32,700
  Kites Reliance Big Pictures $300,000 -69.0% $1,475,000
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
Continued:       1       2       3

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.