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Priest opened poorly this weekend, but as a silver lining, it beat some even worse tracking expectations. Screen Gems' long delayed Priest finally hit theaters and did it with a thud, as the Legion-like film earned only $14.5 million in its debut. Out to only 2,864 venues, some of those 3D, the sci-fi action film (with vampires!) logged a sad sack venue average of $2,864. Like Legion, it had the same director, same star, similar story, and same bad reviews (21% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes). What Legion had but Priest did not was a fantastic trailer, which helped it earn more - $17.5 million - in late January, a much harder time to get people to the movies. Priest finished shooting in November of 2009 and was originally scheduled to open in August of 2010, but was then moved to January 2011 before eventually being pushed to this weekend. Screen Gems spent at least $60 million making Priest, a number this one will not see domestically.

Fifth is Rio despite being in release week number five. The talking bird movie from Fox earned another $8 million and dropped 6%. The $90 million film has now earned $125 million stateside, and almost $30 million overseas.

Sixth is Jumping the Broom, last weekend's surprise third place film with $15.2 million. Unfortunately, Jumping the Broom pulled a Madea, and fell 52% to only $7.3 million this weekend. Despite the drop, this comedy is doing very well, as it cost only $7 million to make, and has a cumulative total of $26 million so far.

Seventh goes to Something Borrowed, which got its legs crushed by a bunch of Bridesmaids. After a decent-but-not-spectacular opening of $14 million last weekend, Borrowed dropped 50% in its second frame, earning only $7 million. The debut of Bridesmaids and a 21% fresh rating aren't helping the Hilary Swank-produced film. This one cost Warner Bros. $35 million, a number it should approach by the end of its run. Something Borrowed has earned $25.6 million so far.

Eighth is Water For Elephants, another chick flick getting stomped by Bridesmaids. The Reese Witherspoon drama earned only $4.1 million this weekend and fell 32%. The $38 million Fox release has now earned $48.8 million.

Madea's Big Happy Family is ninth this weekend. It earned $2.2 million and fell 47%. It has a total so far of $50.2 million.

Soul Surfer manages another weekend in the top ten. The one-armed surfing movie earned another $1.8 million in its sixth weekend, and dropped 22%. The small $18 million film has now earned $39.2 million.

Overall, the box office is not bountiful this weekend, but it does provide an absolute perfect setup for a huge Pirates of the Caribbean opening next weekend. The top 12 this weekend earned only $125.3 million, well back of the $155 million earned last weekend, and the $131 million earned last year over the same frame.

Top Weekend Box Office for 5/13/11-5/15/11 (Actuals)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Actual Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Thor	Marvel Studios	$34,500,000	$34,703,035	- 47.2%	$119,455,352
2	Bridesmaids	Universal	$24,409,070	$26,247,410	New	$26,247,410
3	Fast Five		$19,533,950	$20,444,270	- 37.0%	$169,690,470
4	Priest	Screen Gems (Sony)	$14,500,000	$14,953,664	New	$14,953,664
5	Rio	20th Century Fox	$8,000,000	$8,275,058	- 2.7%	$125,243,198
6	Jumping the Broom	Sony/Columbia	$7,300,000	$7,066,190	- 53.6%	$25,760,004
7	Something Borrowed	Warner Bros.	$7,000,000	$6,872,221	- 50.7%	$25,518,733
8	Water for Elephants	Twentieth Century Fox	$4,100,000	$4,203,095	- 30.8%	$48,578,875
9	Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family	Lions Gate	$2,200,000	$2,214,033	New	$50,232,182
10	Soul Surfer		$1,800,000	$1,826,788	- 20.8%	$39,232,956
11	Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil	The Weinstein Company	$1,031,000	$1,151,268	New	$8,562,861
12	Insidious	FilmDistrict	$965,233	$958,323	- 28.4%	$51,674,312
	Also Opening/Notables
	Hesher	Newmarket Film Group	$126,811	$126,046	New	$126,046
	Go For It	Lionsgate	$125,000	$119,714	New	$119,714
	The First Grader	National Geographic	$22,568	$20,437	New	$20,437
	Out the Gate	Far i Films	N/A	$14,990	New	$14,990
	Hey, Boo	First Run	N/A	$5,457	New	$5,457
	Skateland		$5,165	$5,254	New	$5,254
	Cameraman: the Life And Work of Jack Cardiff	Strand	N/A	$1,998	New	$1,998
	The Beaver	Summit Entertainment	$158,000	$161,201	+ 49.8%	$311,558
	Prom		$870,000	$939,043	- 57.6%	$8,971,930
	Source Code		$875,000	$837,279	- 32.7%	$52,233,801
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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