Weekend Wrap-Up

Fast & Furious Races to Victory

By John Hamann

May 26, 2013

Just another day at the office.

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That puts Star Trek Into Darkness into third this weekend. After opening to a subdued $70.2 million last weekend ($83.7 million four-day), Star Trek Into Darkness fell 46% over the Memorial Day frame, down to $38 million. The 2009 Star Trek reboot fell only 42% in its second frame, as it faced off against the softer Angels & Demons in its second weekend. The four-day Memorial take will lessen the bump, but this has to be considered another weekend where Paramount has left money on the table. The $190 million release has now earned $146.8 million stateside and now gets to face off against a Will Smith sci-fi adventure in After Earth next weekend.

Finishing fourth is Epic from Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, the group behind the Ice Age movies. For the first time, Fox and Blue Sky open a non-Ice Age film in the summer, and they get bold by choosing Memorial Day weekend to launch Epic, one of these sleepy, environmentally-friendly family films. Epic did okay, considering it didn't have the built-in audience like all the other films in the top six had this weekend. Epic earned $34.2 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period, as the overall box office expands to allow more big earners in. The animated release had the second-most screens of the weekend at 3,882, second only to Star Trek's 3,907. Fox chose the right weekend to launch Epic, as The Croods had been the only animated choice for almost three months, and the target demo (and their parents) had to be drooling for something new. Reviews were only okay at 63% fresh, and were downright bad from "top critics" at Rotten Tomatoes, as they came in at 41% fresh. Epic cost Fox and Blue Sky $100 million to make, and it should earn $120 million stateside. However, if Epic performs like Rio, Fox could earn three times the domestic gross overseas.

Fifth spot goes to Iron Man 3, as the Disney release works through its fourth strong weekend of release. Tony Stark and friends earned another $19.4 million, and Iron Man 3 sees another drop of 46%, to go with its 51% and 58% declines from previous weekends. However, when your film has already earned $367.5 million on the domestic front, it is hard to keep those percentage drops above the 50% mark. Iron Man 3 crossed the $350 million mark on Friday, its 22nd day, making it the fifth fastest film to reach that mark. It should join the top 20 domestic earners of all time next weekend. The $200 million Shane Black actioner has also earned over $750 million overseas, and it remains anyone's guess as to where it ends up overall.




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Finishing sixth, and showing the power of this weekend's box office, is The Great Gatsby, as it is the sixth film to earn over $10 million this weekend. The Baz Luhrmann spectacle took in another $13.7 million this weekend, but drops a rather large 43% compared to last weekend. Still, the $105 million Gatsby has now earned $114.4 million stateside, and will cross the $50 million mark overseas this weekend.

The rest of the top ten are those releases that have been around forever, and are still waiting to get kicked to the side of the road. Seventh is Mud, which earned $1.9 million and has earned $14.5 million to date. 42 finishes in eighth place as it takes in $1.2 million and brings its running total to $91 million. Ninth is The Croods, which tallied $1.2 million and has a domestic total of $179.2 million. Finally, tenth place goes to Oblivion, which doesn't even crack the million dollar mark. Its grand total to date in North America is $86.5 million, and its overseas numbers are about double that amount.

Limited release Before Midnight, the third release in Richard Linklater’s Before series, served up $273,944 from only five theaters this weekend, giving it an outstanding theater average of $54,789.

Overall this weekend, we have a new record for a Memorial Day top 12, as this weekend's crop brought in an amazing $252.7 million. Other yearly top 12 Memorial Day weekend amounts: $146.3 million in 2012; $216.2 million in 2011; $145.3 million in 2010; $169.8 million in 2009; and $167.5 million in 2008. Next weekend brings After Earth and Now You See Me into the mix, so it should be another interesting weekend at the box office.


Top Ten for Weekend of
Rank
Film
Distributor
Estimated Gross
Weekly Change
Running Total
1 Fast & Furious 6 Universal 98.5 New 98.5
2 The Hangover Part III Warner Bros. 42.4 New 54.2
3 Star Trek Into Darkness Paramount Pictures 38.0 -46% 121.7
4 Epic Fox 34.2 New 34.2
5 Iron Man 3 Walt Disney 19.4 -46% 367.5
6 The Great Gatsby Warner Bros. 13.7 -43% 114.4
7 Mud Roadside Attractions 1.9 -14% 14.5
8 42 Warner Bros. 1.2 -56% 91.0
9 The Croods Fox 1.2 -60% 179.2
10 Oblivion Universal .8 -65% 87.3
11 Oz the Great & Powerful Disney .6 -28% 232.2
12 Pain & Gain Paramount Pictures .6 -81% 47.3

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