Weekend Estimates: Shrek Retains Top Spot as Openers Fall Flat

June 6, 2010

The box office performance of this weekend's four openers ranged from mediocre to dismal, which meant that Shrek Forever After, in spite of under-performing itself, was able to hold on to top spot for a third weekend. Its $25.3 million estimated gross for the weekend is down 42% from the 3-day Memorial Day weekend, which isn't a bad performance for a post-holiday frame. Overall, though, the market is looking increasingly soft, perhaps because the long-gestating Summer tentpoles are looking jaded in comparison to the wonders of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland.

Among the openers, Get Him to the Greek fared best with a $17.4 million opening weekend. That's Universal's second-best opening of the year behind Robin Hood, but sets the movie on course for a disappointing $50 million or so total. Killers' $16.1 million won't be too disappointing for Lionsgate, which tends to have slightly lower marketing costs than the majors. It's debut is still lower than the unspectacular first weekend for Kick-Ass earlier in the year, though.

Marmaduke is a dud for Fox, coming out the gate with just $11.3 million. Pet-centered family movies do have a habit of sticking around in theaters, so its long term prospects might not be as bad as its opening implies, but even a $50 million total haul looks out of the question.

Splice, meanwhile, managed just $7.45 million on its opening weekend, and will disappear from theaters in a hurry. It looks unlikely to top $20 million, which will be nothing short of a disaster financially.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates