Karate Kid Scores Convincing Takedown

June 14, 2010

It turns out that the battle of the 80s superstars was a one-sided affair, as The Karate Kid easily took the top spot. Overall, the box office brought in $151 million over the weekend, which was 18% higher than last weekend and nearly 10% higher than the same weekend last year. It will take a few more weekends like this before the exuberance from earlier in the year returns, but this is a welcome result. Year-to-date, 2010 has now made $4.68 billion compared to last year's running tally of $4.53 billion, but its lead is due to much higher ticket prices. Attendance is down by 3%.

The Karate Kid beat even the high end of Thursday's prediction, earning $55.67 million over the weekend, which was more than twice its nearest competitor. It took the original eight weeks to earn that much. Granted, the 26-year gap in releases makes that comparison less than useful, but it's a fun tidbit to pass along. Going forward, the film's chances look strong. Its reviews improved to 70% positive, making it one of the best wide releases the summer has given us thus far. (But not as good as the original.) On the other hand, a lot of the members of this film's target audience will be siphoned off by Toy Story 3. $100 million is practically guaranteed, while $150 million is a solid goal.

Before directing The A-Team, Joe Carnahan had directed Narc and Smokin' Aces. Narc was praised by critics while Smokin' Aces was not. In comparison, The A-Team earned reviews that fitly nicely in the middle of those two movies, which is more than acceptable for this type of film. I bring this up because it is a little surprising that the movie missed even the low end of Thursday's predictions, opening with just $25.69 million over the weekend. That's not that much higher than Smokin' Aces, a January release, which opened with more than three years ago. Many thought this film would have a run closer to G.I.Joe than Smokin' Aces and even most low end predictions had it hitting $100 million. That won't happen now. And for a movie with a reported $100 million production budget, that's bad news.

It was a milestone weekend for Shrek Forever After, as it became the fourth film of the year to reach the $200 million mark. Over the weekend it added $15.77 million for a total of $210.02 million after four.

Get Him to the Greek held up a little better than expected, down 43% to $9.94 million over the past three days for a ten-day total of $36.40 million. It should reach $50 million before it leaves theaters, but it likely won't match its predecessor, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Rounding out the top five is Killers, which as expected fell close to 50% to $8.01 million over the weekend for a total of $30.26 million after two. Since it cost $70 million to make, this is not nearly enough, and unless it is a big hit internationally and on the home market, it won't break even.

Moving onto the sophomore class, we find Marmaduke in seventh place with $6.01 million over the weekend and $22.29 million after two. With direct competition opening this Friday, it will likely take a real dive. Finally, despite having the best reviews in the top ten, Splice fell more than 60% to just $2.94 million over the weekend. So far it has made $13.15 million off a $26 million budget, but hopefully word-of-mouth will follow it to the home market.


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Filed under: The A-Team, Killers, Splice, Marmaduke, Shrek Forever After, The Karate Kid, Get Him to the Greek