The Slump is Dead
April 19, 2011
Woo hoo! 2011 finally won a week without having to rely on a misaligned holiday. Granted, the overall box office was about $20 million lower than expected, but I don't care. At this point I will take any win we can get. The overall box office was $130 million, which is 12% higher than last weekend and 8% higher from the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is still down by a tragic amount, 19% to be precise at $2.65 billion to $3.29 billion, but at least we are moving in the right direction and if we can add a couple more wins before summer starts, it would be great.
Rio didn't quite live up to Thursday's prediction, but it came close enough to win the box office race with ease. In fact, with an opening weekend haul of $39.23 million, it had the biggest opening weekend of the year so far. Add in strong reviews and the film should have no real trouble hitting $100 million domestically, while it is already over that mark internationally.
On the other hand, Scream 4 really struggled, opening with just $18.96 million, which is the weakest opening in the franchise since the first film. That's 15 years of inflation, plus a theater count that was more than double the first film's. It wasn't a terribly expensive movie to make, and the reviews are solid for the genre, so it should earn a profit sometime during the film's initial run on the home market. However, I don't think that will be enough to convince the studio to create a new trilogy.
Hop fell to third place with $10.72 million, which was barely half of what it earned last weekend, while it lifted its running tally to $82.16 million. It will last long enough in theaters to reach $100 million, but after Easter comes and goes, this film will follow.
There was a virtual dead heat for fourth place between Hanna and Soul Surfer. The former won, but by less than $15,000 at $7.28 million to $7.27 million. Despite Hanna earning better reviews, Soul Surfer held on better, down just 31%, plus it has a better per theater average, so it could hold on to more of its theater count this coming weekend. Both films were relatively low budget, so both should break even by their initial runs on the home market.
Looking in on the sophomore class, we find Arthur in sixth place with $6.76 million over the weekend for a total of $22.16 million after two. It probably didn't cost too much to make, but it will still need to do relatively well internationally and / or on the home market to break even. Your Highness collapsed down 57% to $4.02 million over the past three days for a total of $16.08 million after two. I suspect its theater count will really take a hit over the next two weekends, while by the time summer begins, it will be all but gone.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Your Highness, Rio, Scream 4, Arthur, Soul Surfer, Hanna, Hop