Weekend Wrap-Up: Lorax has a Sustainable Run

March 12, 2012

As expected, Doctor Seuss' The Lorax led the way at the box office, but unfortunately, it was on the low end of expectations. Unfortunately, while John Carter did land on the high end of expectations, it really wasn't able to pick up the slack. Overall, the box office fell 21% from last week to $133 million. This was higher than the same weekend last year, but by only 3%. At least the streak is still intact and has now reached ten weeks. Year-to-date, 2012 has reached $2 billion and is now ahead of 2011 by 18% at $2.01 billion to $1.70 billion. Let's hope next week is just as lucrative.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax fell a little bit faster than expected, but still added $38.85 million over the past three days for a total of $121.72 million after ten. This is not a bad hold, but not great for a family film. This mirrors the film's reviews, which are okay, but not great. At this pace, the film could reach $200 million, but it depends on how many theaters it can hold onto when The Hunger Games opens in a couple weeks.

On the one hand, John Carter opened better than expected earning $30.18 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are just a hair over 50% positive (if one positive review was reversed, it would be at exactly 50%) so the word-of-mouth won't be positive nor negative, so its legs will likely be average. Had this film cost $100 million to make, this would have been an acceptable beginning, assuming it would earn more internationally. However, it cost anywhere from $200 million to $300 million, so it will likely cost the studio a bundle.

Project X added $11.14 million over the weekend for a total of $39.72 million after two. At this pace, it will have roughly $50 million by this time next week and $60 million by the end of its run. That's amazing considering how little the film cost to make.

Act of Valor remained in the top five with $6.99 million over the weekend giving it a total of $56.09 million after three. Again, it was a relatively inexpensive movie to make, so it is a big hit given this result so far.

On the other hand, Silent House is not a hit. It only managed a fifth place with $6.66 million. Granted, it was only playing in 2,124 theaters, but this was still a bad result. It's not a bad movie; it's not a good movie either. It's solidly average. This poor result is likely due to a combination of new distributor and a star with only one previous lead role.

Finally we get to A Thousand Words. Given the amount of time this film sat on a studio shelf, very few people though it would be a good movie. However, very few thought it would earn no positive reviews out of the first 41 posted on Rotten Tomatoes. It's no surprise it also struggled at the box office earning just $6.18 million. It will likely see its theater count decimated in a couple weeks and it will be mostly forgotten by the time it reaches the home market.


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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, A Thousand Words, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, John Carter, Project X, Act of Valor, Silent House