Weekend Wrap-Up: 21 Jumps High, but Overall Box Office Low

March 19, 2012

2012's winning streak finally came to a close, but it was close. Overall the total box office was $111 million, which was 17% lower than last week and more importantly, down 3.6% compared to the same weekend last year. 21 Jump Street did hold up its end of the box office numbers, but since the only other new release in the top ten was Casa di me Padre, is wasn't enough. Year-to-date, 2012 is still ahead of 2011's pace by 16% at $2.16 billion to $1.87 billion. That lead will grow next weekend with the release of The Hunger Games, which could be record-breaking at the box office and is just as strong with critics.

21 Jump Street earned some of the best reviews of any wide release of the year, and fortunately that translated into box office success. It topped expectations with $36.30 million over the weekend, which is a strong start for a film that reportedly cost $42 million to make. It will need to make about $125 million to breakeven, before you take into account its international or home market numbers. That's not going to happen. But it might get close to $100 million, meaning the film will only need to earn about half that internationally to break even during its initial push into the home market. Regardless, it should break even sooner rather than later and I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel is already in the works.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax continued its march to $200 million adding $22.76 million over the weekend for a total of $158.39 million after three. This was a little lower than anticipated and it does make $200 million harder to get to, but without any kids movies opening in theaters for the next few weeks, it should still get there, but it might need a little push.

Disney told investors today to expect a $200 million loss from John Carter. Ouch. This weekend it only made $13.57 million giving it a running tally of $53.23 million. At this pace, it will end its run with $80 million and even though it will make more than double that internationally, that's nowhere near enough to break even. However, if it can make $300 million worldwide, it might be enough to save someone's job.

There was a huge drop to fourth place with Project X pulling in just $4.04 million over the weekend, but it now has $48.17 million after three weeks of release. It will start shedding theaters at an accelerated pace next weekend.

As expected, Act of Valor earned fifth place with $3.73 million over the weekend for a total of $62.45 million after four weeks of release. It might stick around in the top five next week, but even if it doesn't it has made more than enough to show a profit.

Looking in on the sophomore class, A Thousand Words landed in sixth place with $3.63 million over three days for a total of $11.99 million after ten. Its drop-off of 41% isn't bad, but it started so low that this is still a complete bomb. Silent House absolutely collapsed down 68% to just $2.11 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $10.61 million. Theater owners will be dropping this film by the ton on Friday when The Hunger Games opens.


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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, A Thousand Words, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, John Carter, 21 Jump Street, Casa de mi Padre, The Hunger Games, Project X, Act of Valor, Silent House