Weekend Estimates: Tyler Perry Sets New Personal Best
February 22, 2009
Madea Goes to Jail dominated Oscar weekend at the movies with an impressive $41.1 million opening, according to Lionsgate's Sunday estimate.
That's a record for Perry, topping the $30 million debut of Madea's Family Reunion two years ago.
Even after factoring in the exhibitor's share of box office, Madea Goes to Jail has already recovered its $17.5 million production budget.
There was one other wide release, Fired Up, which earned an estimated $6 million, probably not as bad as Sony feared.
Friday the 13th dropped a remarkable 80% from its opening three-day weekend.
The rest of the news for the weekend is all about the Oscar nominees.
Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, Milk, Doubt and Frost/Nixon all improved their box office over last weekend by between 10% and 30%.
Millionaire is now on the brink of earning $100 million in US theaters and is the only contender still holding a place in the top ten.
It seems a prohibitive favorite to come away from tonight's ceremony victorious.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Slumdog Millionaire, Madea Goes To Jail, Friday the 13th, The Reader, Doubt, Milk, Frost/Nixon, Fired Up