The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures based on actual box office.
Although the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez B-movie double feature Grindhouse seemed to have the most buzz going into the Easter weekend, there didn’t seem to be an audience willing to sit through three plus hours of the filmmakers’ tribute to B-exploitation movies, as it failed to dethrone last week’s returning movies and a new comedy sequel starring Ice Cube.
Instead, the Will Ferrell-Jon Heder comedy Blades of Glory and Disney’s Meet the Robinsons remained on top for a second week in a row. “Blades” brought in an estimated $23 million over Easter weekend to bring its total to $68.3 million, while Robinsons added roughly $17 million to its box office total of $52.2 million. Each movie dropped rougly 30 – 32% from their opening weekend thanks to the added boost of Good Friday.
The holiday also helped Sony’s family comedy sequel Are We Done Yet?, once again starring Ice Cube, to gross just over $19 million in its first five days after opening on Wednesday in 2,877 theatres. Its three-day weekend take of $15 million was 20% less than the original movie Are We There Yet? made in January ’05.
Despite an abundance of media coverage, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s double feature Grindhouse opened with just $5 million on Friday struggling to $11.5 million over the weekend, less than half what many expected the movie to make based on Tarantino and Rodriguez’s past track record. Opening in fourth place, Grindhouse is unlikely to make back its reported $53 million production budget in theatres, at least not in the U.S.
It may have lost some of its R-rated horror business to Dark Castle’s horror-thriller The Reaping, starring Hillary Swank, which tied its biblically-influenced premise of plagues striking a small town into the Easter and Passover holidays to make an estimated $10.1 million over the weekend, following its $2 million opening day on Thursday.
Dropping to #6, Zack Snyder’s 300 continued to hold up strong over the holiday frame with an additional $8.8 million, bringing its total to $193.9 million. It’s very likely to pass the $200 million mark by this time next week.
Touchstone Pictures’ Wild Hogs also did well, grossing $6.8 million in seventh place and bringing its own total to $145.4 million.
Dropping to eighth place, the Mark Wahlberg action-thriller Shooter took in $5.8 million over the weekend, a 30% drop from last week, to bring its total to $36.6 million. That was enough for it to pass Warner Bros’ computer animated TMNT, which grossed just under $5 million in its third weekend for a total of $46.7 million.
Just squeaking into the Top 10 with a measly $4 million after making $1.2 million on Wednesday and Thursday, the Fox family comedy Firehouse Dog had trouble finding an audience with so many stronger family movie choices.
On Friday, Miramax Films released Lasse Hallström’s crime drama The Hoax, starring Richard Gere, into 235 theatres in select cities where it made $1.5 million over the weekend, an average of $6,300 per theatre. It’s scheduled to open nationwide on Friday.
Paul Verhoeven’s WWII drama Black Book opened on Wednesday in 9 theatres in New York and L.A., and it grossed roughly $145 thousand in its first five days, an average of $13 thousand per theatre for the weekend.
THINKFilm’s The TV Set, written and directed by Jake Kasdan (“Freaks and Geeks”), opened in one less theatre in New York and L.A., but only brought in $40 thousand over the three days.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
