Box-Office Wrap-Up: Russell Brand Scores #1 and #2 While ‘Hanna’ Surprises
By
Brad Brevet
Russell Brand sits atop the U.S. box-office as his voice takes home #1 and his face takes home #2, but other than a couple of small victories for Focus and FilmDistrict it wasn’t a great weekend.
Laremy predicted the #1 movie correctly 2 Weeks In A Row
By the skin of its teeth, Arthur lands at #2 with a tepid return and I don’t think we’ll be hearing about this one for too long. Brand may be #1 and #2 at the box-office, but the #2 effort isn’t all that impressive.
Laremy was off by $5 million on his pick, but Ian bested him in Thursday’s Oracle comments with a $16.4 million prediction.
Result: $12.6 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #2 with $17.6 million, which is $5m off for a 39.68% error.
Huzzah for Hanna. The most entertaining film of the year had a strong showing from 2,535 theaters. I thought Laremy was really pushing it with that $14.3 million prediction (and he was), but he was one of the few that certainly didn’t underestimate Joe Wright’s new flick.
I am curious as to how this one ended up costing $40 million to make, but I don’t think I’ll ever figure out budgetary numbers, which have to be, for the most part, wildly inaccurate anyway.
As for reader predictions, only one person dared go near Laremy’s $14+ million, but Dennis’s $16.5m was a little too high leaving Nick’s $10.39 million prediction the closest among the readers.
Result: $12.3 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #4 with $14.38 million, which is $2.08m off for a 16.91% error.
A surprising A+ CinemaScore shows the audience this film was intended for loved it. I’m not sure how well it will hold on, but it’s got to do better than a 50% drop next weekend. Is an early $7.5 million prediction too high?
Result: $11.1 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #5 with $10.5 million, which is $0.6m off for a 5.41% error.
FilmDistrict scored well with both Soul Surfer and Insidious as counter-programming was the name of the game this week. Action folk went to see Hanna, those looking for inspiration went to Soul Surfer and those looking for a scare caught Insidious, which dropped only 26.6% from last weekend for a $27 million cume for a film that cost a reported $1.5 million to make. Someone is going to Sizzler.
Result: $9.7 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #7 with $5.97 million, which is $3.73m off for a 38.45% error.
Oooooh. Ouch! Looks like I wasn’t the only one that thought this film looked bad based on the trailers. I think I saw the trailer for this twice in the theater before screenings and both times it played to crickets… no laughs. And that is really saying something considering the majority of the people that stand in line regularly for free movie screenings will laugh at damn near anything.
Fortunately for Universal this wasn’t a massive, big budget feature with a budget reported at $50 million. The one thing it tells me is Danny McBride isn’t meant to carry a film. A long career on HBO seems the more likely route.
Laremy was way off on this one and Dennis was really the only one close in the user predictions with his $8.2 million prediction. He was certainly the only one that underbid making him the winner of this Showcase Showdown.
Result: $9.5 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #3 with $16.9 million, which is $7.4m off for a 77.89% error.
Dipping only 38.9% from last weekend, Source Code held on nicely and has definitely been the source of some conversation on this site in my “interpreting the ending” article. Thanks again to Ian for suggesting that.
Result: $9 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #6 with $9.18 million, which is $0.18m off for a 2% error.
And I have to say, it’s really nice to see both Source Code and Limitless doing well. This is the year for understated sci-fi it seems after the likes of The Adjustment Bureau and these two films. Limitless is now at $64 million after dipping only 38.8% this week. Bradley Cooper’s next film is The Hangover Part II so it looks like he’s guaranteed two box-office successes this year at least.
Result: $5.6 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #8 with $5.79 million, which is $0.19m off for a 3.39% error.
I have no opinion or thoughts on this film. It is now at $45 million and dipped 51% from last week. If you have more to add please do so in the comments.
Result: $4.8 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #9 with $5.01 million, which is $0.21m off for a 4.38% error.
Is anyone out there with me in being interested in seeing Lionsgate turn Matthew McConaughey’s Mick Haller into a film franchise? Someone call Michael Connelly, get the rights and get this done.
Result: $4.6 million Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #10 with $4.09 million, which is $0.51m off for a 11.09% error.
In other news, Sucker Punch has gone bye, bye… Out of the top ten in only three weeks.
And for those that continue to mention how I haven’t liked many movies this year, two other recent new releases I gave good marks are still in theaters — Win Win and Jane Eyre. They’re not in a ton of theaters, but they are out there… go see ’em.
Or maybe catch Rango, or The Adjustment Bureau, or Limitless, or Source Code. See if you can find In a Better World or maybe Certified Copy. Even Cedar Rapids was still in 118 theaters this weekend. No, I haven’t liked a lot of studio films, but there are films to see if you look hard enough.
As for next weekend, I have to assume Rio is going to be #1. It busted open the international scene this weekend with $50 million overseas and is going up against Scream 4, which should also do quite well, though I don’t think it can top the family dollar.
Check out our complete Box-Office charts hereand subscribe to our updated Box-Office RSS feed here
