We knew the geriatric actioner was going to take the top spot, but to look at Laremy’s $39.8 million prediction it’s quite obvious adding more elder statesman of the action genre to the sequel didn’t exactly translate to more people in the seats.
Despite receiving relatively decent reviews and an “A-” CinemaScore, The Expendables 2 opened with $28.7 million, $6 million below its 2010 predecessor. What gives? The first one was poorly received critically, but the target audience seemed to eat it up and, one would assume, would be ready for more. Maybe that CinemaScore will generate some positive word of mouth. There is one person excited about the result… this is Chuck Norris‘ first #1 film in 27 years. Atta boy Chuck!
Looking over reader predictions from Thursday, many of you are probably scratching your heads this morning as well with many of the predictions in the mid-to-upper $40 millions. However, Bustray wasn’t fooled and his $29 million prediction takes the crown this week.
The Bourne Legacy landed in second, dipping 55% from its opening weekend and I’ve yet to see international results outside of the $7.8 million attributed to the film last weekend. With its additional $17 million from this weekend it’s up to $69.6 million and with a $125 million budget I’m wondering what Universal is looking for to green light another installment.
Taking third is Laika’s stop-motion animated feature ParaNorman, bringing in $14 million, $5 million less than Laremy predicted, but Sensei White Lotus wasn’t over-shooting this one by too much with a solid $13.6 million prediction.
In fifth place is a happy camper as Sony’s Sparkle cost a measly $14 million to make and has already cashed in with $12 million this weekend. Laremy was all over this one with his $11.3 million prediction, but he’s going to find it tough to beat Sensei White Lotus yet again, coming in with a spot-on $12 million play. Nice work!
The winner of the “Sad Panda” award this week goes to Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green as it would just seem there is no place for the PG-rated, family friendly feature in this day and age. The film was a bust with critics (38% at RottenTomatoes) and only managed $10.9 million this weekend. On the bright side, it too received an “A-” CinemaScore from audiences so maybe it will have some decent legs going forward? After opening on Wednesday it is now up to $15.1 million so far.
The best hold of the weekend belongs to the Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones starrer Hope Springs, down only 38%, bringing in $9.1 million and bringing its cume up to $35 million. I’m telling yah, if this one can stick around it might be able to pull an Oscar nom come next year.
So Laremy nailed the #1 spot yet again this weekend, making 10 weekends in a row predicting the #1 film, but it’s not going to be so easy next weekend. Along with all the holdovers he’s looking at Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s bike messenger thriller Premium Rush and the long-delayed Ashley Greene supernatural film The Apparitin as contenders vying for #1. What do you see happening? An Expendables 2 repeat or will one of these newcomers squeak in a victory?
Let your thoughts be known in the comments and I have included the complete top ten directly below. You can compare Laremy’s predictions with the actual results here and be sure to check out the new Box Office homepage right here.
