The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
April kicked off with two movies that may sound familiar to movie fans with one being a remake and the other being a rerelease, but that didn’t stop moviegoers from heading to theaters for a rare weekend that was up from the same weekend last year. There were also a lot of tight races for the weekend with 2nd and 5th places being too close to call based on Sunday estimates.
Directed by Uruguay’s Fede Alvarez and produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell–the original creators behind the 1981 horror classic–Evil Dead (TriSTar/FilmDistrict/Sony), starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore, opened big on Friday with $11.9 million, but then dropped to $8.8 million on Saturday, amassing an estimated $26 million for the weekend. Despite rave reviews, the movie was fairly frontloaded to Friday and it received a CinemaScore of C+, which isn’t a good sign for long legs. Evil Dead also opened overseas where it brought in $4.5 million in 21 markets with Russia scoring $1.6 million and Spain bringing in $1.5 million.
Second place was too close to call with the Paramount and Hasbro Studios’ action-sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, starring Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis, and DreamWorks Animation’s caveman comedy The Croods, both earning an estimated $21.1 million for the weekend. We’ll probably have to wait until actuals to find out which one claimed second place but that amount brings the “G.I. Joe” film’s gross to $86.6 million in two weeks and DWA’s latest to $125.8 million in three. The Croods also had the best hold of the weekend, down just 21% from Easter weekend.
Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster got the 3D rerelease treatment with Jurassic Park 3D (Universal), which opened well with $18.2 million in 2,771 3D and IMAX 3D screens, roughly $6,500 per theater. It fared better than last year’s Titanic 3D rerelease, but not as well as the 3D rerelease of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Of the weekend earnings, more than $6 million was grossed just on its 312 IMAX screens or 32% of the weekend gross which is the highest percentage IMAX has seen for a non-exclusive IMAX rerelease.
Internationally, Jurassic Park 3D opened in a number of territories including Australia, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Russia, Ukraine, India and United Arab Emirates where it brought in an estimated $3 million in 1,107 locations with more markets scheduled for April 11 and beyond. With a 3D conversion budget reported at $10 million, the rerelease will prove to be a profitable decision on the part of Universal.
After a substantial drop last week, Gerard Butler’s hit action-thriller Olympus Has Fallen (FilmDistrict) held up well in its third weekend, dropping just 29% to take fifth place with $10 million, doing slightly better than last week’s dramatic thriller Tyler Perry’s Temptation (Lionsgate), which took a 54% plunge for sixth place also with $10 million. “Olympus” has grossed $71.1 million since opening–FilmDistrict’s highest gross to date–while Tyler Perry’s movie has $38.4 million after ten days.
Sam Raimi’s fantasy prequel Oz The Great and Powerful brought in $8.2 million for seventh place with $213 million grossed domestically so far. Internationally, it has grossed $241.3 million bringing its worldwide total to $454.1 million.
Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi romance The Host (Open Road) took a 51% plunge to eighth place with $5.2 million and $19.7 million grossed in ten days.
It was followed in ninth place by the Halle Berry thriller The Call (TriStar Pictures) with $3.5 million and $45.5 million grossed in its first month.
As mentioned before, this week’s Top 10 movies was up from the same weekend last year, grossing an estimated $125 million to last year’s $115 million, up a mere 8.7% but up nonetheless. That weekend saw The Hunger Games taking the #1 spot for the third weekend in a row with $33.1 million followed in second place by Universal’s American Reunion with $21.5 million and the Titanic 3D rerelease with $17.3 million.
This weekend also saw a number of high profile limited releases including the new movie from Danny Boyle, the crime thriller Trance, starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson, which opened in four theaters in New York and L.A. to gross $136 thousand or $34 thousand per location.
Robert Redford’s political thriller The Company You Keep (Sony Pictures Classics), co-starring Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Anna Kendrick and others, opened in five locations in New York and Los Angeles where it brought in $146 thousand or $29 thousand per location.
Primer director Shane Carruth’s second feature, the independently-distributed Upstream Color, opened exclusively at the IFC Theater in New York City where it grossed $31.5 thousand.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
