By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
True Grit: The Sands of Tommy
May 31, 2010
The pre-ordained juggernaut of Sex and the City 2 was naut. Smiling ogre the Memorial holiday weekend was Shrek Forever After with an estimated $55.6 million. The weekend’s incoming box office behemoths — Sex 2 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time — duked it out for the Miss Congeniality spot with photo finish results of $37.3 million and $37.9 million respectively.
Activity in the niches was restrained and while Bollywood took a pass, both the Tamil Singram with $108,000 at 23 venues and the Telugu Golimar with $36,800 on 12 screens were off to good starts. Exclusives for several imports were also quite encouraging with English-track Agora from Spain posting $42,400 at two sites and French imports Micmacs and Mademoiselle Chambon with opening salvos of $51,400 from four theaters theaters and $24,900 in two playdeates respectively.
The session also served up a new dish of zombies from George Romero with Survival of the Dead supping on a modest $52,600 from 20 screens while the 50th anniversary restoration of Breathless left them gasping with $37,100 from three new waves.
With results of incoming fare several notches below expectations it wasn’t a terribly festive holiday frame. Box office was a meager 1% (3-day to 3-day portion) improved from the immediate prior non-holiday weekend. It also amounted to a 14% decline from 2009 when charts were topped by debuts of Night at the Museum 2 and Terminator: Salvation with $70.1 million and $51.9 million.
Pulling out all the stops with a full bore marketing blitz, Sex and the City 2 was expected to reap a $60 million plus debut and advance sales as well as a pre-weekend Thursday gross of $14.2 million signaled that result. Instead revenues dropped progressively in subsequent days and its 5-day total barely exceeded $50 million.
The film nonetheless set a number of arcane records including topping 1987’s Beverly Hills Cop 2 gross, which had been the top R-Rated Memorial weekend champ. Its 90% female demographic also appears to be a record.
International results were more buoyant with top rankings in Great Britain of $9 million and Germany providing $7.2 million of a $27 million total from 17 territories.
The oft-delayed release of Prince of Persia was also expected to open more forcefully. It bowed internationally last weekend with $18 million in 23 countries. This weekend it ramped up to slightly more than $60 million overseas for a $100 million global weekend.
Meanwhile high profile holdovers continued to lose traction with Robin Hood pushing hard to get to a face-saving $100 million domestic gross. Mature audiences appear to be somewhat desperate for a fix and that’s been of great benefit to the likes of City Island, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Brown and The Secret in Their Eyes, which continue to hold screens despite the onslaught of summer blockbusters.
-by Leonard Klady
Weekend Estimates: May 28 – May 31, 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Shrek Forever After | Par | 55.6 (12,740) | -39% | 4367 | 145.4 |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | BV | 37.9 (10,390) | New | 3646 | 37.9 |
| Sex and the City 2 | WB | 37.3 (10,830) | New | 3445 | 51.5 |
| Iron Man II | Par | 20.6 (5,410) | -38% | 3804 | 279.2 |
| Robin Hood | Uni | 13.5 (4,000) | -45% | 3373 | 86.2 |
| Letters to Juliet | Summit | 7.2 (2,550) | -35% | 2825 | 37.9 |
| Just Wright | Fox | 2.7 (2,230) | -51% | 1195 | 18.7 |
| Date Night | Fox | 2.2 (1,980) | -39% | 1126 | 93.9 |
| MacGruber | Uni | 1.9 (750) | -63% | 2546 | 7.6 |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Par | 1.4 (1,730) | -45% | 825 | 213 |
| Nightmare on Elm Street | WB | 1.1 (1,280) | -62% | 891 | 61.9 |
| Alice in Wonderland | BV | .66 (1,940) | 7% | 341 | 333.1 |
| Babies | Focus | .63 (2,090) | -35% | 301 | 6.1 |
| The Secret in Their Eyes | Sony Classics | .57 (3,960) | -4% | 144 | 3.4 |
| Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Music Box/Alliance | .53 (2,880) | 5% | 184 | 7.8 |
| City Island | Anchor Bay | .51 (2,540) | -3% | 201 | 4.8 |
| Hubble 3-D | WB | .41 (8,660) | 11% | 47 | 7.1 |
| The Back-Up Plan | CBS | .34 (870) | -71% | 391 | 36.6 |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid | Fox | .33 (1,170) | -5% | 283 | 62.8 |
| Kites | Big Picture | .32 (1,780) | -73% | 181 | 1.5 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $184.30 | – | – | – | |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | -14% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | 1% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Please Give | Sony Classics | .24 (4,420) | -13% | 55 | 1.4 |
| Harry Brown | IDP | .16 (3,080) | -24% | 53 | 1.1 |
| Singam | Sun | .11 (4,710) | New | 23 | 0.11 |
| Solitary Man | Anchor Bay | .11 (17,750) | -11% | 6 | 0.24 |
| Survival of the Dead | Magnolia | 52,600 (2,630) | New | 20 | 0.05 |
| Micmacs | Sony Classics | 51,400 (12,850) | New | 4 | 0.05 |
| Agora | Newmarket | 42,400 (21,200) | New | 2 | 0.04 |
| Breathless (reissue) | Rialto | 37,100 (12,370) | New | 3 | 0.04 |
| Golimar | Ficus | 36,800 (3,070) | New | 12 | 0.04 |
| Mademoiselle Chambon | Lorber | 24,900 (12,450) | New | 2 | 0.02 |
Domestic Market Share: January 1 – May 27, 2010
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Fox (8) | 885.1 | 21.40% |
| Paramount (8) | 813.5 | 19.70% |
| Warner Bros. (15) | 741.4 | 17.90% |
| Buena Vista (8) | 477.9 | 11.50% |
| Universal (9) | 289.3 | 7.00% |
| Sony (13) | 241.8 | 5.80% |
| Lionsgate (7) | 195.2 | 4.70% |
| Summit (7) | 98.1 | 2.40% |
| Overture (4) | 67.4 | 1.60% |
| Fox Searchlight (3) | 63.2 | 1.50% |
| MGM (1) | 49.7 | 1.20% |
| CBS (2) | 48.7 | 1.20% |
| Weinstein Co. (4) | 34.7 | 0.80% |
| Sony Classics (11) | 31.6 | 0.80% |
| Other * (149) | 105.1 | 2.50% |
| * none greater than 0.4% | 4142.7 | 100.00% |
