By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Clash of the Lilliputians
June 6 , 2010
There wasn’t sufficient love for a quartet of new national releases and virtually by default Shrek Forever After emerged as the top title at the weekend box office with an estimated $2x.x million. Among the debutante set comedy prevailed with Get Him to the Greek ranking second with $17.3 million while Killers, an uneasy mix of romantic comedy and lethal mayhem, was close behind with $16 million. Funny papers staple Marmaduke pupped out at $11.4 to open in sixth position while the genetic chiller Splice was a cut below with $7.4 million.
On the Bollywood beat Raajneeti had an upbeat bow of $790,000 from 112 venues. Newcomers in exclusive bows were largely uninspired with Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Ondine a less than classic $27,800 from five screens and the non-fiction Living in Emergency focusing on Doctors Without Borders hemorrhaged $22,100 at seven projection rooms.
Overall business took another dip as the industry ramped up the spin of a late summer surge. Box office sagged by 15% from last weekend and was a further 23% behind revenues from 2009. Last year the debut of The Hangover nudged out Up with respective grosses of $44.9 million and $44.1 million. The opening of Land of the Lost was a distant third with $18.8 million.
Entering into the weekend, industry mavens had anticipated generally soft business but not quite as limpid as the final numbers revealed. Shrek was expected to top the field with, as occurred, Get Him to the Greek in the place position with close to $20 million. Pundits also had Marmaduke competitive with Greek but its appeal seemed dubious in light of a handful of international debuts a week ago that failed to spark much audience interest.
Splice, theoretically, seemed like a surefire $10 million opener in light of the paucity of horror movies at this time of year. While not a seemingly review driven film, the science gone wrong yarn truly split top critics and that may cushion next weekend’s fall.
While the season’s high profile releases are definitely going through the meat grinder process (most holdovers experienced 50% drops this weekend), the alternative titles that include Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, City Island and The Secret in Their Eyes have been consistent for two months and longer.
Weekend Estimates: June 4 – June 6, 2010
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Shrek Forever After | Par | 25.9 (5,900) | -40% | 4386 | 183.6 |
| Get Him to the Greek | Uni | 17.3 (6,430) | New | 2697 | 17.3 |
| Killers | Lionsgate | 16.0 (5,610) | New | 2859 | 16 |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | BV | 13.8 (3,770) | -54% | 3646 | 59.4 |
| Sex and the City 2 | WB | 12.6 (3,660) | -59% | 3445 | 73.4 |
| Marmaduke | Fox | 11.4 (3,550) | New | 3213 | 11.4 |
| Iron Man II | Par | 7.8 (2,600) | -53% | 3007 | 291.3 |
| Splice | WB | 7.4 (3,010) | New | 2450 | 7.4 |
| Robin Hood | Uni | 5.1 (1,970) | -51% | 2599 | 94.2 |
| Letters to Juliet | Summit | 2.9 (1,490) | -50% | 1962 | 43.2 |
| Date Night | Fox | .82 (1,250) | -55% | 658 | 95.4 |
| Raajneeti | UTV | .79 (7,050) | New | 112 | 0.79 |
| Just Wright | Fox | .78 (1,510) | -64% | 518 | 20.2 |
| How to Train Your Dragon | Par | .51 (1,490) | -56% | 343 | 213.9 |
| The Secret in Their Eyes | Sony Classics | .35 (2,340) | -23% | 151 | 3.9 |
| Alice in Wonderland | BV | .31 (1,120) | -47% | 277 | 333.6 |
| Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Music Box/Alliance | .31 (1,800) | -22% | 173 | 8.3 |
| City Island | Anchor Bay | .29 (1,650) | -29% | 177 | 5.3 |
| Please Give | Sony Classics | .26 (3,110) | 30% | 84 | 1.7 |
| Babies | Focus | .24 (1,340) | -49% | 181 | 6.5 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $123.10 | – | – | – | |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | -23% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | -15% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Solitary Man | Anchor Bay | .18 (8,050) | 111% | 22 | 0.44 |
| Micmacs | Sony Classics | .12 (4,170) | 192% | 30 | 0.19 |
| Ondine | Magnolia | 27,800 (5,560) | New | 5 | 0.03 |
| Living in Emergency | Bev Pics | 22,100 (3,160) | New | 7 | 0.02 |
| Rosencrantz & Guidenstern Are Undead | Indican | 5,700 (5,700) | New | 1 | 0.01 |
| Cropsey | Purgatorio | 4,900 (4,900) | New | 1 | 0.01 |
| Double Take | Kino | 4,500 (4,500) | New | 1 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share: January 1 – June 3, 2010
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Paramount (8) | 908.6 | 20.80% |
| Fox (8) | 892.2 | 20.40% |
| Warner Bros. (15) | 790.7 | 18.10% |
| Buena Vista (9) | 525.1 | 12.00% |
| Universal (9) | 308.2 | 7.00% |
| Sony (13) | 242.6 | 5.50% |
| Lionsgate (7) | 195.7 | 4.50% |
| Summit (7) | 108.1 | 2.50% |
| Overture (4) | 67.4 | 1.50% |
| Fox Searchlight (3) | 63.2 | 1.40% |
| MGM (1) | 50.1 | 1.10% |
| CBS (2) | 49.2 | 1.10% |
| Weinstein Co. (4) | 34.7 | 0.80% |
| Sony Classics (11) | 32.8 | 0.80% |
| Other * (157) | 110.2 | 2.50% |
| * none greater than 0.4% | 4378.8 | 100.00% |
