

By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report: April 10, 2011
The Best That You Can Do is …
Audiences continued to Hop to it as the animated Easter eggs-travaganza topped weekend tickets sales with an eggs-timated $21.6 million. The film bounded well ahead of a quarter of new national releases that saw the remake of Arthur and the distaff thriller Hanna competing for the second slot with the former squeaking ahead by about 200k with a $12.5 million tally. The inspirational Soul Surfer bowed to $10.9 million and the tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler Your Highness swiped $9.5 million.
Among the new niche releases were the non-fiction nature study Born to Be Wild with $820,000 from 206 cages (194 in 3D) and the Mexican comedy No Eres Tu, Soy Yo that grossed $530,000 at 226 venues. Bollywood entry Thank You failed to revivify that sector with a $253,000 bow from 92 engagements.
Exclusives this weekend saw a couple of glimmers of hope including the minimalist western Meek’s Cut Off with $19,800 at two screens. Solo outings for docs Blank City on Manhattan’s early Punk scene and American: The Bill Hicks Story profiling the late comic genius respectively rang up $10,600 and $6,400 in ducats.
The frame’s overall tally generated roughly $118 million and slipped 5% behind last weekend’s biz. It was a slightly more severe 7% lag from 2010 when the second weekend of Clash of the Titans led with $26.6 million; edging out the $25.2 million gross for newcomer Date Night.
Hopes weren’t particularly high for any of the quartet of newcomers with Arthur given the best prospects that ranged from $12 million to $18 million. Your Highness was also overestimated with pundits pegging its bow somewhere between $11 million to $15 million. Conversely the mavens viewed Hanna’s topmost performance at $10 million with similar expectations for Soul Surfer that proved to be accurate.
Hanna’s strength largely came from unexpected response from males that composed slightly more than half of its audience. Soul Surfer drew a resounding 80% female crowd and was the only one of the four new films that had a majority under 25 demographic with 56%. Arthur was 64% older, Your Highness was 55% dominated by plus 25s and Hanna was at the high end with 69%.
The shift so far this year to an older set of ticket buyers has largely been cited as a reflection of weak product though one can hardly imagine what aspect of such films as Sucker Punch or Drive Angry could possibly draw a mature buyer to the multiplex. The industry mantra is that younger male avids will be back in force come May when the summer tentpole fun rides are unleashed.
What appears to have stumped the pundits is what exactly are these bulwarks of movie going doing during this apparent hiatus? No one appears to have done surveys that might indicate whether a trend exists or if there’s an absence of a conclusive shift to other activities. Regardless, no one believes this segment is staying at home and exercising their fast food options. So, clearly the new VoD initiatives are directed toward them and their involvement in the movie experience remains vital to the industry’s health and welfare.
Weekend (estimates) April 8 – 10, 2011 |
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Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Theaters | Cume |
Hop | Uni | 21.6 (5,980) | -42% | 3616 | 68.1 |
Arthur | WB | 12.5 (3,810) | NEW | 3276 | 12.5 |
Hanna | Focus | 12.3 (4,850) | NEW | 2535 | 12.3 |
Soul Surfer | Sony | 10.9 (4,910) | NEW | 2214 | 10.9 |
Insidious | Film District | 9.8 (4,060) | -26% | 2419 | 27.2 |
Your Highness | Uni | 9.5 (3,420) | NEW | 2769 | 9.5 |
Source Code | Summit | 9.0 (3,040) | -39% | 2971 | 28.6 |
Limitless | Relativity | 5.6 (2,130) | -40% | 2642 | 64.3 |
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules! | Fox | 4.9 (1,690) | -52% | 2881 | 45.5 |
The Lincoln Lawyer | Lions Gate | 4.4 (1,830) | -35% | 2420 | 46.3 |
Rango | Par | 2.3 (1,140) | -49% | 2007 | 117.5 |
Sucker Punch | WB | 2.1 (1,180) | -66% | 1755 | 33.9 |
Paul | Uni | 1.7 (1,040) | -59% | 1667 | 35.1 |
Battle: Los Angeles | Sony | 1.5 (1,090) | -57% | 1408 | 81.2 |
Jane Eyre | Focus | 1.2 (4,780) | -3% | 247 | 5.2 |
Win Win | Fox Searchlight | 1.2 (5,220) | 4% | 226 | 3.5 |
The Adjustment Bureau | Uni | .88 (1,120) | -59% | 783 | 60.1 |
Born to Be Wild | WB | .82 (3,980) | NEW | 206 | 0.82 |
The King’s Speech | Weinstein Co. | .55 (810) | -52% | 675 | 137.6 |
No Eres Tu, Soy Yo | Lions Gate | .53 (2340) | NEW | 226 | 0.53 |
Red Riding Hood | WB | .52 (670) | -71% | 777 | 36.7 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) |
$113.80 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -7% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | -5% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Thank You | UTV | .25 (2,750) | 92 | 0.25 | |
Kill the Irishman | Anchor Bay | 91,600 (1,760) | -19% | 52 | 0.85 |
Miral | Weinstein Co. | 55,700 (1,920) | -24% | 29 | 0.25 |
In a Better World | Sony Classics | 48,600 (4,050) | 47% | 12 | 0.1 |
Meek’s Cut Off | Osciloscope | 19,800 (9,900) | 2 | 0.02 | |
Blank City | FilmsWeLike | 10,600 (10,600) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Meet Monica Velour | Anchor Bay | 7,300 (3,650) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Ceremony | Magnolia | 6,800 (2,270) | 3 | 0.01 | |
Henry’s Crime | Moving Pictures | 6,600 (3,300) | 2 | 0.01 | |
American: The Bill Hicks Story | Variance | 6,400 (6,400) | 1 | 0.01 | |
To Die Like a Man | Strand | 2,150 (2,150) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – April 7, 2011) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share | |||
Paramount (9) | 413.6 | 18.20% | |||
Sony (10) | 370.9 | 16.30% | |||
Universal (8) | 276.1 | 12.10% | |||
Warner Bros. (14) | 273.6 | 12.00% | |||
Buena Vista (6) | 255.2 | 11.20% | |||
Weinstein Co. (4) | 133.4 | 5.90% | |||
Fox (6) | 127.6 | 5.60% | |||
Relativity (4) | 90.5 | 4.00% | |||
Fox Searchlight (4) | 82.9 | 3.70% | |||
CBS (3) | 56.6 | 2.50% | |||
Lions Gate (6) | 47.5 | 2.10% | |||
summit (4) | 31.8 | 1.40% | |||
Focus (3) | 25.1 | 1.10% | |||
FilmDistrict (1) | 17.4 | 0.80% | |||
eOne/Seville (7) | 14.5 | 0.60% | |||
Sony Classics (6) | 12.3 | 0.50% | |||
Other * (99) | 44.3 | 2.00% | |||
2273.3 | 100.00% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Domestic Grossers * (Jan. 1 – April 7, 2011) |
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Title | Distributor | Gross | |||
The King’s Speech * | Weinstein Co. | 119,361,676 | |||
Rango | Par | 115,230,893 | |||
Just Go With It | Sony | 101,651,979 | |||
True Grit * | Par | 100,131,192 | |||
The Green Hornet | Sony | 98,588,503 | |||
Gnomeo and Juliet | BV/eOne | 97,075,887 | |||
Battle: Los Angeles | Sony | 79,700,377 | |||
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never | Par | 72,707,468 | |||
No Strings Attached | Par | 70,662,220 | |||
Black Swan * | Fox Searchlight | 65,964,914 | |||
Little Fockers * | Uni | 64,117,440 | |||
Unknown | WB | 62,821,544 | |||
The Adjustment Bureau | Uni | 59,231,700 | |||
Limitless | Relativity | 58,688,230 | |||
The Fighter * | Par/Alliance | 54,624,687 | |||
Tron: Legacy * | BV | 54,483,200 | |||
I Am Number 4 | BV | 53,949,381 | |||
The Dilemma | Uni | 48,800,147 | |||
Hop | Uni | 46,456,305 | |||
Hall Pass | WB | 44,034,990 | |||
* does not include 2010 box office |
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