By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report: May 15, 2011
Rite Turn
By Leonard Klady
Thor was at the vanguard (and Asgard) of weekend movie sales with an estimated $32.9 million. The session also featured two new national releases with titular but not content links. The macha comedy Bridesmaids ranked second with $24.3 million while the 3D horror thriller Priest was a couple of notches behind with $14.4 million.
The frame also saw a couple of limited national entries that each bowed with 218 playdates. Will Ferrell in the relatively non-comic Everything Must Go drew a respectable $723,000 gross while the latest in the inner city dance to success genre Go for It! misstepped to the tune of $103,000. There wasn’t much traction for the social drama Hesher that bowed to $118,000 at 42 venues and the scrum of exclusive debuts was devoid of a standout.
It all rang up to better than $130 million and that translated into another early summer bummer with a 21% drop from last weekend. It was a more modest 5% slip from 2010 when the second weekend of Iron Man 2 led the field with a Marvelous $52 million and newcomers Robin Hood and Letters to Juliet followed with respective bows of $36.1 million and $13.5 million.
Bridesmaids entered the marketplace as a distaff spin on The Hangover but positive reviews and WOM brightened its commercial prospects. The first wave was unsurprisingly female (69%) and older (63% over 30 years old) but its likely to widen its base and could emerge as one of the season’s sleeper hits.
Priest _ also to expectations _ skewed younger and male and fell slightly short of tracking that predicted an opening between $15 million and $18 million. Next weekend’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and the following week’s The Hangover, Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2 will determine whether something familiar will energize all those folk who appear to have opted for other entertainment and portals.
| Weekend (estimates) May 13 – 15, 2011 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change | Theaters | Cume |
| Thor | Par Intl | 32.9 (8,290) | -50% | 3963 | 117.6 |
| Bridesmaids | Uni | 24.3 (8,340) | NEW | 2918 | 24.3 |
| Fast Five | Uni | 19.5 (5,130) | -40% | 3793 | 168.7 |
| Priest | Sony | 14.4 (5,040) | NEW | 2864 | 14.4 |
| Rio | Fox | 8.0 (2,720) | -6% | 2929 | 124.9 |
| Jumping the Broom | Sony | 7.1 (3,500) | -53% | 2035 | 25.8 |
| Something Borrowed | WB | 7.0 (2,400) | -50% | 2904 | 25.6 |
| Water for Elephants | Fox | 4.0 (1,660) | -34% | 2425 | 48.4 |
| Medea’s Big Happy Family | Lions Gate | 2.1 (1,480) | -49% | 1449 | 50.2 |
| Soul Surfer | Sony | 1.8 (1,2100 | -23% | 1468 | 39.2 |
| Hoodwinked Too! | Weinstein Co. | 1.0 (770) | -52% | 1276 | 8.4 |
| Insidious | Film District | .94 (1,230) | -30% | 762 | 51.7 |
| Source Code | Summit | .85 (1,360) | -32% | 626 | 52.2 |
| Prom | BV | .84 (700) | -62% | 1201 | 8.9 |
| Everything Must Go | Roadside Attractions | .72 (3,320) | NEW | 218 | 0.72 |
| African Cats | BV | .55 (870) | -48% | 631 | 13.9 |
| Hanna | Focus | .43 (1,010) | -49% | 425 | 38.4 |
| The Conspirator | Roadside Attractions | .42 (1,150) | -32% | 364 | 10.4 |
| Hop | Uni | .39 (8500 | -22% | 459 | 106.8 |
| Win Win | Fox Searchlight | .37 (1,490) | -30% | 248 | 8.9 |
| Jane Eyre | Focus | .31 (1,260) | -27% | 248 | 9.9 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $126.00 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -5% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -21% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| The Beaver | Summit | .15 (1,450) | 41% | 105 | 0 |
| Hesher | Newmarket | .12 (2,8500 | 42 | 0.12 | |
| Go for It | Lions Gate | .10 (470) | 218 | 0.1 | |
| In a Better World | Sony Classics | 66,700 (1,310) | -10% | 51 | 0.62 |
| The Greatest Movie Ever Sold | Sony Classics | 55,300 (970) | -10% | 57 | 0.42 |
| L’Amour fou | IFC | 31,800 (15,900) | 2 | 0.03 | |
| The First Grader | NatGeo | 21,500 (7,170) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| True Legend | indomina | 17,100 (3,420) | 5 | 0.02 | |
| The City of Life and Death | Kino | 5,400 (5,400) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Love U Mr. Kalakaar | Eros | 4,800 (370) | 13 | 0.01 | |
| In the Name of Love | ABS | 4,600 (4,600) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Skateland | Free Style | 4,500 (2,250) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| How to Live Forever | Variance | 3,200 (3,200) | 1 | 0.01 |
Not ashamed to admit that I am seeing Bridesmaids today and hoping it lives up to the hype in terms of gut-busting laughs. Wish it had made more money then Thor though so the studios know there is an audience out there for comedies that are not just R-rated but actually funny. Hoping that some of the other R-rated comedies coming this summer live up to their potential.
Off topic, anyone else wondering why no “Hangover 2” reviews have been released yet? I mean, I know it’s going to make a killing no matter what the critics say but wouldn’t you think WB would want to build some WOM hype on how funny it is pre-release to get people talking about it and making plans to see it asap Memorial Day weekend and why haven’t I seen any tracking info on it either. You would think this one would be tracking off the charts given it’s previous success. Is WB worried the critics are going to have their knives out for it because it was so successful the first time?
Who knew Thor would be such a hit! It looks pretty ridiculous! And Bridesmaids actually looks funny!