The Weekend Report

G.I. Joe: Retaliation returned with a vengeance to top Easter box office with an estimated opening of $40.3 million. The session featured two other freshmen national releases; Tyler Perry’s self-identified Temptation proved alluring with a $22.4 million bow while Twi-lite yarn The Host entertained $11.1 million.

In the niches there was no holiday for Bollywood entry Himmatwala, with a $222,000 tally at 99 locations. Tamil language Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga was comparably soft with a $34,900 gross from 17 screens.

Exclusive bows were generally dull save for generational drama The Place Beyond the Pines with a legacy of $273,000 from four screens. Also of note was French biopic Renoir with $58,700 at six venues and the monochromatic Blancanieves—Spain’s Oscar submission—grossing $21,300 from four arenas.

Holiday revenues were slightly shy of $150 million, a 6% boost from last weekend. They were a slim 1% behind the comparable 2012 sessions (not an Easter weekend) when the second weekend of The Hunger Games made Capitol off new titles Wrath of the Titans and Mirror, Mirror with $58.6 million.

There were a lot of doubting Thomases when a sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was announced. The original hadn’t lived up to commercial expectations and further fuel to that negative fire burned when production problems arose that postponed the new chapter’s release by a year.

But sagely, the new film decided to take a fresh look at the franchise with few of the original crew back for seconds. While the new entry bowed domestically with about 7% lower box office, it did an international onslaught that generated an estimated $80 million from 53 territories including an $11 million debut in Russia and $6 million from Korea and Mexico.

Definitely a boy’s movie, studio exit polling identified an opening weekend crowd composed 68% male and 59% aged 25-years and older.

Though there’s hardly a laugh (and no sign of Madea) in Temptation, Tyler Perry effectively targeted his core crowd (and perhaps some new converts) to a more sober-sided subject. Still, opening demos hewed closely to past efforts with an audience that was 70% female and 79% aged at least 25.

Exit demos were unavailable for The Host but it’s safe to read its mind: it was female-centric. Unless the film gets the elusive second box-office wind, prospects for a franchise from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s book look grim.

On the holdover front, most titles in national release took 40%-to-50% hits including such family fare as The Croods and Oz the Great and Powerful.

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