By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Toy Boys and the Billion Dollar Babies
To no great surprise Toy Story 3 retained top position in weekend ticket sales with an estimated $58.7 million. The frame’s two national freshmen also landed in anticipated order with the arrested development comedy Grown Ups performing better than expected with $40.5 million and the star driven action comedy Knight and Day underwhelming with $19.4 million.
Action in the niches was sparse but a couple of docs looked potent in exclusive runs. The war-embedded Restrepo bowed in two venues with $31,200 while Oliver Stone’s engaging look at contemporary Latin America, South of the Border, scored $17,700 from a single screen. French import Wild Grass proved just OK with $7,100 at a pair of outlets.
Overall weekend revenues took a hit from last weekend and last year as 2010 domestic box office passed $5 billion. In the current climate of haves and have nots, Paramount movies passed the $1 billion mark on Thursday while Fox hit that level the following day. Domestic box office (abetted by premium prices for Imax and 3D engagements) is running almost 2% better than last year while admissions are lagging by 6%. Following its record breaking debut some fretted that Toy Story 3 might take a 60% hit in its sophomore session. Thankfully it declined slightly less than half and is likely to emerge the season as the year’s top grossing individual title.
As the weekend neared, tracking and advance ticket sales made it crystal clear that the clash of the freshman was unlikely to be competitive. The ensemble comedy Grown Ups was first choice among movie avids while movie goers in general were taking a wait and see attitude toward Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in Knight and Day. Pundits pegged Grown Ups in the low to mid $30 million range. Exit polls revealed that 53% of the audience was female and that tilt goes a long way to explain that film’s improved picture and Knight and Day’s not quite up to snuff performance. Less surprising was the 52% tilt to viewers under 25-years-old.
Considerable effort was put behind Knight and Day with the initial hope to replicate the success of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. But tracking quickly lowered the bar and sneak previews and a Wednesday opening were added to buttress the equation. The $7.5 million generated pre-weekend was encouraging but the film’s five-day gross was more in line with the type of grosses Cruise’s pictures have done in their opening three-day weekend. Fingers are crossed that the response will be considerably better internationally while buzz has already begun that if Mission: Impossible 4 happens it will be as a result of J.J. Abrams’ involvement and not that of the former biggest movie star in the world.
Overall weekend revenues generated slightly less than $165 million that translated into a 19% slide from last weekend’s Toy Story 3 bow. It was a peg lower with 20% erosion from 2009 when the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen juggernaut struck with gale force of $108.9 million.
The battle of the titans 2010 version continues to be good news for alternative fare. The current frame’s expansions of such films as Winter’s Bones, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, I Am Love and Solitary Man all experiencing box office upturns in a still relatively malleable marketplace.
Weekend Estimates: June 25-27, 2010
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
Toy Story 3 | BV | 58.7 (14,580) | -47% | 4028 | 226.3 |
Grown Ups | Sony | 40.5 (11,450) | New | 3534 | 40.5 |
Knight and Day | Fox | 19.4 (6,270) | New | 3098 | 26.7 |
The Karate Kid | Sony | 15.4 (4,110) | -49% | 3740 | 135.6 |
The A-Team | Fox | 5.9 (1,830) | -59% | 3242 | 62.8 |
Get Him to the Greek | Uni | 3.0 (1,360) | -51% | 2189 | 54.4 |
Shrek Forever After | Par | 2.9 (1,220) | -49% | 2340 | 229.3 |
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | BV | 2.7 (1,470) | -51% | 1851 | 86.1 |
Killers | Lions Gate | 2.0 (870) | -61% | 2271 | 44 |
Jonah Hex | WB | 1.6 (550) | -71% | 2825 | 9.1 |
Iron Man II | Par | 1.4 (1,170) | -52% | 1169 | 306.9 |
Sex and the City 2 | WB | 1.2 (1,310) | -51% | 901 | 93 |
Marmaduke | Fox | 1.0 (880) | -60% | 1110 | 30 |
Robin Hood | Uni | .65 (970) | -55% | 669 | 103.3 |
How to Train Your Dragon | Par | .47 (1,410) | 183% | 333 | 215.4 |
Solitary Man | Anchor Bay | .46 (2,590) | 7% | 177 | 2.05 |
Winter’s Bone | Roadside | .43 (5,970) | 23% | 72 | 1.1 |
Letters to Juliet | Summit | .40 (790) | -49% | 509 | 49.5 |
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work | IFC | .32 (3,670) | 43% | 88 | 0.91 |
Cyrus | Searchlight | .30 (17,820) | 66% | 17 | 0.57 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | – | $156.35 | — | – | – |
% Change (Last Year) | – | -20% | — | – | – |
% Change (Last Week) | – | -19% | — | – | – |
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Please Give | Sony Classics | .26 (1,240) | -45% | 211 | 3.1 |
I Am Love | Magnolia | .24 (8,860) | 97% | 27 | 0.43 |
Restrepo | Nat.Geo | 31,200 (15,600) | New | 2 | 0.03 |
South of the Border | Cinema Libre | 17,700 (17,700) | New | 1 | 0.02 |
Wild Grass | Sony Classics | 17,100 (8,550) | New | 2 | 0.02 |
The Servent | CJ Entertainment | 5,500 (2,750) | New | 2 | 0.01 |
Dogtooth | Kino | 5,300 (5,300) | New | 1 |
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Domestic Market Share: January 1 – June 24, 2010
Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
Paramount (8) | 1001.1 | 19.60% |
Fox (11) | 990.9 | 19.50% |
Warner Bros. (17) | 847.4 | 16.60% |
Buena Vista (10) | 732.1 | 14.40% |
Universal (10) | 373.6 | 7.30% |
Sony (14) | 364.4 | 7.20% |
Lionsgate (8) | 238.2 | 4.70% |
Summit (7) | 117.8 | 2.30% |
Overture (4) | 67.4 | 1.30% |
Fox Searchlight (4) | 63.5 | 1.20% |
MGM (1) | 50.4 | 1.00% |
CBS (2) | 49.6 | 1.00% |
Sony Classics (12) | 36.6 | 0.70% |
Weinstein Co. (4) | 34.7 | 0.70% |
Other * (174) | 126.6 | 2.50% |
* none greater than 0.4% | 5094.3 | 100.00% |
Top Global Box Office Grossers: January 1 – June 24, 2010
Title | Distributor | Gross |
Avatar * | Fox | 1,906,675,911 |
Alice in Wonderland | BV | 1,020,922,345 |
Iron Man 2 | Par | 607,206,946 |
Clash of the Titans | WB | 487,709,208 |
How to Train Your Dragon | Par | 475,895,585 |
Shrek Forever After | Par | 314,820,840 |
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | BV | 302,437,443 |
Shutter Island | Par | 299,200,598 |
Robin Hood | Uni | 299,113,208 |
Sherlock Holmes * | WB | 295,759,663 |
Sex and the City 2 | WB | 258,612,516 |
Toy Story 3 | BV | 234,254,807 |
Percy Jackson & the Olympians | Fox | 226,045,753 |
Valentine’s Day | WB | 217,593,116 |
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Fox | 206,004,824 |
It’s Complicated * | Uni | 169,758,671 |
The Book of Eli | WB | 157,231,732 |
Date Night | Fox | 150,427,237 |
The Wolfman | Uni | 142,633,978 |
The Princess and the Frog * | BV | 138,877,378 |
* does not include 2009 box office