Inside Pulse Box Office Report: Shrek Still an Ogre at the Box Office While People Ask "MacGru-Who?"

News, Top Story


(Shrek’s constipated look after getting this weekend’s box office estimates.)

Shrek Forever After will be maligned by many as a box office failure its opening weekend because it couldn’t exceed the expectations set forth by the second and third sequels in the franchise. Three years ago Shrek the Third opened at $120 million. Before that, the second one had a $108 million opening weekend. Shrek the Third was frontloaded and also had the misfortune of being sandwiched between the releases Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. All three films proved that third time was most definitely not the charm, pretty much leaving a sour taste in the mouths of many. Even with 3D showings helping the box office cause, Shrek 2 performed better its second weekend than Forever After did in its opening bow.

But will this Shrek drop like a stone, or will it have the How to Train Your Dragon rub as being a computer-generated toon hit until Pixar’s Toy Story 3 says “thanks for playing, but now it’s Woody and Buzz’s turn.” Three weeks into the summer season, the box office is considerably light. And Memorial Day weekend looks promising for the green Ogre as you have releases that cater mostly to teenagers and men (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and women (Sex and the City 2), leaving it the biggest family movie in the marketplace.

Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood drop to second and third places this weekend. Iron Man didn’t lose as much of its audience this weekend, but its performance is considerably weaker than its predecessor from 2008. I’m guessing that the domestic earnings won’t be much higher than the original, but it should outperform overseas. And speaking of outperforming overseas, the international gross will be the saving grace for Ridley Scott’s interpretation of the legend archer. The domestic take is only $66 million, but when combined with sales overseas the film is already at $191 million. By next weekend it would have matched its production budget of $200 million, now its time to recoup marketing and print costs before thinking about profits. Most likely scenario is that two thirds of Robin Hood‘s gross will come from overseas. It’ll be Troy all over again. That film made $133 million domestically, but $364 million internationally.

Letters to Juliet had the least percentage drop of films in the top five, losing 33% of its audience, to finish with a two-week total of $27 million. Just Wright, the only other chick flick offering in the top ten, dropped to fifth place with $4.2 million. By next weekend nobody’s going to remember either of these chick-centric movies as Carrie and her Sex and the City gang lay siege to theatres across to U.S. catering to females who walk around with Chihuahuas in their Gucci bags.

As most audiences were yucking it up over a green ogre, a talking donkey named Donkey and a wicked Rumpelstiltskin, they passed on the other new comic offering of the weekend MacGruber. Based on a Saturday Night Live skit, the trailers didn’t do much to illicit laughter save for a some potty humor and other shenanigans. Also it was tough to discern if it was going to be a comedy with action elements or an action movie with some good one-liners. The problem is that Saturday Night Live isn’t the launching pad it once was. There are probably some out there who have never seen a “MacGruber” sketch, outside of maybe the Pepsi ad during the Super Bowl. The comedy only cost $10 million to make, so with a $4 million opening it should easily make its budget back before going to DVD and Blu-ray where it will become a bigger cult hit. Keeping with Saturday Night Live former head writer and “Weekend Update” co-anchor Tina Fey sees her film Date Night with Steve Carell, which had the smallest audience drop in the top ten, inch closer to the $100 million mark.

The horror remake A Nightmare On Elm Street continues to sleepwalk as it steadily declines to bottom of the top ten, currently at $60 million. With the release of Shrek Forever After, the screens allocated for How to Train Your Dragon up and vanished like a puff of dragon smoke. At $210 million, Dragon is currently the third highest grossing release of 2010 behind Alice in Wonderland and Iron Man 2. Still, $210 million is an impressive haul for a DreamWorks movie that isn’t part of a franchise. Heck, it may even perform better than the green ogre domestically. And finally at #10 is the Hindi film Kites. I’ve never heard of it, but it managed to eek out $1 million on 200 screens.

On the limited side of cinema spectrum, the hits at the moment are City Island ($4 million) and Oscar winner The Secrets in Their Eyes ($2.7 million) and the Leonardo DiCaprio narrated Hubble 3D ($6.4 million). Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child had a 62.3% boost as it acquired 19 more screens. Debuting this weekend were the Michael Douglas dramedy Solitary Man with $89,000 on only four screens and the documentary Racing Dreams, which collected $21.5k from 33 screens.

1. Shrek Forever After – $71.2 million
2. Iron Man 2 – $26.6 million ($506 million worldwide)
3. Robin Hood – $18.7 million ($191 million worldwide)
4. Letters to Juliet – $9.1 million ($24.7 million)
5. Just Wright – $4.2 million ($14.6 million)
6. MacGruber – $4.1 million
7. Date Night – $2.8 million – ($141 million worldwide)
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street – $2.2 million ($59.9 million)
9. How to Train Your Dragon – $1.9 million ($432 million worldwide)
10. Kites – $1 million

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!