While the start of the summer blockbuster season officially starts in May, that didn’t stop Warner Bros. from laying siege to the box office this Easter weekend. Its sword-and-sandal fantasy Clash of the Titans took in $61 million. Not a bad opening, but that’s about half of what it cost to make. Considering that reviews have panned its 3-D presentation and the word-of-mouth isn’t all that hot, it’ll be interesting to see how disproportionate its domestic take will be compared to its total gross overseas. When Warner Bros. released the $150 million Troy in 2004, it only made $133 million domestically. But overseas it blew up to $364 million.
Coming in second place is Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married, Too? with $30 million. For Perry, it is his biggest non-Madea film opening. Previously, it was, coincidentally, Why Did I get Married?, which had a first-week take of $21 million. The release marks Perry’s eighth as a director. If you factor in Diary of a Mad Black Woman his nine films have a cumulative take of $455 million overall. And because his films are produced on the cheap – his latest was only $20 million – Lionsgate will continue to benefit as a distributor. Rather than rush the release date of his next film for fall, Perry will instead release the film adaptation of his long-titled play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When Rainbow is Enuf in 2011.
The gold medalist of last week, How to Train Your Dragon, has to settle for bronze. On the bright side, it had the lowest percentage drop in the top ten, 33%, while earning another $29 million. Last spring, Monsters vs. Aliens was the big cash cow for DreamWorks Animation. Dragon may not be dominating like MvA but its low percentage drop and stellar reviews help to ensure its placement in the top ten for weeks to come. It won’t be until late April when more kid-friendly movies enter the picture with Oceans and Furry Vengeance.
Opening on Wednesday, the latest Nicholas Sparks tearjerker The Last Song with Miley Cyrus has earned a total of $26 million. 16 of that $26 million was collected over the weekend as the movie finished in fourth. For comparison sake, Dear John, which opened in February, grossed $30 million in its opening weekend dethroning Avatar from its number-one spot. The $16 million opening isn’t bad considering the film cost $20 million to make, but apparently the melodrama was weakened because “it’s deliberate and manipulative without a trace of true, genuine emotion to be found,” as Scott puts it. Oh, wait, that’s pretty much every Sparks novel.
Alice in Wonderland drops three more places to fifth as it loses more 3D screens for Clash of the Titans and How to Train Your Dragon. But in the span of five weeks it is resting comfortably passing the $300 million mark.
The bottom of the top ten has Hot Tub Time Machine taking in $8 million in its second week. That figure is pretty respectable considering it made $13.6 million for its debut. Diary of a Wimpy Kid earns another $5.5 million, which means it’s only a matter of time before we’ll be reporting on when Fox will start developing the sequel. Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island is hanging on to its top-ten status in its seventh week with another $1.4 million, but will more than likely exit the list next weekend.
On to the art house, or limited release side of the box office spectrum, new releases Breaking Upwards earned $15,300 on a single screen, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo saw its theater count grow with 43 new screens. Based on the best-selling Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, the Swedish mystery saw a percentage jump of 42.6, propelling it to the sixth best theatrical average of all the films listed in the top 20. Very good news indeed. I can’t speak for everyone on the Inside Pulse Movies staff, but this is definitely one of best films playing in theaters at the moment.
Other expansions included Greenberg which added five screens and earned $742,000 in the process. Its total stands at $2.3 million. The figure may pale in comparison to other Ben Stiller starring vehicles, like Night at the Museum or Meet the Fockers, but the comedy has already surpassed the box office numbers for writer/director Noah Baumbach’s last film Margot at the Wedding starring Nicole Kidman and Jack Black.
1. Clash of the Titans – $61.4 million ($61.4 mil.)
2. Why Did I Get Married, Too? – $30.2 million ($30.2 mil.)
3. How to Train Your Dragon – $29.2 million ($92.3 mil.)
4. The Last Song – $16.2 million ($25.6 mil.)
5. Alice in Wonderland – $8.3 million ($310 mil.)
6. Hot Tub Time Machine – $8 million ($27.8 mil.)
7. The Bounty Hunter – $6.2 million ($49 mil.)
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – $5.5 million ($46.2 mil.)
9. She’s Out of My League – $1.5 million ($28.7 mil.)
10. Shutter Island – $1.5 million ($123 mil.)
