Apparently this weekend was a time for folks to head to the theater and watch robots fighting it out with one another.
Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, made it to the top of the box office over the weekend with an estimated $27.3 million. A healthy showing for a fall debut, and exit polling was mostly positive, so it’ll probably have some life to it. Who knew people were so anxious to see boxing robots?
Coming in a distant second was George Clooney’s political drama, The Ides of March. The new film landed with $10.4 million which is squarely in the center of George Clooney movies as of late. Not a huge disappointment, but there’s a reason these sorts of films usually hit in the fall. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good political thriller … at home.
Dolphin Tale slipped 34.2% to land in third, bringing in $9.16 million. A decent performance for any film in its third weekend, and brings its domestic total to $49 million off of a $37 million budget.
The Brad Pitt vehicle, Moneyball, came in fourth with $7.5 million inching its cumulative total to $49.5 million off of a $50 million budget, so it still has some ways to go for it to hit profitability.
Rounding out the top five was the cancer drama 50/50 with an estimated fall of 36.4% to $5.5 million. Considering the dark subject matter, this is a surprising hold for the film.
And from the “movie disasters” department, the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It lost 505 theaters and took a 76.8% fall to a paltry $93,000. This brings the total to $9.48 million off of a $24 million budget. I don’t picture Ms. Parker getting a whole lot of work any time soon.
It took a dolphin to knock the lion out of the top box office spot.
Dolphin Tale took the top spot at the box office this weekend, leading a pack of non-new releases from cracking into the top three. The movie based on a real life “tail” (ha! See what I did there?!?) dropped 25.6% from last weekend, but scored a healthy $14.25 million. The percentage drop was far better than expected, and took many by surprise.
Holding on to second place was the Brad Pitt vehicle, Moneyball. It dipped 35.9% which was a bit steeper than some expected, but wasn’t horrible by any stretch of the imagination and it brought in $12.5 million.
The 3D re-release of The Lion King took a 49.6% fall to bring in $11 million. Considering it comes out on home video on Tuesday, the $79.7 million the re-release has brought in over three weekends is nothing to sneeze at and brings the lifetime earnings of the film to $408.2 million.
Fourth place was the best showing for any new release this week and saw the cancer-themed 50/50 bring in $8.85 million over the three days. Considering the subject matter, it wasn’t a horrible showing.
Rounding out the top five was Courageous with $8.8 million which was an impressive showing for only 1,161 locations.
Following up some recent disasters at the box office, the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It took a massive 80% hit from last weekend and brought in a paltry $400,000 brining its three weekend run to $9.2 million off of a $24 million budget. Meanwhile, Killer Elite starring Jason Statham fell 48.1% to $4.85 million bringing its two week total to $17.4 million off of a $70 million budget. In short, things are not going well in several different genres of films at the moment, but that certainly won’t stop Hollywood from continuing to over spend.
Despite predictions that The Lion King wouldn’t stay #1 this week, but apparently you can’t knock the king off his throne.
The power of Disney is a tough one to overcome, and while some analysts thought The Lion King couldn’t hold on to #1 for a second week, it did, bringing in a remarkable $22.1 million. For a 17-year-old film, you have to give it a hat tip for having that sort of draw.
Moneyball was presumed to knock it out of #1, and after it won Friday’s box office everyone presumed it would win the weekend. It brought in a decent $20.6 million, but it just didn’t have enough gas behind it to knock out a beloved Disney classic.
Coming in third was Dolphin Tale with $20.26 million, and there is some speculation it may actually take second when the final grosses are reported later today. I would imagine it would have done better without another family film out there, but I’m not sure anyone could have predicted this current weekend playing out the way it did.
Abduction was expected to do better than fourth seeing as it stars Taylor Lautner from the Twilight series, but it raked in only $11.2 million, well below its expectations. I think the majority of the actors from that series are in for a rude awakening as they try to find other work with the conclusion of that series. They weren’t the ones drawing folks in, and compared to the Harry Potter kids, they also don’t have the apparent talent to back it up.
Rounding out the top five was Killer Elite starring Jason Statham. This was the weakest opening yet for one of his films brining in only $9.5 million. Perhaps everyone is finally realizing he plays the exact same role in every film.
Last week’s new releases of Straw Dogs tumbled 59 percent to an embarrassingly weak $2.1 million in ninth place. Fairing even worse was the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It which fell 53 percent to 10th place with an anemic $2 million. Apparently Ms. Parker is really going to need to consider another Sex and the City at this point.
Next week will see the releases of 50/50, Courageous, Dream House and What’s Your Number?, which sounds like another week of lackluster debuts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another repeat for The Lion King.
Conan the Barbarian? Down to 56 theaters and $20,800. Meanwhile, Bridesmaids, which hit home video this week, had 111 theaters still and did $78.800. I’m sorry … I love a train wreck.
The Lion King originally hit theaters in 1994, but apparently if you slap some 3D on it and re-release it 17 years, you can once again take the #1 spot.
More than likely Disney could have skipped the 3D process and still won the weekend, but any way you slice it, The Lion King in 3D brought in a healthy $29.3 million.
Contagion slipped 35.4% to land in second place with $14.48 million. This is a great performance for any film in its second week, so it’s appearing that the public was ready for a thriller.
The ultra-violent Drive found itself in third place with $11 million, boding for a not so great future for the film. It had great buzz from the Cannes Film Festival, but we’ll just have to see how it does after its had some time out in the public.
The Help fell to fourth place, but is still bringing in a healthy amount of money with another $6.4 million, bringing its total to $147.3 million. Off of a $25 million budget, it appears we have a clear it on our hands.
Closing up the top five was the remake of Straw Dogs with a very timid $5 million. Another new release for this week, I Don’t Know How She Does It, came in sixth with a highly disappointing $4.5 million.
And, yes, Conan the Barbarian … oh poor, Conan. Dropping to 153 theaters it brought in $78,000 after 31 days of release. Adding insult to injury, Bridesmaids has been out for 129 days, has 170 theaters and did $124,000 this weekend … how many executives have been fired thus far over the disaster that is Conan?
Apparently this weekend was a time for folks to head to the theater and watch robots fighting it out with one another.
It took a dolphin to knock the lion out of the top box office spot.
Despite predictions that 
