The Box Office Report – March 9-11
Last week, in Box Office…
The Lorax took a big shit all over everyone else. (Scene 3, the Loraxxx. Vivid Entertainment, 2013.) Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax just destroyed the competition with a $70.2 million opening. Apparently that was the film’s entire budget. Jesus. There’ really nothing else to say there, is there?
Project X opened second to a $21 million opening ($20.05 million, actually), which is solid for it, but next to that walnut with the flavor saver, it’s but pittance.
I mean, indubitably.
Act of Valor dropped 45% in its second weekend, finishing third with $13.6 million. That makes sense, since the kids dominated the one film and there wasn’t much around it.
Safe House finished fourth, dropping only about 30% to $7.4 million, which is just amazing. I wonder how these mediocre films continue to hold so well. I guess it’s Denzel and Reynolds and people just going, “I guess it must be good.” Which is probably suggesting that studios should probably be a little more patient with their films. Even though this did do well in its opening weekend, it shows that films can actually hold past two weeks. (Though I’m pretty sure studios don’t even look past the first one.)
Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds dropped 55% in its second weekend, making $7 million. It is at $25.8 million so far, and I’ll continue to keep track of this to see if it continues the Tyler Perry movie box office trend.
Journey 2: Mysterious Island made $6.5 million in sixth place. This movie has done quite well. They’ve surpassed their (alleged) production budget, so that’s good.
The Vow finished seventh with $6 million. More money for them.
And This Means War made $5.6 million. They’re still losing money on that.
New releases…
John Carter (formerly of Mars) is the big film opening this week. There were whispers that the budget on this went over $450 million, but they’re adamant that it was no more than $250 million. I don’t know how much I trust these budgets. They said Dark of the Moon only cost $195 million. Okay.
Anyway, the film, as I figured, looks pretty bland, and reviews are pretty tepid. A film like this is gonna get mid-range reviews, because it’s so big, unless it’s a complete and utter train wreck like Green Lantern, it’s gonna get positive reviews. Either way — box office looks rough. Estimates only have it around $25 million. Yeesh. I won’t even wager an opinion, I just want to see this thing happen.
Also opening is Silent House. I don’t even have to look. (And I didn’t. There’s no way to prove this, but this is a test of faith) It’s $10 million. Maybe $11 million. Your estimates are that. How’d I do?
And A Thousand Words, that Eddie Murphy movie that I’m pretty sure was shot back in 2008, is finally being released. My guess is this would be lucky to make $6 million. I’d normally say $5 million, but for some reason, these movies always have a habit of being estimated around $6 million. I still say it’ll be lucky to hit that. This is gonna Pluto Nash its way out of theaters real fast.
Friends with Kids is also getting a 375 theater release. It’s won’t factor into the box office, but it’s a good film and should be checked out.
Also, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is getting a 15 theater release. That makes sense, though I thought it would get at least a thousand theaters. Maybe it’ll expand.
Holdovers…
The Lorax is gonna win the weekend. Easily. a 50% drop is $35 million. Not happening. 40% drop is $42 million. These films hold really well. $45 million is not out of the question. Expect $40 million easily. These movies just print money.
Project X would be lucky to hit a 50% drop. $11 million is your base figure. $9-11 million. We’ll see if it’s strong, standard or weak hold.
Act of Valor — meh, $6 million.
I doubt anything else hits $5 million. But let it. No skin off my ass. Maybe Safe House. Other than that — meh.
By the way, I wrote this really quickly, after really only looking at the estimates for John Carter and going, “Oh yeah, I should write this. It’s going up in like, 20 minutes.” But now I wrote it. So that’s good.
One less thing.
