Box Office Actuals: Memorial Day 2011

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

Delivering the 4th largest Memorial Day weekend opening of all time (without accounting for inflation), "The Hangover Part II" eclipsed $100 million in its 4-day weekend and has already moved well past $130 million in 5 short days. The film delivered the second largest 5-day count for an R-rated film, trailing just 2003's "The Matrix: Reloaded" ($139.4 million in 5 days) and sliding in just ahead of "The Passion of the Christ" ($125.5 million in 5 days).

Bulletproof to poor reviews, the Wolfpack drew a huge number, far exceeding optimistic expectations within the industry. With an estimated $59 million in foreign box office counts, "The Hangover Part II" has nearly grossed $200 million worldwide in approximately 120 hours! This is an extraordinary haul for the most eagerly anticipated film of the first half of 2011. The only remaining question comes with the second weekend, as the film will be seriously challenged by "X-Men: First Class" (June 3) and "Super 8" (June 10). The same audience will be tapped into for those films and we will see if this "Hangover" lasts a lot longer than one weekend.

Oh by the way...another sequel landed at the box office Memorial Day weekend and while these particular numbers would look good for many other films, Paramount and DreamWorks are reportedly disappointed in the $67 million domestic take for "Kung Fu Panda 2"'s first 5 days. Well received by critics and CinemaScore polling, "KFP2" performed well internationally, almost matching "The Hangover Part II"'s take and earning $124 million worldwide. Budgeted at $150 million, profit will not be an issue ultimately, but the all-important domestic figures hinge on a strong second weekend, which could happen depending on the demos who turn out for "X-Men", the only major opening next weekend. All of this taken into account however does not spell well for this "Panda" scoring the same $215 domestic/$631 worldwide bank of its predecessor.

Other notables, including a glorious "Midnight" and a sprouting "Tree", along with the Top 40 for the Memorial Day Weekend after the cut!



MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

After "Midnight In Paris" delivered a head-turning debut on 6 screens last weekend and handed Woody Allen and Sony Pictures Classics their largest per-screen average openings of all time, the film continued to make waves by vaulting into the Top 10 after appearing at a mere 58 locations. Gaining a staggering 326.6%, the film raised another $2.6 million over the holiday weekend.

I did not have the time to search back and locate what the fewest number of screens to ever produce a Top 10 film happened to be, but I will try and research this and post it in the comments below. "Midnight" continues to be universally loved by those who see it and might be in for a long run if these numbers can continue to climb with the screen counts. Already the film is garnering talk in Oscar circles and if it continues to draw through the summer, maybe Allen finds a spot in the 10? Alright...maybe that's a bit overreaching, but we shall see...

THE TREE OF LIFE

Terrence Malick's "The Tree Of Life" delivered a huge start for Fox Searchlight, better than what "Paris" accomplished for Sony Classics last weekend. In fact, its per screen average was the largest of 2011 thus far at the tune of $123,447 for a 4-day haul of nearly $494k. As indicated previously, the film is polarizing audiences but critics are largely on board with its complex and intuitive themes and images. Systemically rolling out week-by-week, the film will have reached its largest audiences by the end of June and "Tree", like "Paris" look to be alternative selections for older or more discerning audiences, when faced with pirates, green lanterns, hangovers, animated Pixar cars, X-Men, and aliens over the coming weeks.

BRIDESMAIDS

Impressively, "Bridesmaids" withstood the "Hangover" onslaught and with a larger than expected Monday turnout, slid less than 1% over the 4-day weekend. Banking another $21 million, the film has reached nearly $90 million and will surge past $100 million by the middle of the week.

REMAINING TOP 12 FILMS

With the cineplexes heavily attended, most of the Top 10 saw their 4-day numbers hold pretty strong. "Pirates Of The Caribbean" slid 44.7%, more than Buena Vista wanted, but still moved past $163 million stateside and $634 million worldwide. If not yet, the 5th film in the franchise is sure to be greenlighted and the $250 million budget is going to look like chump change for this film.

Interestingly, both "Something Borrowed" and "Water For Elephants" shed more than 1,000 screens each and still only suffered mid-30% drops over the 4-day weekend. Despite a disappointing start, "Something Borrowed" has held on admirably well, eclipsing its production budget with its domestic take this weekend; something thought unattainable initially. "..,Elephants" kept chugging along and banked another $1.4 million to raise its haul to $54.7 for its 6 weeks.

INDIES AND OTHER RELEASES

Werner Herzog's "Cave Of Forgotten Dreams" reversed its slide and improved 39% to finish 13th and raise its total gross to $2.8 million. "Dreams" needs just approximately $400k more dollars to eclipse Herzog's 2005 documentary "Grizzly Man" in becoming Herzog's biggest grossing non-fiction feature.

"Incendies" and "The Double Hour" continued to draw audiences as the slothed out to more cities and locations. At 72 sites, "Incendies" gained 39% and landed just under $1 million total in United States box office figures. "The Double Hour:" rose 76.6% moving to 58 sites and is also tracking towards grossing more than $1 million soon.

THE DISCOUNT HOUSE

With new and continued placements in second-run theaters, "Rango", "Hop", "Mars Needs Moms" and "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2" all improved between 10-15%. "Scream 4" benefitted the most of its second-run status, gaining 69% from the previous weekend, but still grossing a paltry $592 per screen average.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN (4-DAY TOTALS)

#1 Film - "The Hangover Part II", earned $103.4 million

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "Shrek Forever After", held for a second weekend with $57.1 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "The Tree Of Life", $123,447 at 4 locations ($494k cumulative)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil", $443 at 203 locations ($90k, $9.5 million cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "Midnight In Paris", +326.6%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil", -75.8%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 12

Films Which Surpassed $100m: "The Hangover Part II"

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend (Domestic): "The Hangover Part II", "Thor", "Something Borrowed"

The Top 40 (with 4-day totals for the complete weekend) and other notables!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	N	5	The Hangover Part II	$103.4m	$135.0m	New
2	N	5	Kung Fu Panda 2	$60.9m	$66.7m	New
3	1	11	Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	$50.0m	$163.6m	-44.5
4	2	18	Bridesmaids	$20.7m	$89.3m	-0.7
5	3	25	Thor	$12.1m	$162.4m	-21.8
6	4	32	Fast Five	$7.9m	$197.3m	-25.3
7	13	11	Midnight In Paris	$2.6m	$3.5m	+326.6
8	6	46	Rio	$2.4m	$135.5m	-47.9
9	7	25	Jumping The Broom	$2.4m	$34.7m	-35.6
10	8	25	Something Borrowed	$2.3k	$35.2m	-35.2
11	5	18	Priest	$2.2m	$27.7m	-54.0
12	9	39	Water For Elephants	$1.4m	$54.7m	-36.9
13	17	32	Cave Of Forgotten Dreams	$577k	$2.8m	+39.0
14	11	53	Soul Surfer	$533k	$41.4m	-42.7
15	N	4	The Tree Of Life	$494k	$494k	New
16	19	88	Rango	$456k	$121.8m	+15.3
17	10	39	Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family	$433k	$52.4m	-54.7
18	18	60	Source Code	$403k	$53.5m	-2.2
19	14	18	Everything Must Go	$352k	$2.2m	-33.5
20	27	52	Born To Be Wild IMAX	$312k	$6.0m	+28.0
21	25	60	Hop	$287k	$107.6m	+11.8
22	22	53	Hanna	$275k	$39.6m	-9.6
23	21	74	Limitless	$272k	$78.5m	-20.4
24	31	39	Incendies	$260k	$107.2m	+39.1
25	23	74	Win Win	$246k	$9.7m	-10.9
26	26	74	The Lincoln Lawyer	$239k	$56.8m	-5.9
27	36	46	The Double Hour	$208k	$783k	+76.6
28	29	81	Jane Eyre	$208k	$10.7m	-3.3
29	32	67	Diary Of A Wimpy Kid...Rodrick Rules	$205k	$52.2m	+10.9
30	28	46	The Conspirator	$198k	$11.2m	-18.5
31	16	60	Insidious	$197k	$52.8m	-58.6
32	40	46	Scream 4	$155k	$37.9m	+69.3
33	12	188	Tangled	$136k	$200.8m	-85.1
34	30	25	The Beaver	$133k	$793k	-29.2
35	15	32	Prom	$129k	$9.9m	-74.4
36	41	438	Hubble 3D	$127k	$25.3m	+44.0
37	38	81	Mars Needs Moms	$122k	$21.2m	+15.7
38	42	53	Meek's Cutoff	$121k	$627k	+43.2
39	35	109	Gnomeo And Juliet	$113k	$99.6m	-9.8
40	44	32	13 Assassins	$111k	$450k	+53.3

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

44. “I Am”, $83k, $1.4m total, +0.1%

45. “The First Grader”, $75k, $157k total, +96.0%

47. “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”, $67k, $568k total, +61.1%

48. “Bill Cunningham New York”, $63k, $1.1m total, +27.1

49. "L'Amour Fou", $55k, $184k total, +35.4

Box Office Bulletin: "Pirates" arrive with a "soft" $90 million opening!

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

Delivering the biggest opening weekend of 2011, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" opened to an estimated $90.1 million in total receipts, easily winning the box office weekend. While $90.1 million is never a number to discount or place in ill regard, reports declared this opening as "soft" or "underwhelming". Comparatively speaking with the previous "Pirates" films, this was the lowest grossing and lowest attended opening weekend for the film franchise, at least in North America.

Overseas counts told a much different story as "Pirates" amassed a staggering $256.3 million, rolling its worldwide cumulative total to $346.4 million. Deadline reports that with the production and marketing budgets added together, this film cost $420 million to bring to the screen, a figure which is already within sight after just 5 days of being on screen.

Delving further into the "soft" opening for a moment, 2003's "Pirates...The Curse Of The Black Pearl" started at $46.6 million in July 2003 but earned more than $300 million domestically. The film also earned Johnny Depp his first Oscar nomination and springboarded the sequel, 2006's "...Dead Man's Chest" to $423.3 million and a ranking as the 8th biggest grossing film of all time in North America. The third entry, 2007's "...At World's End" returned closer to the numbers earned by the first film in the series, but still cleared $309.4 million. Worldwide the films have grossed more than $2 billion dollars, not counting the sums calculated for "...On Stranger Tides".

All of that to say, this may be the first film in history to earn $90.1 million stateside and $256.3 million overseas and be viewed as a disappointment.

"Pirates..." opened unchallenged as Mel Gibson's "The Beaver" saw its wide expansion muted to just 168 locations, a gain of 105 new sites. However, one new film delivered a stunning opening with 6 locations hosting it.

NEW OPENINGS:

"Midnight In Paris", directed and written by Woody Allen, reversed Allen's recent troubles in delivering a worthwhile opening. Allen consistently generates a film a year and his films often are given small platform releases. His last sizeable opening, 2008's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", a film which earned Penelope Cruz a Supporting Actress Oscar, started at $3.8 million at nearly 700 screens, but for a platform opening, you have to go all the way back 2005's "Melinda and Melinda" which started at $74k on 1 screen to find anything comparable to this start. The film also earned Allen his best reviews in years and Oscar talk has started to float around the film's screenplay. This is Allen's third straight film to be released by Sony Pictures Classics and has already banked $5.9 million overseas.

Some lovely "Bridesmaids" keep people's attention after the cut...



/>ALSO OF NOTE

"Bridesmaids" continued to impress by sliding a negligible 19.2%, a rarity amongst comedies, but certainly amongst R-rated comedies. Winning the daily Monday-Thursday box office rankings earned the film profitability on Tuesday and the film has banked nearly $60 million in its two weekends. The film had a production budget of $32.5 million and the inevitable sequel talk has begun to surface.

Some smaller films gained screen locations but lost money from the previous weekend. Will Ferrell's acclaimed drama "Everything Must Go" increased to nearly 250 locations (+27 sites) but slid 33% nonetheless. Ferrell's film has earned distributor Roadside Attractions an estimated $1.6 million in 10 days.

Werner Herzog's 3-D documentary "Cave Of Forgotten Dreams" hit its first bump in the road as expanded to over 100 sites, but lost an estimated 7%. Herzog's documentary has earned nearly $2 million and can certainly reverse its course with buzz still swirling around the film.

"The First Grader", which was the opening night film at my local Seattle International Film Festival, saw its per screen average plummet as it moved from 3 sites to 17. The film still earned $39k but saw its per screen average slide from $6,832 to $2,312.

The only other new release which received tracking for an estimated count was Image Entertainment's urban romantic comedy, "35 And Ticking". Starting in 6 theaters, the film earned $31k.

Overall, the weekend box office earned an estimated $158.3 million grossed by the Top 12 films, a gain of an additional 22.8% from the previous weekend. The Top 12 from the same weekend in 2010 grossed $143.1 million, aided by the $70.8 million opening weekend for another fourth film in a franchise, "Shrek Forever After".

THE TOP 10 (Estimates, with Actuals reported on Monday)

1. "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" (Buena Vista), $90.1 million, NEW
2. "Bridesmaids" (Universal), $21.1 million, $59.5 million, 2 wks
3. "Thor" (Paramount), $15.5 million, $145.4 million, 3 wks
4. "Fast Five" (Universal), $10.6 million, $186.2 million, 4 wks
5. "Rio" (20th Century Fox), $4.7 million, $131.6 million, 6 wks
6. "Priest" (Screen Gems), $4.6 million, $23.7 million, 2 wks
7. "Jumping The Broom" (TriStar/Sony/Columbia), $3.7 million, $31.3 million, 3 wks
8. "Something Borrowed" (Warner Bros.), $3.4 million, $31.4 million, 3 wks
9. "Water For Elephants" (20th Century Fox), $2.2 million, $52.4 million, 5 wks
10. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" (Lionsgate), $990k, $51.8 million, 5 wks

Box Office Actuals: May 13-15, 2011

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

Retaining the top spot for a second weekend, "Thor" held a better second weekend than most comic book adaptations tend to do and banked another $34.7 million domestically, raising its total to $119.5 million in 10 days. Traditionally, the comic book adaptation film loses more than half of its opening audience in a second weekend, but "Thor" lost just 47.2%. An encouraging figure as Paramount builds towards "X-Men: First Class" and "Captain America..." in the coming months.

As 'Thor" held well, the big story of the weekend was the huge opening for the Kristen Wiig-led "Bridesmaids", which exceeded even the most optimistic projections to score an impressive $26.2 million opening frame. Critics loved the film and audiences grew through the weekend as word-of-mouth spread on this being not just a knockoff of "The Hangover" or other similar R-rated ensemble comedies. Countless other outlets have written about the film's success and whether this is a gamechanger for Hollywood, but Nikki Finke at Deadline is on record as saying that many higher ups in rival studios wanted this film to fail. "Bridesmaids", budgeted at $32.5 million, is a moneymaker by Wednesday and will have virtually no opposition heading into its second weekend. If "Bridesmaids" can pull a second strong weekend, this might be well on its way to a $90-$100 million final haul.

"Priest", Paul Bettany's second film with director Scott Stewart, following 2010's "Legion", was underestimated slightly in its first weekend. Earning just under $15 million, while reportedly budgeted at $60 million, "Priest" may have suffered from its PG-13 rating appearing to be at at odds with its harsh and frightening subject matter and imagery. "Priest" opened on more screens and with a smaller sum than "Legion", which started north of $17 million in January 2010. Screen Gems may make this profitable with grosses from around the world, but not recouping the budget domestically will be a big disappointment. "Priest" looks to land in the $40-$45 million range stateside.

In a somewhat surprising development, "Rio" became the soup du jour for families who were seemingly lost in the shuffle with the recent openings targeting teens and young adults. "Rio" slid a negligible 2.7%, despite losing more than 300 locations from last weekend. In a fifth week, this type of drop of is almost unheard of and the film has made $125.2 million in North America and is chugging along to the tune of $429 million worldwide. "Rio" will lose screens and attendance with "Pirates of the Caribbean" arrives, but the film has another 10 days or so without true competition until the eagerly anticipated "Kung Fu Panda 2" arrives on May 26.

"Soul Surfer" continues to draw return business even as it loses more and more sites. Down just 20.8% this weekend, "Soul Surfer" may have a small take by appearances, $1.8 million, but on an $18 production budget, the film has been an impressive performer with 6 weeks in the Top 10 and overall take just under $40 million. The film has been given a July DVD date, which will be officially announced in the coming days.

Will Ferrell sells drama, a "Cave" finds new heights, and lots and lots of indie films try and stake a claim after the cut:

Opening with an acceptable haul of $825k at 218 locations, Will Ferrell's "Everything Must Go" performed adequately for Roadside Attractions. The drama, the third dramatic effort for the comedic superstar, earned one of the largest per screen averages amongst scaled down new releases ($3,724), but still did not come anywhere near expectations.

If "Everything Must Go" had a rather ho-hum style of an opening, then the much talked about Joseph Gordon-Leavitt project, "Hesher", offered a shoulder shrug in terms of its reception. Just crossing $3,000 per site, the film opened with $126k at 42 locations. Newcomers Wrekin Hill Entertainment had worked the film hard and tried to generate huge word-of-mouth in the months leading up the release, including receiving prominent articles on The Huffington Post and Yahoo! News, as well as with other underground music and film sites. Shot for $7 million, it will be interesting to see if the film can gain traction or stays small and lands less than $1 million in overall box office receipts.

Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" surged past $1 million in total receipts, earning another $427k, increasing 17%, and netting one of the largest per screen averages of the weekend. The film continues to draw huge buzz and IFC's rollout could not be going any better. At just 82 locations, "Cave" is closing in on Herzog's largest grossing documentary, "Grizzly Man", which grossed $3.2 million in 2005.

IFC Films had another glorious success with "L'Amour Fou", a documentary profiling fashion icon Yves Saint-Laurent and his longtime partner, Pierre Berge, and their life together, earned a staggering $37k on a mere two screens; easily earning the highest per screen average of any film from the weekend.

Elsewhere, "The First Grader", a fictionalized true story of an 84-year old Kenyan veteran who wants to enroll in public education started impressively, earning $20k at 3 locations.

In the third of a series of Lionsgate released Latin-themed film projects, "Go For It!" was ignored by everyone, amassing a mere $120k at 218 locations for a sad $549 per site average. Following "From Prada To Nada" ($3.0 million) and "No Eres Tu, Soy Yo" ($1.3 million), "Go For It!" may prove that these films are not interesting to the targeted audience. Lionsgate may have to rethink the films they have tapped for this series and go back to the boardroom, as no one went for it in this regard.

The turtle slow rollouts continued for "Meek's Cutoff", "The Double Hour" and "Incendies" and all had more and more strong increases. All three films increased significantly as more people had a chance to see them, with Meek's gaining 58% ($345k total), "Double Hour" rising 32% ($382k total), and "Incendies" surging 116% ($380k total).

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "Thor", earned $34.7 million

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "Iron Man 2", held for a second weekend with $52.0 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "Bridesmaids", $8,995 at 2,918 locations ($26.2 million cumulative)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "No Eres Tu, Soy Yo", $498 at 50 locations ($25k, $1.3 million cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "No Eres Tu, Soy Yo", +72.9%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "There Be Dragons", -79.8%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 11

Films Which Surpassed $100m: N/A

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend: "Prom"

The Top 40, with other notables!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	1	10	Thor	$34.7m	$119.5m	-47.2
2	N	3	Bridesmaids	$26.2m	$26.2m	New
3	2	17	Fast Five	$20.4m	$169.7m	-37.0
4	N	3	Priest	$15.0m	$15.0m	New
5	5	31	Rio	$8.3m	$125.2m	-2.7
6	3	10	Jumping The Broom	$7.1m	$25.8m	-53.6
7	4	10	Something Borrowed	$6.9m	$25.5m	-50.7
8	6	24	Water For Elephants	$4.2m	$48.6m	-30.8
9	7	24	Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family	$2.2m	$50.2m	-47.0
10	8	38	Soul Surfer	$1.8m	$39.2m	-20.8
11	10	17	Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil	$1.2m	$8.6m	-43.6
12	11	45	Insidious	$958k	$51.7m	-28.4
13	9	17	Prom	$939k	$9.0m	-57.6
14	12	45	Source Code	$837k	$52.2m	-32.7
15	N	3	Everything Must Go	$825k	$825k	New
16	13	24	African Cats	$667k	$14.0m	-37.4
17	14	38	Hanna	$597k	$38.6m	-28.6
18	24	17	Cave Of Forgotten Dreams	$472k	$1.3m	+17.1
19	17	31	The Conspirator	$464k	$10.5m	-24.9
20	18	59	Win Win	$405k	$8.9m	-23.4
21	20	45	Hop	$402k	$106.9m	-19.0
22	21	59	The Lincoln Lawyer	$398k	$56.1m	-14.6
23	20	59	Limitless	$358k	$77.6m	-26.3
24	23	66	Jane Eyre	$337k	$10.0m	-21.0
25	25	38	Born To Be Wild IMAX	$324k	$4.8m	+11.8
26	27	52	Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules	$291k	$51.6m	+32.2
27	16	31	Scream 4	$277k	$37.5m	-60.5
28	22	73	Rango	$258k	$120.8m	-40.6
29	28	38	Arthur	$238k	$32.6m	+8.9
30	32	66	Battle: Los Angeles	$187k	$83.3m	-0.9
31	29	94	Gnomeo And Juliet	$182k	$99.3m	-15.3
32	26	73	The Adjustment Bureau	$169k	$62.3m	-40.0
33	36	10	The Beaver	$161k	$312k	+49.8
34	15	10	There Be Dragons	$142k	$973k	-79.8
35	47	24	Incendies	$135k	$380k	+116.0
36	N	3	Hesher	$126k	$126k	New
37	31	31	Atlas Shrugged Part I	$125k	$4.6m	-36.7
38	N	3	Go For It!	$120k	$120k	New
39	33	87	I Am	$109k	$1.1m	-41.9
40	43	31	The Double Hour	$107k	$382k	+32.8

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

42. “Hubble 3D”, $105k, $24.8m total, +27.9%

43. “Meek's Cutoff”, $97k, $345k total, +58.1%

52. “13 Assassins”, $53k, $202k, +9.0%

57. “L'Amour Fou”, $37k, New

59. "Queen To Play", $31k, $209k total, +3.6%