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: A "Hangover" of Epic Proportions!

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

The supposed box office slump plaguing Hollywood has vanished as this past weekend may ultimately become the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all time, paced by the 1-2 punch of "The Hangover Part II" and "Kung Fu Panda 2".

THE HANGOVER PART II

First and foremost, the conversation starts with "The Hangover Part II" which delivered the third largest Thursday opening of all time ($31.6 million) and followed it up with the largest R-rated live action comedy opening ever. With a staggering 4-day take of $118.1 million, the film crushed the first film's 4-day start of $52.6 million. Now granted, things are much different this time around as the first film finished up with $467 million worldwide and one of the most popular comedies of the last several years. Additionally, "The Hangover Part II" was arguably the most anticipated mainstream release of the first half of 2011.

Surviving a tepid critical response, "The Hangover Part II" seemed made of teflon and reviews of a positive or negative vibe would not and did not matter at all. With "Part II" not as fresh or as original as "Part One" and largely a retread of the story and plot from the first film, industry analysts were wondering if word-of-mouth would lead to audiences diminishing as the weekend went on. Clearly, that was and is not the case and this "Hangover" is a certifiable smash.

KUNG FU PANDA 2

Receiving smaller than expected numbers, "Kung Fu Panda 2" nonetheless brought in an estimated $53.8 million in its opening four days. This effort at counterprogramming was expected to match or exceed the opening weekend of 2008's "Kung Fu Panda", as that film began with $60.2 million in 3 days domestically, before earning a massive $631.7 million worldwide haul.

Interestingly, audiences overseas bested the North American box office totals, as "Panda 2" earned $57 million across the water. The reaction internally is apparently mixed with some analysts saying that when the 5-day count concludes, the film will be precisely where they expected (approximately $65 stateside), while others reportedly felt the film would finish with a bigger figure. Budgeted at $150 million, the film will be profitable worldwide by next weekend, but may struggle to match the domestic take of the first film's $215 million.

More updates to come through the rest of the Memorial Day weekend, but two films, released on a much smaller scale, turned heads in a big way after the cut!

THE TREE OF LIFE

Terrence Malick's long-gestating "The Tree Of Life" finally debuted to paying customers after a mixed response at the Cannes Film Festival. People came out in droves at the 4 locations the film played at. With an impressive $88,000 per screen average, the film estimated a 3-day take of $352,000, setting up nicely for its long planned city-by-city rollout. Fox Searchlight has mapped out a strategy to drop this in a few cities every weekend through the end of June when the film will have its widest visibility. Budgeted for $32 million, "The Tree Of Life" has started strong, but the polarizing reaction it apparently inspires in those who see it, leave it a wild card in determining the film's ultimate appeal and bankability.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris" is clearly not a fluke as it will safely land in the Top 10 with a mere 58 locations screening the film. After it landed just outside the Top 10 last weekend on just 6 screens, the film saw its attendance skyrocket 220% to haul in $1.9 million for the weekend and $2.8 overall domestic. Rolling along with another $11 million in overseas receipts, Allen has not had a film this well received in years and the film is becoming the topic of conversation not just amongst cinephiles but more mainstream audiences. "Midnight In Paris" is one of the biggest breakout surprises thus far of 2011.

AND ELSEWHERE...

"Pirates Of The Caribbean..." hemorrhaged a rough 56.4% in its second weekend, losing more audience than anticipated to the "Hangover" and "Kung Fu Panda" crowds in North America. Banking $39.3 millio for the 3-day weekend, the film has earned $153 million in 10 days stateside and a remarkable $471 million overseas for a total of $624 million. Can the film continue on to $1 billion? Things are looking positive on that front.

"Bridesmaids" dropped only 21.6% competing with "The Hangover Part II" and has earned $85 million. Well on its way to surging past $100 million, the film continues to draw new and repeat business, almost in spite of new releases hitting the multiplex.

OVERALL...

The 3-day weekend box office earned an estimated $216.4 million grossed by the Top 12 films, a gain of an additional 36.3% from the previous weekend, continuing the path towards the biggest Memorial Day Weekend of all time. The Top 12 from the same 3-day Memorial Day weekend in 2010 grossed $145.3 million, aided by the $43.3 million second weekend for "Shrek Forever After".

THE TOP 10 (Weekend Estimates, with 4-Day Estimates on Monday, and Actuals on Tuesday)

1. "The Hangover Part II" (Warner Bros.), $86.5 million, $118.1 million, NEW
2. "Kung Fu Panda 2" (Paramount/DreamWorks), $48.0 million, $53.8 million, NEW
3. "Pirates...On Stranger Tides" (Buena Vista), $39.3 million, $152.9 million, 2 wks
4. "Bridesmaids" (Universal), $16.4 million, $85.0 million, 3 wks
5. "Thor" (Paramount), $9.4 million, $159.7 million, 4 wks
6. "Fast Five" (Universal), $6.6 million, $196.0 million, 5 wks
7. "Midnight In Paris" (Sony Classics), $1.92 million, $2.8 million, 2 wks
8. "Jumping The Broom" (TriStar/Sony/Columbia), $1.90 million, $34.2 million, 4 wks
9. "Something Borrowed" (Warner Bros.), $1.85 million, $34.8 million, 4 wks
10. "Rio" (20th Century Fox), $1.78, $134.8 million, 7 wks

"The Hangover Part II" - Third Biggest Thursday Opening Of All Time!!!

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

On Thursday, The Hangover Part II blasted off with an estimated $31.66 million at 3,615 locations, marking the highest-grossing opening day ever for a live-action comedy. That also nearly doubled the $16.7-million Friday start of the first Hangover.

Among all Thursday grosses, The Hangover Part II ranked third behind Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($50 million) and The Matrix Reloaded ($37.5 million), although it would slot fourth adjusted for ticket-price inflation, behind Attack of the Clones. The last three pre-Memorial Day weekend Thursday debuts are Sex And The City 2 ($14.2 million), Terminator Salvation ($13.4 million) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($25.0 million).

Among all 2011 opening days so far, The Hangover Part II ranked third, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($34.9 million) and Fast Five ($34.4 million), but those were Friday debuts. Included in The Hangover Part II's opening day was its $10.4 million midnight launch at 2,600 locations, which was the biggest of of the year and more than doubled Pirates' $4.7 million.

Kung Fu Panda 2 was overshadowed by the Wolf Pack, grossing an estimated $5.8 million at 3,925 locations. The disparity between the two movies will shrink over the weekend as only ten percent of K-12 schools were out on Thursday. The animated comedy is the first major family movie to debut on a Thursday outside of the holiday season, so there is no apples-to-apples comparison to gauge its performance, although Shrek 2 grabbed $9.2 million in its first Thursday while Shrek The Third bagged $5.9 million. The first Kung Fu Panda opened on a Friday and made $20.3 million.