Box Office Actuals: May 20-22, 2011

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

Estimates were spot on with the fourth entry in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series as "...On Stranger Tides" kickstarted its run with $90.1 million, helped with also having the widest opening of 2011 at 4,155 locations. Aided by higher 3-D prices, a little more investigation learns why this biggest opening of 2011 was viewed as "soft" and a "disappointment" in North America.

When calculating numbers, Box Office Mojo reports that this "Pirates" suffered the lightest attended opening since the first film launched in 2003. That first offering drew repeat business again and again and grossed $305.4 million domestically and $654 million worldwide. As reported here yesterday, the "Pirates" films have generated ticket sales of more than $2.2 billion thus far and if excitement was muted in North America, Disney and Buena Vista were downright giddy with the worldwide reception of "...On Stranger Tides".

Audiences were galvanized by the return of Captain Jack Sparrow to the tune of more than $256 million in foreign receipts counted. Already, "POTC:OST" has grossed $346 million worldwide. In looking at the 50 biggest grossing films of all time worldwide, the three previous "Pirates" films all rank on the list. Moral of the story? Stay skeptical if you hear that "Pirates" is a disappointment.

The Top 40 Films of the Weekend and a luminous "Midnight" after the cut!



In what appears to be the biggest per screen opening of Woody Allen's career, "Midnight In Paris" stunned prognosticators with a tremendous opening, finishing in 12th place overall despite appearing on only 6 screens!!! "Paris" started with $599k and a jaw-dropping $99,834 average per site. Aiding "Midnight In Paris" are Woody Allen's best reviews in years and an attention-grabbing cast, including Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, and a reported breakout performance by television actor Corey Stoll, has positioned this to be a breakout for Sony Pictures Classics.

In terms of sheer dollar figures, Allen's biggest grossing film was 1985's "Hannah And Her Sisters" which grossed $40.1 million in its run and also scored 3 Oscars. When looking at the Top 25 largest per screen average debuts of all time, no film has earned less than $40 million with a start like this, except for Kevin Smith's forthcoming "Red State", which has not received its thorough national rollout yet. All depends on how Sony Pictures Classics runs with this, but Allen could have his latest film in the conversation for many months to come, including Oscar season, if this opening and the acclaim is any indication.

Within the Top 10, "Bridesmaids" continued to impress, sliding a mere 20.4% in its second weekend; a rarity for comedies. Rapturous reviews and huge "you have to see this" talk spurred it on as counterprogramming for "Pirates". "Bridesmaids" ended the weekend with a 10-day take of slightly less than $60 million overall and will have doubled its production budget by the middle of the week. Very intriguing to see how this holds up with "Hangover Part II" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" expected to deliver huge numbers this coming weekend.

"Priest" saw the biggest dropoff for films within the Top 10 and seemed to hurt the most by the avalanche of attention for "Pirates". Dipping 68.2%, the Paul Bettany-led post-apoc horror film has earned $23.8 million in 10 days and will likely not come anywhere close to earning back its $60 million budget domestically.

Digging deeper in the rankings finds many of the same indie films adding a few screens here and there and chugging right along. "The Double Hour" saw a 10% gain as it rolled out to 36 sites. In its six week run, the thriller has grossed $532k and Samuel Goldwyn seems content in adding a few new locations every weekend. The film grossed $1.2 million overseas and has a production budget of approximately $4.5 million.

Canadian drama "Incendies" added more locations (59 in total) and amassed another $187k, a healthy increase of 38.5%. The Oscar-nominated film has grossed $620k stateside and more than $2.0 million worldwide.

Summit Entertainment's "The Beaver" saw its planned wide release scrapped, as the film only expanded out to 168 sites and not the 600+ it needed to be defined as a wide release. With a poor $1,120 per screen average the film grossed $188k, raising its haul to a mere $580k on a $21 million budget. One of the largest disappointments, based on expectations, for 2011.

Elsewhere, in the second-chance sweepstakes, a handful of films ("Rango", "I Am Number Four", "Limitless") were released to discount and lower-priced second run theaters and one film in particular, "Mars Needs Moms" turned heads by increasing 863%?!?! The film, notoriously branded as one of the biggest bombs of all time, in terms of production budget-to-overall gross, earned more than $100k for the first time in weeks. All is not great news though as the film has still earned a barren $21 million for a film reportedly made for $150 million.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", earned $90.1 million

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "Shrek Forever After", debuted with $70.8 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "Midnight In Paris", $99,834 at 6 locations ($599k cumulative)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Go For It!", $226 at 64 locations ($14k, $172k cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "Mars Needs Moms", +863.0%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Go For It!", -87.9%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 9

Films Which Surpassed $100m: N/A

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend: N/A

The Top 40, with other notables!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	N	3	Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	$90.1m	$90.1m	New
2	2	10	Bridesmaids	$20.9m	$59.3m	-20.4
3	1	17	Thor	$15.5m	$145.4m	-55.5
4	3	24	Fast Five	$10.6m	$186.2m	-48.3
5	4	10	Priest	$4.8m	$23.8m	-68.2
6	5	38	Rio	$4.7m	$131.7m	-43.4
7	6	17	Jumping The Broom	$3.7m	$31.3m	-47.6
8	7	17	Something Borrowed	$3.5m	$31.5m	-48.8
9	8	31	Water For Elephants	$2.2m	$52.5m	-48.2
10	9	31	Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family	$957k	$51.7m	-20.8
11	10	45	Soul Surfer	$930k	$40.6m	-49.1
12	N	3	Midnight In Paris	$599k	$599k	New
13	15	10	Everything Must Go	$529k	$1.6m	-33.2
14	13	24	Prom	$504k	$9.7m	-46.3
15	12	52	Insidious	$474k	$52.4m	-50.5
16	18	24	Cave Of Forgotten Dreams	$415k	$2.0m	-12.0
17	14	52	Source Code	$412k	$53.0m	-50.8
18	28	80	Rango	$395k	$121.2	+53.1
19	11	24	Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil	$371k	$9.2m	-67.7
20	23	66	Limitless	$341k	$78.1m	-4.7
21	20	66	Win Win	$276k	$9.4m	-31.9
22	16	31	African Cats	$261k	$14.6m	-60.9
23	17	45	Hanna	$260k	$39.1m	-56.5
24	21	52	Hop	$257k	$107.2m	-36.1
25	22	66	The Lincoln Lawyer	$253k	$56.5m	-36.2
26	25	45	Born To Be Wild IMAX	$250k	$5.4m	-22.8
27	19	38	The Conspirator	$241k	$10.9m	-48.1
28	24	73	Jane Eyre	$213k	$10.4m	-36.9
29	33	17	The Beaver	$188k	$580k	+16.7
30	35	31	Incendies	$187k	$620k	+38.5
31	26	59	Diary Of A Wimpy Kid...Rodrick Rules	$185k	$51.9m	-36.4
32	49	94	I Am Number Four	$177k	$55.0m	+202.7
33	29	45	Arthur	$131k	$32.8m	-44.8
34	31	101	Gnomeo And Juliet	$125k	$99.5m	-31.5
35	40	38	The Double Hour	$118k	$533k	+10.4
36	32	80	The Adjustment Bureau	$109k	$62.5m	-35.4
37	74	73	Mars Needs Moms	$106k	$21.0m	+863.0
38	30	73	Battle: Los Angeles	$101k	$83.4m	-46.8
39	41	430	Hubble 3D	$99k	$25.0m	-6.2
40	27	38	Scream 4	$91k	$37.7m	-67.1

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

43. “13 Assassins”, $72k, $302k total, +37.1%

46. “Bill Cunningham New York”, $50k, $1.1m total, +3.6%

50. “L'Amour Fou”, $41k, $100k total, +10.0%

51. “The First Grader”, $38k, $67k total, +86.3

54. "35 And Ticking", $30k, NEW

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 6-8, 2011

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

Despite being one of the few films to have its weekend totals overestimated, "Thor" cruised to a strong opening of $65.7 million to win the box office derby by a slightly more than 2:1 margin of last week's chart topper, "Fast Five". While "Thor"'s opening pales when compared to the comparable "Iron Man" or "Iron Man 2" (which opened the same weekend in 2010), the Marvel Comics adaptation landed the second biggest opening of 2011 thus far.

In some circles, the more impressive story may center on the TriStar/Sony release, "Jumping The Broom", which was underestimated by nearly $1.5 million when initial counts were taken. Made for a mere $6.6 million, "...Broom" surged to a $15.2 million start and had a big Mother's Day attendance, padding its numbers. For Pastor T.D. Jakes, a co-producer on the film, this is already Jakes' highest grossing film, exceeding the $10+ million gross for 2009's "Not Easily Broken" and the $6+ million take for 2004's "Woman Thou Art Loosed!". "...Broom" also had the third highest per screen average for wide releases, netting almost $7,500 per site.

Also underestimated but equally overshadowed is the romantic comedy, "Something Borrowed", which also drew a better than anticipated Sunday attendance and finished the weekend grossing $13.9 million. If the film can hold a decent second weekend, the film should finish near $40 million for its overall gross, exceeding its reported $35 million budget. Critics lambasted the film and audiences were reportedly not too enamored with the film however and it will be interesting to see if female audiences jump to the edgier R-rated "Bridesmaids" and what the effect on "Something Borrowed"'s second weekend will be.

Two other holdovers fared well Mother's Day weekend and saw smaller than expected dropoffs. "Water For Elephants" became profitable this weekend, losing just 35% of its audience in the third weekend and raising its bar to $42.1 million. As audiences shift their attention to bigger and bolder summer fare, it will be interesting to see if "Water...'" can retain its appeal with audiences. "Elephants" looks likely to hit its projected $55 million final gross at this point.

Hanging in the lower reaches of the Top 10, "Soul Surfer" slid just 31.5 % and retained a #8 ranking, with $2.3 million earned and a cumulative $36.9 million gross. People are returning to this film again and again and it has developed a loyal and passionate base of support. "Soul Surfer" has now doubled its production budget, making it a surprising and breakout success.

Within the rest of the Top 10, every other film except "Rio" lost more than 50% of its previous weekend's attendance, largely due to theater counts being slashed with the arrivals of "Thor" and "Fast Five". Then again, it is the transition from spring to summer and large amounts of screens were slashed from films such as "Source Code", "Insidious", "Hanna", and "Scream 4".

"The Beaver" debuts, a "Cave" continues to amaze, contrary to reports - there were no dragons after all, and a possible new record in infamy may have been set. More analysis after the cut:


Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams", continued to turn heads as it increased its visibility from 5 sites to 50 and gained a stunning 189.7% uptick in receipts. Directed by the inimitable Werner Herzog, "Cave..." has started to generate Documentary Oscar talk and its 3-D presentation is drawing raves. Earning a much larger than estimated $403k, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" has rolled up $672k in 10 days of platform release. The film in many ways is already a tremendous success.

The eagerly anticipated Jodie Foster directed and Mel Gibson starring comeback film, "The Beaver" disappointed with a rather dismal $108k earned at 22 strategically selected markets. Summit Entertainment are still planning on going ahead with a large scale release of the picture on May 20 as counterprogramming to Disney's fourth "Pirates Of The Caribbean" film. It will be interesting to see if the film can gain any traction whatsoever, as it scheduled for a high profile play at the Cannes Film Festival. The poor returns likely spell doom for any Best Actor talk for Mel Gibson as the film may be a distant memory by the middle of summer.

The religious themed "There Be Dragons" not only had no dragons but had no audience either, earning a paltry $706k at 269 locations. Budgeted for $36 million, the film is another non-starter for the Samuel Goldwyn Company and earned a mere $2,724 per screen average.

Last week we looked at "Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night", a comic book adaptation starring Brandon Routh which earned a mere $755k in its opening weekend. We noted that the film has the unique distinction of opening at more locations (875) than its per screen average ($863). Freestyle Releasing slashed the film's theater counts nearly in half and as a result, "Dylan Dog" may have set a dubious record for the largest second weekend drop for a wide release in history.

Box Office Mojo did not have the film listed in the applicable rankings at press time, but the film's $95k second weekend resulted in a bloodletting of 87.1% from Weekend 1 to Weekend 2. If this is in fact accurate, it eclipses the 86.4% decline of the Ashlee Simpson drama, "Undiscovered", released in August 2005. From Superman to Dylan Dog and a unwanted place in the records book...it is safe to say that Brandon Routh's career is definitely at a crossroads.

The much talked about and critically acclaimed "Hobo With A Shotgun", the latest in grindhouse-style throwback cinema, had an impressive $6,023 average at its 2 screens and started north of $12k.

On the contrary, the romantic drama, "Last Night" starring Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington earned a disappointing $32k from its 10 locations. TriBeCa Films had released the film ahead of its theatrical run through select On Demand Pay-Per-View outlets.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

"Meek's Cutoff", identified this week as a Best Picture Oscar contender by Awards Circuit Editor, Clayton Davis, continued its steady and measured growth as Oscilloscope expanded to just 19 locations for the film, but saw tickets increase almost 77%, raising its total sum to $217k. Steady is the plan as the $2 million indie is amassing a following around it.

In the "What?" department, the film "Passion Play", a strange mafia movie with Megan Fox playing an angel (?!?) and Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray in prominent roles, scored a ridiculous $2,100 at two screens. Directed by Kelly Lynch's husband, Mitch Glazer, the film has reportedly sat for a long stretch of time and Mickey Rourke recently ripped Fox's performance and the picture as a whole in a recent interview. The film arrives on DVD on May 31.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "Thor", earned $65.7 million

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "Iron Man 2", opened at $128.1 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "Thor", $16,618 at 3,955 locations ($65.7 million cumulative)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night", $206 at 464 locations ($95k, $1.1 million cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "Cave Of Forgotten Dreams", +189.7%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night", -87.4%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 13

Films Which Surpassed $100m: N/A

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend: "Fast Five", "Jumping The Broom", "Water For Elephants"

The Top 40, with other notables!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM (STUDIO)	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	N	3	Thor (Paramount)	$65.7m	$65.7m	New
2	1	10	Fast Five (Universal)	$32.4m	$139.8m	-62.4
3	N	3	Jumping The Broom (TriStar/Sony)	$15.2m	$15.2m	New
4	N	3	Something Borrowed (Warner Bros.)	$13.9m	$13.9m	New
5	2	24	Rio (20th Century Fox)	$8.5m	$115.2m	-42.5
6	4	17	Water For Elephants (20th Century Fox)	$6.1m	$42.1m	-35.0
7	3	17	Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family (Lionsgate)	$4.2m	$47.1m	-57.6
8	7	31	Soul Surfer (TriStar/FilmDistrict)	$2.3m	$36.9m	-31.5
9	5	10	Prom (Buena Vista)	$2.2m	$7.6m	-53.0
10	6	10	Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil (Weinstein Co.)	$2.0m	$6.9m	-50.2
11	8	38	Insidious (FilmDistrict)	$1.3m	$50.3m	-50.2
12	10	38	Source Code (Summit)	$1.2m	$50.9m	-50.4
13	11	17	African Cats (Buena Vista)	$1.1m	$12.9m	-55.6
14	12	31	Hanna (Focus)	$836k	$37.6m	-62.9
15	N	3	There Be Dragons (Samuel Goldwyn)	$706k	$706k	New
16	13	24	Scream 4 (Weinstein Co./Dimension)	$701k	$36.9m	--67.8
17	14	24	The Conspirator (Roadside Attractions)	$591k	$9.8m	-46.4
18	19	52	Win Win (Fox Searchlight)	$529k	$8.4m	-20.6
19	9	38	Hop (Universal)	$496k	$106.4m	-81.5
20	15	52	Limitless (Relativity)	$487k	$77.0m	-55.7
21	17	52	The Lincoln Lawyer (Lionsgate)	$465k	$55.5m	-41.0
22	28	66	Rango (Paramount)	$434k	$120.4m	+71.7
23	21	59	Jane Eyre (Focus)	$427k	$9.4m	-16.5
24	29	10	Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (IFC)	$403k	$627k	+189.7
25	26	31	Born To Be Wild IMAX (Warner Bros.)	$290k	$4.3m	-3.0
26	23	66	The Adjustment Bureau (Universal)	$281k	$62.1m	-38.8
27	24	45	Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (20th Century Fox)	$220k	$51.3m	-42.4
28	16	31	Arthur (Warner Bros.)	$218k	$32.2m	-78.3
29	27	87	Gnomeo And Juliet (Buena Vista)	$215k	$99.0m	-26.7
30	25	52	Paul (Universal)	$202k	$37.2m	-32.5
31	22	24	Atlas Shrugged Part I (Rocky Mountain)	$198k	$4.3m	-57.8
32	42	59	Battle: Los Angeles (Sony)	$188k	$83.0m	+162.5
33	32	80	I Am (Paladin)	$188k	$942k	+45.6
34	20	31	Your Highness (Universal)	$180k	$21.4m	-71.5
35	34	45	Potiche (Music Box)	$110k	$1.2m	-7.7
36	N	3	The Beaver (Summit)	$108k	$108k	New
37	50	45	Sucker Punch (Warner Bros.)	$99k	$36.2m	+76.7
38	18	10	Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night (Omni Lab/Freestyle)	$95k	$1.1m	-87.4
39	33	87	Just Go With It (Sony)	$87k	$102.9m	-31.5
40	36	73	Of Gods And Men (Sony Classics)	$87k	$3.6m	-18.1

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

43. “Double Hour” (Samuel Goldwyn), $80k, $246k total, +40.2%

45. “In A Better World” (Sony Classics), $74k, $512k total, +3.8%

49. “Meek's Cutoff” (Oscilloscope), $61k, $217k, +76.6%

52. “13 Assassins” (Magnolia), $48k, $120k total, +5.5%

59. "Last Night" (TriBeCa Films), $32k, NEW