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 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