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 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