Will Ferrell is enjoying yet another big opening weekend. Back in August, his cop comedy The Other Guys began its run with a $35.5 million start and now Megamind demolished the competition, earning the #1 spot at the box office with $46 million. Yes, of course, the film probably got a nice boost thanks to the pricey 3D tickets, but with a $11,668 per theater average it was an impressive performer regardless.
Coming in at #2 is the latest from Todd Phillips, Due Date. Even though the film was hit with a barrage of negative reviews, it still managed to pull in a nice $32.7 million. Tack on its $22 million international haul and that brings its grand total to $54.7 million, which means it only has another few days to go until it should surpass its $65 million budget and make it into the green.
Odds are, Tyler Perry was hoping for a bigger opening for For Colored Girls, but considering he was working with a mere $21 million budget, a $19.5 million start isn’t bad. Still, there’s no denying this is a weak one for Perry especially considering the monumental cast. Even with Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, Kerry Washington, Anika Noni Rose, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Phylicia Rashad and Macy Gray on the roster, For Colored Girls is now Perry’s third lowest grossing opening of his career.
As for the veterans, Red comes in at #4 with $8.7 million. That one’s enjoying a solid run, never dropping more than 30% since its opening weekend. After four weeks, Red has a total of $71.7 million in the domestic bank. Saw 3D, on the other hand, took a nosedive, dropping 65.7% in week two with only $7.7 million. Regardless, Saw is still a winner for Lionsgate, already far beyond its $20 million budget.
In the sixth position is third-weeker Paranormal Activity 2. Like Saw, that one’s been on a fast decline since its huge $40.7 million opening, but, also like Saw, its extremely low budget makes it a success regardless. It put another $7.1 million in the bank this week, bringing its total to $77 million. Jackass 3D took the seventh spot with its $5 million week-four haul and Secretariat the eighth spot with a $4.1 million intake. Securing the final two positions are Hereafter with $4 million followed by The Social Network with $3.4 million.
127 Hours may not have cracked the top ten, but it’s certainly worth mentioning. The film performed remarkably well earning a whopping $264,851 in just four theaters. Think that doesn’t sound like much in comparison to our top earners? 127 Hours had an unbelievably high per theater average – $66,213.
Next weekend we’ll see three new contenders, Morning Glory, Skyline and Unstoppable. Morning Glory is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, so it will have a leg up on the competition, but when Unstoppable hits theaters on Friday, it’ll be playing on about 750 more screens, which will likely give it the edge in terms of taking that top spot. However, even without those extra days, Morning Glory might actually come out on top considering both films it’s up against are thrillers and could split the crowd. Another film to keep an eye on next weekend is Fair Game. It opened last weekend on 46 screens and already took in $651,082. Let’s see if it can keep up its impressive $14,154 per theater average showing in more theaters.
By Perri Nemiroff (via Box Office Mojo)
