The box office results for the weekend of April 13th – 15th sees The Hunger Games owning the top spot for the fourth consecutive week. Meanwhile, The Three Stooges edge out The Cabin in the Woods, and both of them easily trounced Lockout. Here are the studio estimates:
1. The Hunger Games ($21.7 million)
2. The Three Stooges ($17.1 million)
3. The Cabin in the Woods ($14.8 million)
4. Titanic 3D ($11.6 million)
5. American Reunion ($10.6 million)
6. Mirror Mirror ($7 million)
7. Wrath of the Titans ($6.9 million)
8. 21 Jump Street ($6.8 million)
9. Lockout ($6.2 million)
10. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax ($3 million)
Analysis
It’s kind of tough to swallow, but The Hunger Games is flying up the all-time charts. Domestically, the total gross as of today places the flick as the #22 highest grossing movie, passing Spider-Man 3. This sucker is a juggernaut…and there’s still plenty of life left in it.
The Three Stooges won the battle of newbies with a modest debut. With a production budget of $30 million, next week’s/weekend’s performance will be key in seeing if this can find the black ink prior to its DVD & On-Demand run. For the generation that cherishes the famed comedy trio, there will more than likely be a polarizing effect between those who will give this a shot, and those that just strictly hate the idea of a modern-day adaptation.
The Cabin in the Woods did fairly well considering its a horror flick and the trailer and/or promotional materials were vague regarding what this is all about. Now that extremely positive reviews are funneling in and word-of-mouth is solid, look for this to hang around and recoup the $30 million spent on this bloody surprise. Although it doesn’t appear to be in great shape financially, this will be a Sleeper Hit.
By the way, if a title started with a “The” apparently people wanted to see that movie this weekend.
Now while yours truly may have jumped the gun in calling CITW a sleeper, we can say with an audacious confidence that Lockout is going, well, already on Flop Alert. Made for just $20 million, not cracking double figures on its opening weekend did this one in. Frankly, where the hell was the promotion for this? FilmDistrict, who distributed this mess, decided to blitz the public with brief trailers just day before opening. Obviously, that blew up in their face. This is done.
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax currently holds the longest streak in the top ten with 7 weeks. The animation has just crossed the $200 million mark stateside. The production budget was $70 million.
Looks like American Reunion waited a bit too long to get the gang back together again. Dropping 51% from its opening suggests people are full of this franchise.
This Friday moviegoers will get Chimpanzee, The Lucky One, and Think Like a Man. And based on that, it would not be a surprise if The Hunger Games still held strong on top. Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers!
