Scotty G’s Weekend Box Office Wrap

Once again, I have been humbled.

Fast and Furious absolutely destroyed my prediction to have the largest opening weekend in the franchise. It grossed an astounding $72.5 million. That’s not a typo. It’s per theatre average was $20,950. I think even the most optimistic forecasts did not have the film doing this well. It was a franchise that seemed to be on the decline, and it didn’t have any “A” list stars [sorry Vin Diesel]. A very slick marketing campaign, and the fact that the original stars were re-united for the film did help peak interest, but Universal has got to be overjoyed about how strong it opened. We’ll see if Fast and Furious holds up in the coming weeks, but yet another film has exceeded analyst’s expectations.

Fast and Furious also had the largest opening ever for a film in April. The previous record was held by the film Anger Management with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, which was released in 2003 and grossed $42.2 million on its opening weekend.

Monsters vs. Aliens was down 43.5% from its opening weekend for a gross of $33.5 million, to put it in 2nd place. It also went past the $100 million mark, as its total now stands at $105.7 million. I was off by about $5 million in my prediction. Paramount//Dreamworks Animation picked an excellent weekend to open the film, and it should do well for quite some team, as no major kids film opens in April. Once the summer season opens, Monsters vs. Aliens should be finishing up its run.

In 3rd place, The Haunting in Connecticut dropped 58.5% from its opening weekend to gross $9.5 million. I was off by only $300,000 in my prediction. Lionsgate has to be happy as well, as it has grossed almost $40 million so far.

Knowing landed in 4th with $8.1 million and I Love You, Man finished in 5th with $7.8 million. Total grosses stand at $58.2 million and $49.2 million respectively.

Adventureland did not have a strong opening. It didn’t get a big release from Miramax, and was not very well marketed. Even though it has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomotoes, and is getting some excellent reviews, it was not enough to draw people into seeing it. It opened at #6 with a gross of $6 million for a per theatre average of only $3,228

Two films fell out of the Top 10 this weekend. Watchmen fell to #13in its 5th weekend. On the other side of things, in its 10th week of release, Liam Neeson’s thiller Taken finished in 11th place.

So to recap, here are my predictions:

1) Monsters vs. Aliens – $38.5 million
2) Fast and Furious – $35 million
3) Adventureland – $15 million
4) The Haunting in Connecticut – $9.2 million
5) Knowing – $7.35 million

And here are the actual numbers:

1) Fast and Furious – $72.5 million
2) Monsters vs. Aliens – $33.5 million
3) The Haunting in Connecticut – $9.5 million
4) Knowing – $8.1 million
5) I Love You, Man – $7.8 million

Next weekend we have Dragonball:Evolution, Seth Rogen in Observe and Report, and Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie all battling for your money.

Until Next Weekend!