Inception powered the box office this weekend, and finally we can say that a film geared towards adults did not disappoint on its opening weekend. While the news was excellent for Inception, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice had a very disappointing opening weekend. I went five for five in my predictions, placing all films in correct order, and my predictions were not too bad as the most I was off on any film was $6.4 million. Here’s how the weekend broke down:
Debuting in 1st place is Inception with a gross of $60.4 million (I predicted a 1st place finish and a gross of $54 million). The per theatre average for Inception was a stellar $15,928, which was the highest per theatre average in the top ten. The Christopher Nolan/Leonardo DiCaprio mind-bender received glowing reviews and showed that audiences are in the mood to think instead of seeing a mindless summer blockbuster. The opening weekend gives Leonardo DiCaprio a new personal best, beating his previous high of Shutter Island which grossed $41 million and it also certifies Christopher Nolan as a director who creates event films. The IMAX showings definitely helped the bottom line, and there truthfully is not very much to be critical of with Inception’s performance. Reviews have said that this is a film that you might have to see more than once to fully understand, so we’ll see how much repeat business Inception does next weekend. Still, this is a great opening, but it has a ways to go to make back its money as the budget for Inception is a reported $160 million.
Despicable Me dropped from 1st place to 2nd place with a gross $32.7 million (I predicted a 2nd place finish and a gross of $36.6 million). Despicable Me had a very strong per theatre average of $9,350 and dropped 42% from last weekend. The drop was on the higher end of the films that I have been using to come up with my predictions for Despicable Me. See below:
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! – 45.4% second weekend drop
Monsters vs. Aliens – 45% second weekend drop
Despicable Me – 42% second weekend drop
Madagascar – 40.5% second weekend drop
How to Train Your Dragon – 33.7% second weekend drop
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – 17.4% second weekend drop
Happy Feet – 10.8% second weekend drop
What is a good sign is that the per theatre average is fairly close to $10,000 on its second weekend, so audiences are still interested in the film and it should have a fairly easy ride for the remainder of the summer. After two weekends, Despicable Me has taken in $118.3 million which means Universal is raking in the money as the budget for the film was only $69 million.
Debuting in 3rd place to very disappointing results is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with a gross of $17.3 million (I predicted a 3rd place finish and a gross of $22 million). The per theatre average for the film was a terrible $4,958. Nicolas Cage, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub could not recreate the box office gold of their National Treasure films and it led to an embarrassing opening weekend. For Bruckheimer, it represents one of the worst debuts for an action/adventure film that he has produced in the last 15 years. See below:
Bad Company – $11 million opening weekend
King Arthur – $15.1 million opening weekend
Bad Boys – $15.5 million opening weekend
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – $17.3 million opening weekend
On paper, this film should have done a lot better, and I’m sure Walt Disney Pictures cannot be happy that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice performed so poorly especially when the budget of the film is a reported $150 million. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time have really underperformed this summer for Walt Disney Pictures so we’ll see if they rethink their summer plans going forward and back away from big budget blockbusters for a little bit.
Dropping from 2nd place to 4th place is The Twilight Saga: Eclipse with a gross of $13.5 million (I predicted a 4th place finish and a gross of $16.5 million). The Twilight Saga: Eclipse had a per theatre average of $3,374 and was only down 57.4% from last weekend. The hold shows that the film is holding up better than The Twilight Saga: New Moon and that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse should be able to become the highest grossing film in the franchise, but the percentage drop is not as strong as Twilight in its 3rd weekend, which is not unexpected as sequels see much more up front business and then fade quicker. It’s also worth noting that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse still has the highest theatre count of any film in release, as the theatre count is 4,001 which also contributed to the high drop this weekend, as it is not the first choice for movie-goers right now. Here are the third weekend drops for the films in the franchise:
Twilight – 50.5% third weekend drop
The Twilight Saga: New Moon – 64% third weekend drop
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – 57.4% third weekend drop
Here is how The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ranks compared to the rest of the series:
1) The Twilight Saga: New Moon – $296.6 million
2) The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – $264.9 million
3) Twilight – $192.7 million
As mentioned last week, the budget on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is rumoured to be around $68 million, so Summit Entertainment has to be extremely happy with how the film has performed.
Dropping from 4th place to 5th place was Toy Story 3 with a gross of $11.7 million (I predicted a 5th place finish and a gross of $12.8 million). Toy Story 3 had a per theatre average of $3,696 and was down 44.1% from last weekend. Toy Story 3 is now setting personal bests for the Pixar brand, as it is the highest grossing film it has ever released. Here are the numbers:
1) Toy Story 3 – $362.7 million
2) Finding Nemo – $339.7 million
3) Up – $293 million
I don’t think $400 million is out of the question, but it will have to work to get there. As mentioned last week, the rumoured budget for Toy Story 3 is $200 million, so the film is just printing money for Disney/Pixar.
Staying in 6th place for the second weekend in a row is Grown Ups with a gross of $10 million (I predicted a 7th place finish and a gross of $9.9 million). The per theatre average for Grown Ups was $3,253 and the film was down only 36.7% from last weekend. The total gross for Grown Ups after four weekends is $129.2 million and its budget is a reported $80 million.
7th place belonged to The Last Airbender with a gross of $7.4 million (I predicted an 8th place finish and a gross of $7.8 million), giving it a total gross of $114.8 million after three weekends. The per theatre average for The Last Airbender was $2,656 and the film was down 55.2% from last weekend. The budget for The Last Airbender is reported to be $150 million.
8th place belonged to Predators with a gross of $6.8 million (I predicted an 6th place finish and a gross of $12.1 million), giving it a total gross of $40 million after two weekends. The per theatre average for Predators was $2,548 and the film was down a whopping 72.5% from last weekend, which represents the highest drop of any film in the top ten (The highest drop of any film in release is The A-Team has it dropped 73.2% this weekend). The budget for Predators is reported to be $40 million.
9th place belonged to Knight and Day with a gross of $3.7 million giving it a total gross of $69.2 million after four weekends. The per theatre average for Knight and Day was $1,922 and the film was down 52.1% from last weekend. The budget for Knight and Day is reported to be $117 million.
10th place belonged to The Karate Kid with a gross of $2.2 million, giving it a total gross of $169.2 million after six weekends. The per theatre average for The Karate Kid was $1,436 and the film was down 59% from last weekend. The budget for The Karate Kid is reported to be $40 million.
Also worth noting – The Kids Are All Right was the #12 film at the box office this weekend. Its theatre count was up 31 theatres this weekend making the film shown in 38 theatres. This resulted in a gross of $1.027 million, which was up 108.8% from last weekend’s gross and gave the film a per theatre average of $27,026 which was the highest per theatre average in the top ten.
In limited release:
Standing Ovation – The film about a group of tweenagers entering a music video contest grossed $361,000 from 623 theatres for a per theatre average of $579.
Alamar – This film is a documentary about a father and a son who go on a fishing trip. The film does not have an official theatre count and has a 90% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno, Kisses and Valhalla Rising have not reported their opening weekend grosses as of this writing.
So to recap, here were my predictions:
Inception – $54 million
Despicable Me – $36.6 million
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – $22 million
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – $16.5 million
Toy Story 3 – $12.8 million
And here are the actual numbers:
Inception – $60.4 million
Despicable Me – $32.7 million
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – $17.3 million
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – $13.5 million
Toy Story 3 – $11.7 million
My predictions compared to the actual top five films were off by $19.1 million.
Next weekend, Inception looks to be the #1 film for the second weekend in a row, but it will be battling Angelina Jolie in the thriller Salt and the kids flick Ramona and Beezus. Check out Biff Bam Pop next Friday to read my predictions!
