Box-Office Report - Week of 27 May 2011

The week of 27 May 2011, saw the return of two extremely loved franchises : "Kung Fu Panda" and "The Hangover", both of which did very well at the box-office. Let's see what the top 10 looks like:

• The king of this week's box-office is "The Hangover Part 2", doing a very healthy $86.5M during the week-end, plus an extra $32M on its Thursday opening, which puts its 4-day total at an incredible $118M. To draw up a comparison, the first movie opened in 2009 with just $44.9M during its first three days. It eventually made a surprising $277M. Excellent critical response and word-of-mouth definitely helped earn the movie significant amounts of money from June to October. This second movie should do even better, although it remains to be seen how the negative reviews will impact it and if audiences will output positive or negative feedback.

• One black-belt Panda was no match for the three best friends with hangovers it seems, as "Kung Fu Panda 2" only managed to come in second, with a solid $48M over the week-end and an extra $6M on its Thursday opening, which makes it a total of $54M. It's a step down from the first movie, which grossed no less than $60M on its opening, and went on to earn $215M domestically, especially considering the kids market was not affected by "The Hangover Part 2" which was R-rated. Talk about diminishing returns.

• And speaking of diminishing returns, at #3 is "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", which lost more than half of its opening week-end gross. In the current three-day time frame, the pirate adventure only raked in $39M, compared to last week's $90M. Its 7-day total now at $152M, it's still holding its course, but has taken quite a blow, especially considering the boost it should have received from 3D ticket sales. Although the figures are not as impressive as they were for previous installments in the franchise, the Rob Marshall directed movie is still headed for $200-250M, which is not bad at all, and guarantees another sequel.

• At #4 it's the feminine answer to "The Hangover", the Judd Appatow produced R-rated comedy "Bridesmaids". Although it's not rising as fast as the 2009 drunkard comedy once did, it's still doing some solid business, with  $16M over the week-end and $85M in total returns. It hasn't dropped too fast, but the small numbers can only mean that it's going to fly past the $100M marker and land somewhere around $140-150M. It might not necessarily mean there's going to be a sequel, but it has been a profitable investment.

• At #5, "Thor" battles oblivion as its week-end cume has dropped to $9.7M, not a lot from last week's $15M, but not strong enough to cause celebration over at Marvel Studios. The comic book adaptation is losing traction and looks to finish south of $200M, which considering its $150M budget, is not particularly marvelous.

• At #6 , another franchise is slowing down. "Fast Five" has revved up only $6.6M during the last week-end, which places the actioner in its last couple of miles before exiting the top 10. With a total of $196M, the movie is already the highest grosser in the Fast and Furious series, and it's not done yet. While still falling, it may still reach $230-240M in the following weeks.

• Woody Allen's Cannes-endorsed romantic comedy, "Midnight in Paris", which opened on May 22 in only 6 theaters, has now claimed #7, with a week-end gross of $1.9M, and a 7-day total of $2.8M. This is to show just how popular Woody Allen is, despite not being able to secure a wide release in the US.

• The low-budget comedy "Jumping the Broom" loses one more spot in the top 10, to a hard-earned #7, with $1.9M in the week-end and a total of $34.2M in its 23-day run. This might be the last week this movie spends within the first ten top-grossing movies, but it has had a decent run for its $6M budget.

• Continuing to trail behind "Jumping the Broom" is the more high profile romantic comedy "Something Borrowed" which lands at #9 this week with a week-end cume of $1.8M. Its pitiful total now at $34.8M, you could see how the studios might see this as a flop, considering the total investment was of $35M, which it failed to recuperate while inside the top 10. Maybe the DVD/Blu-Ray market will be a little more forgiving.

• And at #10 we find the animated feature "Rio". Scoring $1.7 during the week-end, which puts its total at $135M, the movie looks to exit the top 10 after holding on to #5 for three consecutive weeks. It's quite a drop, but it's had plenty of time to gross plenty of money, which it has, although I'm sure 20th Century Fox hoped for a lot better for its $90M budget.

The movies that exited the Top 10 are : "Madea's Big Happy Family", "Water for Elephants", and the 3D flop "Priest".

Here is the Top 10 for the week of 27 May 2011 :

1. The Hangover Part II
Weekend : $86.5M
Total : $118M

2. Kung Fu Panda 2
Weekend : $48M
Total : $54M

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Weekend : $39.3M  
Total : $152M

4. Bridesmaids
Weekend : $16.4M   
Total : $85M

5. Thor
Weekend : $9.3M  
Total : $159M

6. Fast Five
Weekend : $6.6M  
Total : $196M

7. Midnight in Paris
Weekend : $1.9M    
Total : $2.8M

8. Jumping the Broom
Weekend : $1.9M    
Total : $34.2M

9. Something Borrowed
Weekend : $1.8M
Total : $34.8M

10. Rio
Weekend : 1.7M  
Total : $135M