Box-Office Report - Week of 17 June 2011

After a long and arduous campaign, "Green Lantern" has seen its release in theaters. While the results are pretty good, it still might not be what everyone expected it to be. Here is the top 10 box-office for the week of June 17  :

• "Green Lantern" opens straight to #1, with a better-than-average week-end gross of $52.7M. The movie that cost more than $150M to make, much of which went into the troublesome CGI and numerous makeovers in the visual effects department, has seen a decent amount of ticket sales, but I suppose it's still not as grand as Warner Brothers would have liked. It's not as impressive as the opening "Thor" had ($65M), and slightly lower than "X-Men: First Class" which grossed $55M in its opening week-end. It all depends on how the movie will evolve from this point on, but the scathing reviews seem to point towards a drop in popularity over the next few weeks.

• At #2 is last week's #1, "Super 8". The sci-fi nostalgia flick directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg registered a decline, from $37M in its opening week-end to $21M in the current three-day time frame. With only $14M earned in the other the five days, the total cume was raised to $72.8M. The blockbuster seems to have a hard time raising money, despite all the hype that prepared its release, although its $45M budget has already been cleared. The movie should still reach $150M, if holds steady.

• The week's second important release comes in at #3, "Mr. Popper's Penguins". The comedy starring Jim Carrey and six penguins pulled in a low $18M over the last three days. Although, not particularly impressive, this is pretty much on par with Carrey's other movie openings, usually somewhere around $20-30M. His best opening week-end was the one registered with "Bruce Almighty", a stellar $81M. "Mr. Popper's Penguins" will probably finish below $50M in the next few weeks.

• "X-Men: First Class" took another significant hit from last week's #2, to #4 this week, with only $11.5M this week-end. Considering it opened only 17 days ago with $56M, it's turning out to be quite a disappointment. With a total cume now at $120M, which puts the total revenue of the last 7 days at $21M (where last week-end alone it scored $25M), the movie looks to sink fast, putting a brutal end to the high expectations that surrounded the project, making this a potential failure when compared to the other X-Men movies. It remains to be seen if it can stabilize its losses. At least it has recovered its $80M budget.

• At #5, "The Hangover Part II" is losing more money than its protagonists can throw up on. Grossing $9.6M this week-end, about half less than last week, the movie reached a total of $233M. Doing the math it appears that the movie has made only $20M in the last seven days, which confirms the movie's fast decline, due to negative word-of-mouth. Since the first movie grossed $277M, due to an enthusiastic public reception that prolonged its domestic run, the sequel looks doomed to just barely match that result, despite having an opening that was almost three times bigger than the first one's. Losing this much money can only mean it will finish somewhere around $270-280M, if they're lucky. It's a sign that they really need to re-think their strategy for the third movie.

• "Kung Fu Panda 2" is fighting its own demise, landing at #6 with $8.7M over the week-end and a total of $143 since its release. It looks like the animated feature will not be able to match the earnings of the first movie, unlike "The Hangover Part II". It will instead land somewhere below the first one's $215M by a lot. I estimate it can, maybe, crawl its way to a $180M finish, over several weeks, but even this is pretty optimistic. I bet Dreamworks is disappointed, since it still hasn't recovered its $150M budget.

• The nutty "Bridesmaids" land their party at #7, with $7M over the last three days and a total cume of $137M in 37 days. It seems I was right when I said last week that it could hold much better than "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," because it did. Pirates landed one place below the R-rated comedy, which now seems to be headed for the $150M mark and beyond, probably as far as $160-165M. Not bad at all.

• "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is still dragging itself through theaters, with $6M this week-end, which puts it at #8. The total now at $220M, it looks like the movie is still far from recuperating its $250M budget in its domestic run, considering that week after week it fails to stabilize its losses. It will, of course, recover that sum eventually, but it looks like it might exit the top 10 in a week or two.

• Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" is clearly benefitting from its wide release at #9. Earning $5M over the week-end, and a total of $21M, the movie is doing well, all things considered. Recuperating its $30M budget no longer looks like a problem. It will probably end its domestic run somewhere around $35-40M.

• For a second week in the top 10 is the lesser-hyped children's movie "Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer" at #10. Grossing $2M over the week-end and reaching a total of $11M, the movie is doing much better business than anyone expected, recovering half of its $20M budget in its 10-day run. It won't be around forever, but it did get two weeks in the top 10.

The movies that exited the Top 10 are : "Thor" (released May 5), "Fast Five" (released April 29).

Here is the Top 10 for the week of 17 June 2011 :

1. Green Lantern
Weekend : $52.7M
Total : $52.7M

2. Super 8
Weekend : $21M
Total : $72.8M

3. Mr. Popper's Penguins
Weekend : $18M  
Total : $18M

4. X-Men: First Class
Weekend : $11.5M   
Total : $120M

5. The Hangover Part II
Weekend : $9.6M  
Total : $233M

6. Kung Fu Panda 2
Weekend : $8.7M  
Total : $143M

7. Bridesmaids
Weekend : 7M    
Total : $137M

8. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Weekend : $6M    
Total : $220M

9. Midnight in Paris
Weekend : $5M
Total : $21.8M

10. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
Weekend : $2M  
Total : $11M