Box-Office Report - Week of 3 June 2011

 From a lack of competition, the week of June 3rd was rather unattractive for moviegoers. Between the new entry in the "X-Men" franchise and the second week in theaters for the "Hangover" sequel, there wasn't  much room left for other movies. Let's take a look at the top 10 :

• As expected, "X-Men: First Class" took first place this week with $56M in its first three days. The sum also includes about $3M it made on its midnight premiere. While solid enough to climb to the top of the box-office, this is not exactly the big opening 20th Century Fox was expecting. In fact it's the worst in the franchise. The first X-Men movie did earn $54.4M in its opening week-end, but that was 2000, this is 2011 and the inflation adjustment would yield a bigger number. "X2" earned $85M during its opening week-end and the third one grossed $122M. The 2009 reboot "X-Men Origins : Wolverine" lost some of the magic, but still opened with $85M. So you can see how Matthew Vaughn's prequel, despite solid reviews, a high level of anticipation and a huge publicity campaign, is not quite up to Marvel's standards. Perhaps positive word-of-mouth can help the movie recover and finish with a solid cash return.

• Moving on to second place, we find the Wolfpack. "The Hangover Part II" loses first place this week, defeated by the mutant youngsters. Dropping about $50M from last week-end's earnings, the sequel to the 2009 comedy hit still earned a solid $32M, bringing its total cume to an insane $187M in just 8 days. It's obvious why Warner Brothers fast-tracked the third movie. It has already broken pretty much every record regarding R-rated comedies. The sequel is very close to matching the $277M domestic gross of the first movie and then surpassing it, going as far as $300M, although a quick look on forums and other public areas meant for opinion exchanges will reveal that the movie is not receiving the same kind of love that the first one did. Still, the future's looking good for "The Hangover Part II" as the summer season is the perfect time to enjoy a raunchy comedy, despite not being the clever, witty ride that was promised.

• At #3, "Kung Fu Panda 2" fights his way down it seems, as the animated feature dropped to $24M this week-end, after it opened during the same time frame last week with $48M. Since the opening was already a step down from the first movie, its current total of $100M is so far away from the previous one's $117M during the second week. I'm not entirely sure it can make it too far. It remains to be seen just how used up the movie's going to get in the following weeks. Dreamworks is probably surprised that despite the success of the first "Kung Fu Panda", the sequel can't seem to match its popularity factor during these first weeks, which are the most important in a movie's box-office performance.

• After three number two sequels, it's time for a number four sequel, at #4. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is sinking fast, grossing only $18M this week-end, which means a loss of $20M from last week-end. With the total cume now at $190M, it puts the swashbuckling adventure still $60M shy of its invested budget ($250M). Worldwide grosses will definitely improve these figures, but still, the fourth movie in the franchise seems to be headed for the bottom of the pit. The first and third movies surpassed $300M, while the second one actually managed to go past $400M. This last pirate expedition, despite having a new director, a fresh cast and a comprehensible plot, has failed to attract fans of the original movie back for another go. At least the 3D ticket sales should have inflated the figures a bit, which is all the more troublesome for the investors.

• Placing at #5 is the Judd Apatow produced raunchy comedy "Bridesmaids". Still on a downwards trend, but pretty stable, it grossed $12M this week-end, only a $4M drop from last week, and now its total has reached $107M. The movies looks to be headed for a $145-150M finish. Pretty good business, and it was smart of the producers to release it almost a month before "The Hangover Part II". Going head-to-head with that behemoth would have been bad business, as the two compete in the same kind of R-rated comedy territory.

• "Thor" lands his alien business at #6. It's starting to level out, dropping only $5M from last week-end, to a three-day cume of $4M. After a month in theaters, its total earnings have now reached $169M. The Marvel comic book adaptation looks to finish just shy of $200M, maybe somewhere around $190-195M. Made on a $150M budget, it hasn't exactly broken any records. Coupled with the not-so-impressive opening of "X-Men: First Class", Marvel Studios is taking quite a beating. In a way, it could be blamed on the fact that the market has been oversaturated with comic book adaptations that lack originality and even mass appeal, making it very difficult for audiences to consider them viable choices for a fun week-end at the movies.

• At #7, "Fast Five" continues to slowly fade, grossing $3M this week-end. Despite its descent, the movie has grossed in 30+ days a total sum of $202M, better than any of the Fast & Furious movies. The Justin Lin directed actioner looks to be headed for a $230M finish, not necessarily while still in the top 10. 

• The Woody Allen directed romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris" is still going strong at #8, after its Cannes-generated buzz, expanding from 58 theaters last week to 72 this week. It grossed $2.9M in the last three-days, bringing its total cume to $6.9M. Despite still running as a limited release, it should keep screening in a fairly large number of theaters in the US until June 24. Expected box-office should land somewhere around $20M.

• The last two places are anything but impressive. Since the week has been poor in big figures, these last two movies actually made it one last time in the top 10. So, at #9 it's the low-budget comedy "Jumping the Broom" with $856,000 worth of ticket sales in the last three days and a total of $35.9M in its 30 days of theatrical release so far. Made on a $6M budget, it  has proven to be quite profitable.

• And at #10, the movie that has been behind "Jumping the Broom" every step of the way for the last month, "Something Borrowed" has raked in $835,000, bringing its puny total to $36.7, slightly better than the #9 movie. However, because this one was made on a $35M budget and featured a high-profile cast, it can rightfully be regarded as a flop.

The movie that exited the Top 10 is "Rio", the animated feature from the creators of "Ice Age".

Here is the Top 10 for the week of 3 June 2011 :

1. X-Men: First Class
Weekend : $56M
Total : $56M

2. The Hangover Part II
Weekend : $32M
Total : $187M

3. Kung Fu Panda 2
Weekend : $24.3M  
Total : $100M

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Weekend : $18M   
Total : $190M

5. Bridesmaids
Weekend : $12M  
Total : $107M

6.Thor
Weekend : $4M  
Total : $169M

7. Fast Five
Weekend : $3M    
Total : $202M

8. Midnight in Paris
Weekend : $2.9M    
Total : $6.9M

9. Jumping the Broom
Weekend : $865,000
Total : $35.9M

10. Something Borrowed
Weekend : $835,000  
Total : $36.7M