BOX OFFICE RESULTS FOR THE WEEKEND OF MAY 7-9
Iron Man 2 started off the summer movie season with a bang generating the fifth biggest opening weekend of all time. It was an impressive debut for the armored avenger, although not even close to as big as I thought it would’ve been. I thought Tony Stark and company were going to be able to steal away the record for best opening weekend from The Dark Knight ($158.4M) but it looks like the caped crusader will keep the record for another year.
Iron Man 2 opened with an impressive $133.6M and was the widest release in history with 4380 theatres. My expectations for the film were way off. I predicted a gargantuan $170M opening and was way wrong, but nonetheless, Iron Man 2 got summer off to a great start. It wasn’t enough to shatter any prior box office records, but the film had the fifth biggest opening in box office history. Take a look at the top 10 weekend openings.
|
RANK
|
DATE
|
TITLE
|
OPENING
|
TOTAL GROSS
|
# OF DAYS
|
|
1
|
7/18/08
|
The Dark Knight
|
$158.4M
|
$158.4M
|
3
|
|
2
|
5/4/07
|
Spider-Man 3
|
$151.1M
|
$151.1M
|
3
|
|
3
|
11/20/09
|
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
|
$142.8M
|
$142.8M
|
3
|
|
4
|
7/7/06
|
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
|
$135.6M
|
$135.6M
|
3
|
|
5
|
5/7/10
|
Iron Man 2
|
$133.6M
|
$133.6M
|
3
|
|
6
|
5/18/07
|
Shrek the Third
|
$121.6M
|
$121.6M
|
3
|
|
7
|
3/5/10
|
Alice in Wonderland
|
$116.1M
|
$116.1M
|
3
|
|
8
|
5/3/02
|
Spider-Man
|
$114.8M
|
$114.8M
|
3
|
|
9
|
5/25/07
|
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
|
$114.7M
|
$127.9M
|
4
|
|
10
|
6/26/09
|
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
|
$108.9M
|
$200.1M
|
5
|
Critics weren’t quite as pleased with this installment of the series in comparison to the first film, but according to CinemaScore, audiences are giving it an A, which could mean great legs in the weeks ahead. Competition was light this weekend and the film should continue to be the top movie next weekend despite direct competition from Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe.
Iron Man 2 accounted for 80% of the top 10 box office this weekend and as such there isn’t all that much left to say. The Freddy Krueger remake dropped off a huge 72% in its second frame collecting another $9.2M. This was right in line with my forecast of a 68% drop and better than the 80% plummet experienced by fellow horror reboot Friday the 13th last year.
To see how the rest of the top 10 shaped up and how my other predictions for the weekend fared, check out the chart below.
Be sure to come back Thursday for my predictions for this weekend’s new releases Robin Hood, Letters to Juliet and Just Wright.
Follow me on
Twitter for box office updates throughout the week.
|
RANK
|
TITLE
|
MAY 7-9
|
APRIL 30 – MAY 2
|
% CHANGE
|
# OF THEATRES/
AVERAGE
|
# OF WEEKS
|
TOTAL
|
BILL SAID
|
|
1
|
Iron Man 2
|
$133.6M
|
New
|
New
|
4380
$30.5K per screen
|
1
|
$133.6M
|
$170M
|
|
2
|
A Nightmare on Elm Street
|
$9.2M
|
$32.9M
|
-72%
|
3332
$2.8K per screen
|
2
|
$48.5M
|
$10.5M
-68%
|
|
3
|
How to Train Your Dragon
|
$6.8M
|
$10.6M
|
-36%
|
3003
$2.3K per screen
|
7
|
$201.1M
|
$7.1M
-33%
|
|
4
|
Date Night
|
$5.3M
|
$7.6M
|
-30%
|
2734
$1.9K per screen
|
5
|
$80.9M
|
$4.9M
-35%
|
|
5
|
The Back-up Plan
|
$4.3M
|
$7.3M
|
-40%
|
3003
$1.4K per screen
|
3
|
$29.4M
|
44.5M
-38%
|
|
6
|
Furry Vengeance
|
$4.0M
|
$6.6M
|
-40%
|
3002
$1.3K per screen
|
2
|
$11.6M
|
$3.4M
-48%
|
|
7
|
Clash of the Titans
|
$2.3M
|
$5.9M
|
-61%
|
2157
$1.1K per screen
|
6
|
$157.8M
|
$2.3M
-60%
|
|
8
|
Death at a Funeral
|
$2.1M
|
$4.1M
|
-49%
|
1706
$1.2K per screen
|
4
|
$38.3M
|
$2.1M
-48%
|
|
9
|
The Losers
|
$1.8M
|
$5.9M
|
-69%
|
2450
$0.7K per screen
|
3
|
$21.5M
|
$2.0M
-65%
|
|
10
|
Babies
|
$1.6M
|
New
|
New
|
534
$3.0K per screen
|
1
|
$1.6M
|
N/A
|