Weekend Estimates: Rio Opens With $40 Million to Break Box Office Slump

April 17, 2011

At the 19th attempt, 2011 finally has a legitimate winning weekend at the box office, thanks to a better-than-expected opening for Rio (and, to be fair, a weak comparison weekend last year). With a $40 million estimated debut, Rio lays claim to having the best opening of the year so far, and the fifth-best April weekend of all time (nudging out Hop debut two weeks ago). While that's undoubtedly good news, the rest of the chart is something of a mixed bag.

Scream 4's $19.279 opening in second place is a disappointment, especially since it was seen as having a good chance of winning the weekend. Hop tumbled 47% in the face of competition, although it will probably hold on to enough theaters to have a good Easter weekend next weekend.

There were two more movies that opened nationwide this weekend, and both can claim to have had successful launches. The Conspirator opened with an estimated $3.924 million for Roadside Attractions, which might be enough for a coveted top ten spot (although it will be close, with Your Highness and Limitless both breathing down its neck). Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, meanwhile, picked up an estimated $1.677 million in 299 theaters for 14th place. Both films averaged about $5,600 per theater, which are solid performances for small distributors releasing films this wide. Conspirator is showing much better legs than Shrugged right now, and probably has the better chance of having a good extended run in theaters.

One other new release of note this weekend is The Double Hour (La doppia ora), which earned an impressive $30,812 estimate in two theaters.

- 3-Day Weekend Estimates
- Friday daily estimates
- Saturday daily estimates
- Sunday daily projections

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Rio, Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, Scream 4, The Conspirator, La doppia ora, Hop