Weekend Wrap-Up: Close Enough
April 1, 2013
While Easter Monday is a holiday up here in Canada, it's not in the United States and the weekend numbers have arrived. The numbers are good, or close enough to being good that I'm choosing to focus on the positive. G.I. Joe: Retaliation won the race for the top with an opening weekend that was a little better than expected. Meanwhile, Temptation also opened on the high end of expectations. On the other hand, The Host failed to live up to lowered expectations. Overall, the box office rose 6.1% from last week. Granted, it did fall compared to the same weekend last year, but it fell by less than 1% (0.99%) and compared to the year-to-date decline, that's positively glowing. I'm calling it a victory. That's right, 2013 has been so bad so far that I'm willing to call a 1% decline a victory. 2013 is still well behind 2012's pace at $2.27 billion to $2.59 billion, which is a deficit of 12% or nearly $330 million.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation was surprisingly strong earning $40.50 million over the weekend for a four-day opening of $51.01 million. Granted, this four-day total was lower than Rise of Cobra's three-day opening, but this film also cost about 30% less to make. Even with weaker legs due to weak reviews and the Sequel Effect, it should break the $100 million mark and earn a profit sometime on the home market.
The Croods was a little weaker than expected with $26.71 million over the weekend for a total of $88.89 million after two. It will have no trouble getting to $100 million this week, making it the third film of the year to get there. Assuming it can at least match this figure internationally, it will break even sometime on the home market.
Tyler Perry's Temptation opened in a solid third place with $21.64 million. This is the second-best Tyler Perry film to not feature him in a dress, and even though the reviews are hideous, and Tyler Perry's films tend to have short legs, it should still last long enough to make the studio happy.
Olympus Has Fallen was hammered by direct competition and had the second worst week-to-week drop-off in the top ten. (Only The Incredible Burt Wonderstone fell faster, and it saw its theater count sliced in half.) Even so, the film earned $14.15 million over the weekend for a total of $54.89 million after two, which is enough to be considered a solid midlevel hit.
Oz The Great and Powerful lasted one more weekend in the top five with $11.70 million over the weekend for a total of $198.37 million after four weeks of release. It will become the first film released in 2013 to $200 million and will do so very shortly.
The Host just missed the top five with $10.60 million. Its reviews suggest a short stay in theaters, so it won't match its $40 million production budget domestically. It could still break even, if it is a bigger hit on the international stage, but it won't live up to Stephenie Meyer's previous adaptations.
There were a pair of sophomore films that missed the the top five. Admission landed in eighth place with $3.24 million over the weekend for a total of $11.74 million after two. It fell 47%, which isn't terrible, but it is still well below expectations. Spring Breakers was right behind with $2.77 million over the weekend for a total of $10.07 million, including a week in limited release. It should finish its run with about $15 million, which is right in line with original expectations.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Croods, The Host, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Oz the Great and Powerful, Tyler Perry’s Temptation, Spring Breakers, Admission, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Olympus Has Fallen, Tyler Perry, Stephenie Meyer