Titans Clash on Top
April 12, 2010
New releases opened a little on the lower end of expectations, but holdover performed admirably for the most part. There was a close race for the top spot this weekend. Overall, the box office pulled in $127 million, a 28% drop-off from last weekend. However, last weekend was a holiday weekend and so that's not that surprising. Box office was also down 4.6% from last year, but last year this was Easter weekend, so the decline is acceptable. Year-to-date, 2010 maintains its 10% growth over 2009 at $3.03 billion to $2.76 billion.
Clash of the Titans came within a rounding error of Thursday's prediction. Fortunately, it was on the high end as it added $26.63 million over the past three days for a total of $110.23 million. It became the fifth $100 million hit of the year and just overtook Valentine's Day for fourth place on the yearly chart. On the other hand, it did fall nearly 60%, which is not good. And it cost a reported $125 million to make. That said, it's well on its way to making a profit and mythology could become a very popular source for screenplays in the future.
Date Night finished on the low end of expectations, missing first place with $25.21 million during its opening weekend. On the other hand, the Tina Fey and Steve Carell collaboration earned the best reviews in Shawn Levy's career. If this translates into better-than-average legs, it could come close to matching original expectations while showing a profit sometime on the home market.
Arguably the real winner of the weekend was How to Train Your Dragon, which was down a mere 14.3% to $24.86 million over the weekend for a total of $133.40 million after three. $150 million is no longer an issue. In fact, it should get to that milestone by this time next week. Now $175 million is the low end of expectations, while it has a slim chance at becoming the second film of 2010 to reach $200 million. But even if it reaches milestone, Iron Man 2 could get there sooner.
Why Did I Get Married? plummeted more than 60% during its second weekend of release to $11.02 million. That said, it already has $48.54 million in the bank and should have no trouble making a bundle for the studio.
Rounding out the top five was The Last Song with $9.83 million over the weekend for a total of $42.26 million after two. Its sophomore stint decline was less than 40%, which has more to do with its Wednesday opening last week than any real quality. In the end, the film should pull in $60 million, becoming a solid midlevel hit. It's still way too soon to judge Miley Cyrus's post-Hannah Montana career, but this is a good start.
The final "wide" release of the week was Letters to God, which landed in tenth place with a mere $1.10 million in 897 theaters. Its per theater average was hideous, its reviews were no better, and it didn't even receive a boost from churchgoers on Sunday. The only good news is its production budget, which was reportedly just $2 to $3 million.
Filed under: Date Night, The Last Song, How to Train Your Dragon, Clash of the Titans, Letters to God, Why Did I Get Married Too?