Not too many huge stories at the box office this weekend. Thor kept the top spot with $35.5 million for the weekend (based on early estimates), while Bridesmaids ran a strong second with $24.4 million. Be thankful for that, because with the way they’ve been selling it, rest assured that Bridesmaids was a stand-in for all female-driven, non-Kate Hudson films in the minds of most movie execs. It just goes to show, if the movie’s good enough, the ladies will neglect their baking. (Stay off the roads that day). Oh, and Fast Five (5 Fast 5 Furious) surpassed Fast and Furious (4ast and Fourious) as the highest-grossing movie of the series, so we’ll probably be getting at least three more of those.
Thor‘s percentage drop was much smaller than the last two summer starters (Iron Man 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and it also outperformed The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans. Its fall was also about even with the first Iron Man, albeit with a much lower total gross. If Thor continues to track like Tony Stark’s first outing, it could close at around $200 million. [BoxOfficeMojo]
Most everything else performed adequately. Priest opened all the way down at fourth, worse than Underworld, Resident Evil, or Legion (which was from the same director), but who didn’t see that coming? $14.5 million is a coup for a movie that looked as stupid as that one did. Good luck earning that $60 million budget back (sidenote: how the hell did Priest cost 60 million?).
This weekend’s big losers, other than Go for It, which managed to earn less than $600 per location, probably because no one had even heard of it, and even if they had, couldn’t remember that generic name, were the indies. Will Ferrell’s Everything Must Go averaged $3,784 at 218 locations, and Hesher $3,175 at 40. It’s sad (especially for the people in the Midwest who might want to see them) that they decide how wide to release these films based on their first or second weekend performance, when most people who don’t regularly read movie blogs still haven’t heard of them. And between you, me, and my bank account, we really don’t account for that significant a segment of society. It just goes to show, if you make a really good indie movie, and even get huge stars like Natalie Portman or Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Will Ferrell to be in it, you’re probably still f*cked.
| Film | Weekend (% drop) | Per | |||
| 1 | Thor | $34,500,00 (-45%) | $8,706 | $119,252,317 | |
| 2 | Bridesmaids | $24,400,000 | $8,362 | $24,000,000 | |
| 3 | Fast Five | $19,500,000 (-40%) | $5,141 | $168,746,200 | |
| 4 | Priest | $14,500,000 | $5,063 | $14,500,000 | |
| 5 | Rio | $8,000,000 (-6%) |
$2,731 | $124,968,140 | |
| 6 | Jumping The Broom | $7,300,000 (-52%) |
$3,587 | $25,993,814 | |
| 7 | Something Borrowed | $7,000,000 (-50%) | $2,410 | $25,646,512 | |
| 8 | Water For Elephants | $4,100,000 (-32%) | $2,425 | $48,475,780 | |
| 9 | Big Happy Family | $2,200,000 (-47%) | $1,498 | $50,218,149 | |
| 10 | Soul Surfer | $1,800,000 (-22%) | $1,226 | $39,206,168 |
[via CHUD, BoxOfficeMojo]