In what was expected to be a close race, the animated birds of Rio trounced the 10-years-in-the-waiting horror sequel Scream 4 while holdovers were a mixed bag.
Fox has another animated hit on its hands (along with a possible franchise) as Rio opened with $40M this weekend, according to estimates, from 3,826 theaters for a per screen average of $10,455. The opening was almost exactly on par with Hop which opened two weeks ago to $37.5M and a $10,490 average. With no built-in audience from a previous installment and a brand new concept, the opening for Rio was pretty good, although the 3D surcharges should have added a few more dollars. Hop was in 2D and opened on 250 less screens. Still, $40M is nothing to sneeze at and other than Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, there are no other family films coming out until Kung Fu Panda 2 at the end of May, so Rio should see some good legs over the next few weeks.
11 years after the last installment, the masked killer(s) of Scream 4 returned with a soft opening of $19.3M, according to estimates. Expectations ran high amongst fans of the original trilogy, but those expectations didn’t turn into dollars as its per screen average of $5,833 was barely higher than the film that came in ninth this week. It seems fans came out this weekend but not a lot of new fans were created which was a bit of a surprise since horror fans are usually dependable. The last horror film to come out was two weeks ago with Insidious which is holding on remarkably well, and may have actually pulled out a few customers from Scream 4. Insidious opened to $13.3M with a $5,551 average but has fallen by less than 30% each weekend since.
After a 2-week reign on top, the birds of Rio pushed the Easter Bunny of Hop down into third with an estimated $11.2M, down 48% from last weekend bringing its cume to $82.6M. Obviously the entrance of a new animated family film hurt, but Hop is still on target to get to $110-115M overall. The true-life story of Soul Surfer landed in fourth this weekend, falling a slim 30% from last weekend to finish with $7.4M, according to estimates, bringing its total to $20M. A final gross in the area of $40M is possible. In its second weekend the young assassin Hanna rounded out the top five with an estimated $7.3M falling 41% and bringing its total gross to $23.3M. A final number of around $40M is likely.
Warner’s remake of Arthur fell 43% this weekend into sixth place with an estimated $6.9M bringing its cume to $22.3M. Look for another final total in the $40M range. Seventh place belonged to the horror entry Insidious which had the best hold in the Top 10, dropping only 27% to $6.85M, according to estimates, and bringing its current total to $36M after three weeks. Based on its strong holds even with a major horror film opening this weekend, there is the outside chance that Insidious could eventually out gross Scream 4 which would have been unthinkable even three days ago. Another film with a strong hold ended in eighth place this weekend as Source Code fell a slim 27% to $6.3M, according to estimates, bringing its cume to $37M.
Robert Redford’s latest directorial work The Conspirator opened in ninth this weekend with an estimated $3.9M from 707 screens for an average of $5,550. Rounding out the Top 10 was the Universal flop Your Highness which had the biggest drop in the Top 10, falling 58% to an estimated $3.9M for a 2-week total of only $15.9M. Look for a final tally in the $25M range and a quick trip on to DVD.
The Top 10 grossed $113M this weekend which was up 4% from 2010 when Kick-Ass debuted at number one with $19.8M; and up 16% from 2009 when 17 Again opened at the top of the charts with $23.7M
Author: Sujit Chawla, Box Office Guru!
