(Image: thechannelc, via Flickr / CC)
The Hunger Games has managed to fend off new wide releases from outperforming it atop the U.S. box office for the fourth consecutive weekend.
The book-turned-blockbuster-movie adaptation from Lionsgate, which took the studio $90 million to create, raked in $21.5 million from Friday to Sunday, checking off a relatively thin 32 percent decline as opposed to the previous weekend. The Hunger Games has grossed $337.1 million altogether just 24 days from its debut and appears to have momentum for a final burst that will bring its domestic total to around $375 million. If these are any indication, only three movies have the guts and likelihood to topple those numbers this year, namely The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Throughout the world, The Hunger Games failed to extend its record-contending franchise launch in the U.S., but the film is doing rather good on a weekly basis. The film now draws closer to the $200 million mark on foreign shores, and on Sunday, its aggregate already stood at $531 million, a figure that will expectedly grow with each succeeding film in the franchise.
The Farrelly brothers’ The Three Stooges placed second with an unanticipated debut gross of $17.1 million. Although that figure is a far cry from colossal, the humorous movie, amid expectations to be a dud due to ads that played up the cuckoo comedy as it relived the original 1930s series, did better with moviegoers and critics alike – more than anyone ever considered.
According to reports, the comedy, which stars Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso, cost 20th Century Fox $30 million to make and target comedy-hungry ticket buyers, both men and young boys, keen to watch another family movie not titled Mirror Mirror. No matter, as this cunning strategy effectively proved itself when CinemaScore said the film cozied up audiences composed of 59 percent male. However, The Three Stooges garnered a dull “B-” grade from CinemaScore, of which audiences under 25 afforded the film an “A-” while those 25 and up yieled a “C”, a detrimental mark that puts into question its length of box office service.
Three years on the back burner did not stop The Cabin in the Woods from hitting the big screen. The horror-comedy helmed by Joss Whedon finally received its debut release over the weekend, where the film frightened off a decent $14.9 million. Lionsgate had a hard time to market The Cabin in the Woods sans giving spoilers that may reduce its thrilling effects.
The film took on by Lionsgate for the price of below $20 million checked off from $5.5 million on Friday to $5.7 million on Saturday, an extraordinary boost for a fanboy/frontloaded horror flick. In such a case, attribution could go to effective word-of-mouth and major overall critical reviews, of which it received a “fresh” 93 percent from popular movie ratings site Rotten Tomatoes; however, audiences polled by CinemaScore were not so excessively keen. Moviegoers gave it a scratchy grade of “C”. More and more, CinemaScore grades apparently don’t fall in line with critical reviews anymore, which was also evident on the fate of Drive – loved by critics, hated by audiences with a “C-“ CinemaScore grade. For now, time can only tell if word-of-mouth is actually a blessing or a drag for The Cabin in the Woods.
Titanic 3D settled for fourth, as it sank – thankfully not to the ocean bed – by only 33 percent to $11.6 million in its second Friday-to-Sunday period. The 3-D re-release of the unsinkable-sinkable ship (no pun intended) earned $44.4 million after ten days in the box office arena, exceeding the $43.3 million re-release aggregate of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace notwithstanding a solid $22.5 million debut. Titanic will likely pass Beauty and the Beast 3D‘s $47.5 million gross in the upcoming days and probably sit down at $65 million. While this is actually less than The Lion King‘s $94.2 million total for its re-release and a tad bit short of expectations, Paramount only spent $18 million to convert Titanic to 3-D, which proves its profitability even for the upcoming Titanic on Blu-ray.
Universal’s American Reunion filled out the last spot on the top 5 after it pulled in $10.7 million, a sharp 50 percent cut as opposed to last weekend’s earnings. The sequel to the American Pie franchise only grossed $39.9 million when the studio cost it $50 million to make. As such, Reunion is on pace to finish as the most lackluster movie in the series.
Rolling down four steps further down to ninth place, the Guy Pearce/Maggie Grace thriller Lockout began its campaign with a faint $6.3 million despite showings in 2,308 theaters. The action film garnered a “B-” grade in CinemaScore audiences.
The controversial documentary Bully from Weinstein, which now has received a PG-13 rating after re-editing and slashing off several F-words, managed to rake in a rather soft $534,000 from 158 theaters in spite of massive media airtime. The film has grossed a total $814,000 after three weekends.
In the meantime, Blue Like Jazz, an adaptation of Donald Miller’s religious memoir and funded by Kickstarter, brought in a fine $281,000 from 136 movie houses. Since this film received funds from fans, Roadside Attractions’, its official distributor, negative costs were neglibigle.
Noteworthy Box Office Milestones Over The Weekend
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island passed the $100 million mark in the domestic box office over the weekend. The film, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has raked in more than $315 million worldwide.
- Safe House, the Denzel Washington thriller, crossed the $125 million mark.
- 21 Jump Street hit $120 million and has the right momentum to go past The Vow as Channing Tatum’s highest-grossing film for this year.
U.S. Box Office Top 5 Movies
1. The Hunger Games – $21.5 million
2. The Three Stooges – $17.1 million
3. The Cabin in the Woods – $14.9 million
4. Titanic 3D – $11.6 million
5. American Reunion – $10.7 million
Visit again next week to witness how newcomers The Lucky One and Think Like A Man will fare against these current titles.