Box Office Update: "Fast" Times in "Rio"

There were some pretty massive failures at the box office this weekend. Disney's new aim at the young demographic, Prom, proved largely unsuccessful, landing in fifth place with only $5 million. Even more pathetically was Hoodwinked Too, which holds the absolute lowest debut for a 3D film opening in wide release. We would have good reason to be greatly depressed by this weekend if it weren't for the gargantuan opening tally of Fast Five. Expectations were set pretty high already, with many estimating a take of around $70 million, much like the previous film in the series. I was preparing for an upset, but Fast Five ended up posting a new record for the franchise and for the month of May.

With a tally that high, all other films this weekend seem very much irrelevant, but there were some other achievements worth talking about. Rio took a controlled fall of 45.3%, which is understandable considering the competition. Water for Elephants fell a similar amount and landed up in fourth place. Between the two was Madea's Big Happy Family, which fell an estimated 60% from last week's moderate debut. The biggest drop came from Hop, which hit it big on Easter weekend, only to fall again this weekend by 79%. The film is currently standing at $105.3 million, and isn't looking to go much higher than that. Overall, it should come as no surprise that this weekend demolished the same weekend last year, which played host to the $32.9 million debut of the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

1. Fast Five (First Weekend; $83.6 million)

2. Rio (Third Weekend; $14.4 million)

3. Madea's Big Happy Family (Second Weekend; $10.1 million)

4. Water For Elephants (Second Weekend; $9.1 million)

5. Prom (First Weekend; $5 million)

6. Hoodwinked Too (First Weekend; $4.1 million)

7. Soul Surfer (Fourth Weekend; $3.3 million)

8. Insidious (Fifth Weekend; $2.7 million)

9. Hop (Fifth Weekend; $2.6 million)

10. Source Code (Fifth Weekend; $2.5 million)

Box Office Update: Vacation Cut Short

At this point, I'm sick and tired of people making excuses for not heading out to the theaters this weekend. It's no longer a fitting excuse to say that there's nothing worth watching out there, because that's a lie. Hanna proved to be something brilliant, Source Code was an intriguing and emotional journey, and Scre4m is an enjoyable enough romp if you're not looking for brilliance. So how is it that these films are being criminally under-appreciated at the box office? It probably has to do with the unreasonable boost in ticket prices. It is getting to the point in which it is not a weekly escape so much as an occasional luxury.

I admit that I did not get around to seeing Rio this weekend, mostly because I didn't have such an urge to rush out to the theater. It appears I was the only one, as families flocked (no pun intended) to the 3D animated adventure. I hope I'll get around to it sometime this week, but it's not an immediate priority. Scre4m underperformed at the box office, falling back on Saturday and Sunday grosses after a somewhat promising Friday. It's highly characteristic of how Sucker Punch performed a few weeks ago. Hop fell just as much as expected, which isn't at all surprising. Hanna fell being Soul Surfer, dropping 40.8% and 30.2% respectively. The Conspirator fared about as well as Scre4m did, at least in terms of per theater averages. The box office this weekend was actually 4.5% higher than it was the same weekend last year, when Kick-Ass also disappointed at the opening spot. How to Train Your Dragon picked up the slack in hold overs.

1. Rio (First Weekend; $40 million)
2. Scre4m (First Weekend; $19.3 million)
3. Hop (Third Weekend; $11.2 million)
4. Soul Surfer (Second Weekend; $7.4 million)
5. Hanna (Second Weekend; $7.3 million)
6. Arthur (Second Weekend; $6.9 million)
7. Insidious (Third Weekend; $6.8 million)
8. Source Code (Third Weekend; $6.3 million)
9. The Conspirator (First Weekend; $3.9 million)
10. Your Highness (Second Weekend; $3.9 million)

Open Thread: Children, Wake Up!

If things have been generally subdued here at the site for the past two weeks, that's probably a byproduct of the sluggish trend the film industry has fallen into this year. Everything about this year thus far screams of a sort of sedation and lack of enthusiasm, so much that it makes me question the overall happiness of people these days. No film this year has opened higher than $40 million over the weekend, something that should be remedied this weekend by either the child skewing Rio or the horror genre parody Scream 4. Are audiences really just tired with the theatrical experience, or is it just that there's nothing worth seeing out there? I'd very much like to believe the latter, but seeing as Hop is getting higher numbers than Source Code, we could throw that idea out the window.

Interestingly enough, Hanna seems to be playing better with audiences than I expected it would. The theater I went to see Joe Wright's art house feature in was skewing more towards the younger demographic than one would expect. I'm not just talking about teens and such, but there were young children in the audience, of course accompanied by their parents. It's almost as if they were begging to be observed for their reactions in this really frightening action piece. It actually reminded me an awful lot of Coraline in 2009, filled with kids who weren't expecting a terrifying experience when they initially sat down.

The older demographic's response to Hanna was one of unmitigated shock, and it's something that's completely understandable. I'm not sure if you noticed, but Hanna is an absolutely terrible role model for children. She murders people at the drop of the hat, showing little remorse for her actions afterwords. Obviously, I understand that there's more to Saoirse Ronan's character and performance than that narrow description allows for. It's one of the many things that makes the film brilliant, how varying she is in her emotions of love, happiness, fear, anger, ambition, and apathy. All the same, you could excuse the parents for dragging their kids screaming out of the theater some time before the end.

Box Office Update: Branded on Both Ends

We're getting very close to actually being ahead of where we were in 2010, and I can't quite pick up why we have been failing so much this year. Audiences still aren't being intelligent with their choices, but they just aren't going to the theater as much as they used to. I admit that I visited the theater more often last year than I have this year, but I'd never wait for a film I'm truly excited to see to release on DVD. The theatrical experience is one of the things that makes this medium of art and entertainment so powerful. I do hope that this year's box office slump has more to do with the quality of the films playing, and less to do with people having grown tired of the big screen experience.

We can still expect films like Hop to succeed more than anything else, an immediate and sustainable draw for the child crowd. The Easter themed flick held onto the top spot, dropping 42.2% from its debut. Another strange draw for the kiddie crowd, Arthur, took second place with the highest of four relatively low openings. Hanna, the true spectacle of this weekend, was right behind it with a higher average per theater. Soul Surfer, which played surprisingly well with audiences this weekend, followed Hanna with an even higher average. Last weekend's horror film, Insidious, held on most impressively amongst last weekend's films, dropping only 26.6%. Your Highness skidded just below the $10 million mark, marking the lowest income of the new releases. Source Code dropped by a margin less than Hop, but greater than Insidious, falling 38.9%. Overall, this weekend was a 13.9% drop from 2010, when Date Night opened shortly behind the second weekend of Clash of the Titans.

1. Hop (Second Weekend; $21.7 million)
2. Arthur (First Weekend; $12.6 million)
3. Hanna (First Weekend; $12.3 million)
4. Soul Surfer (First Weekend; $11.1 million)
5. Insidious (Second Weekend; $9.7 million)
6. Your Highness (First Weekend; $9.5 million)
7. Source Code (Second Weekend; $9 million)
8. Limitless (Fourth Weekend; $5.7 million)
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Third Weekend; $4.9 million)
10. The Lincoln Lawyer (Fourth Weekend; $4.6 million)

Box Office Update: Snuffed at the Source

Fun Fact: The 2011 box office is still failing miserably in comparison to both 2010 and 2009. I get the feeling that once we reach the summer movie season, things will pick up and we'll be on our way to a solid number to end the year on. This weekend does come as something of an upset, because there is a genuinely great film for audiences, but their attention seems to be averted by the typical drivel. Hop came on top, managing a gross that comes close to surpassing Rango. Kids flicks have had the greatest financial success thus far this year, and that trend is continuing here.

Source Code did lure in the majority of the adult audiences this weekend, but such a paltry number as $15 million has to disappoint in some way. Insidious came just behind it, revealing where the other adult crowds decided to go. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules fell to forth place with a massive 57% drop. Even more massive was Sucker Punch's descent of 68%, spelling quick and sudden death for Zack Snyder's only original effort. This weekend constituted a 33% drop from the same weekend last year, when Clash of the Titans opened to a large, but circumstantially disappointing, number.

1. Hop (First Weekend; $38.1 million)
2. Source Code (First Weekend; $15 million)
3. Insidious (First Weekend; $13.5 million)
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Second Weekend; $10.2 million)
5. Limitless (Third Weekend; $9.4 million)
6. The Lincoln Lawyer (Third Weekend; $7 million)
7. Sucker Punch (Second Weekend; $6.1 million)
8. Rango (Fifth Weekend; $4.5 million)
9. Paul (Third Weekend; $4.3 million)
10. Battle: Los Angeles (Fourth Weekend; $3.5 million)

The Weekend Report: Foolish "Hop"-timism

No elaborate or amateur pranks for you guys today, because I am only capable of the latter and too self-conscious to do something so depraved. What I can tell you for sure, and this is sadly not a joke, is that Hop will almost certainly make it out at the top of the box office. I'm sure it would be an easier sell if it had the added bonus of 3D, but it's already got a needy and optimistic target audience locked in. Children are clueless and predictable, and I loathe the idea that I may one day have to be hauled into this kind of film with them one day. The idiocy here exceeds the relatively modest standards of Alvin and the Chipmunks, so I'll be checking in for more intellectual fare.

Source Code is the second big-ticket feature this weekend, and for once I'm relatively confident that I'll have a great time with this film. It's got a more than talent cast that features not only Jake Gyllenhaal, a man who has had some less than inspiring features over the past year, but also Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright. Everything about screams as an intelligent sci-fi action piece, more low-key and less grand-scale than Inception, but enticing nonetheless. This is the film I'd like to see come out on top this weekend, but I doubt that audiences will be smart enough to take the gamble on original material like this.

The rest is a festival of uncertainty and detectable crap, both on the limited and wide release scale. Insidious has received mixed reviews, mostly from people who roll their eyes at its typical horror plotline. The King's Speech*, a somewhat great and inspiring feature over the past few months, is getting an less than encouraged PG-13 release in order to ensnare "family audiences". I guess winning the Oscar and earning over $100 million doesn't get you out of censorship in this day and age. On the limited market, Super arrived to mixed reviews, which could mean that it's a love it or hate it affair, but one can't be sure. I can offer a mild suggestion towards In a Better World, this year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, but I'm somewhat held back in this case.

*A good film, but if you haven't seen it yet, wait for the R-rated version to reach DVD. The PG-13 version is a poor decision.

For Your Anticipation: I'm Really Special

I'm really sorry, but in terms of this particular film, I'm already supremely underwhelmed, specifically with the title. You have the entire world of Easter and Rabbit related titles to pick from, not to mention the implications of the story, and you go with Hop? I know that sometimes less is more, but this just isn't doing it for me. Aside from that, I just don't quite see the purpose of this film. I get that we don't have that many Easter themed films out there, unless you count The Passion of the Christ. I think you could've done a lot more with this film if it was completely animated. The combination of live action and CG didn't work for Alvin and the Chipmunks, and it doesn't really work here. You can't quite merge the two universes believably yet, unless you have the budget James Cameron had on Avatar.

Films To See In 2011: April

Last month was a bit of a failure in terms of predicting what is most likely to be good, or at least entertaining, mostly because I haven't gotten around to seeing any of those films yet. I've seen a lot of truly pathetic filmmaking, but we're moving more towards some sort of quality. I'd like to say that I'm sure April will be a step in the right direction, but that hasn't been working out for me. There have been some entertaining films over the past few weeks, but only in the sense that general audiences will probably enjoy it. I have moved more towards a special niche of high quality films, and it's become harder and harder to please me.

I don't expect that we'll be getting a lot of that sort of feature this April, but most of the films that are shaping up to be the most promising are films that I had mixed reservations about before. I'd have Steven Soderbergh's upcoming film Haywire somewhere up here if we had gotten any sort of trailer or footage yet. I think Source Code and Scre4m have promise, but there are creeping doubts in the back of my mind. Hop and Rio are both animated films, and I've found it very hard in the past to peg these sorts of features. The trailers try to appeal to children, and somehow that always involves leaving out the emotional moments that make the films so great. The films I have in the upper most echelon of this month are the films I am relatively certain will end up being good. Your Highness almost made it in, but it was just barely edged out by...

3."Water for Elephants"
Directed by Francis Lawrence

The idea of simple entertainment or fun doesn't really apply to this film, which I initially knocked against for being another throwaway vehicle for Robert Pattinson. Since further trailers have come out, he's actually grown on me. Same goes for Reese Witherspoon, who was at first only shown with an annoying smile, but is now shown with deeper emotionality. Christoph Waltz was never a problem with me, but he's becoming more of a standout actor in this feature, as well as every film he's in. We honestly don't even care about his accent, as if we ever did. Obviously there are similarities to Titanic, a film I've widely called out as overrated, but there's something vibrant that just grabs me in the recent trailers. (Releases nationwide on April 22nd)