Box Office Update: Second Class Treatment

My personal prejudice aside, it makes perfectly good sense why X-Men: First Class performed the way it did this weekend. I understand why people liked it as much as they did, even though I feel like they shouldn't have. It makes sense that the film would thrive off of the male audience, because they are the core demographic of people who would like it. The film didn't open as massively as some believed because of the negative energy after X-Men Origins: Wolverine failed so badly. It picked up from positive word of mouth, and is likely to survive over the coming weeks. All things considered, this is a solid opening for the reboot/prequel.

As for second week holdovers, Hangover: Part II fell to second with a massive drop of 62.2%, as one could have expected of an opening as massive as it had and a reception as mild as it received. Kung Fu Panda 2 fell just under 50%, proving to be the better holdover of the two. The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film continued its descent with a 54.8% drop, and Bridesmaids continued to perform exceptionally well with another small drop of 26.7%. In summation, the weekend was a vast improvement from last year, when Get Him to the Greek and Killers were the top new releases. It's that comparison that almost makes me think we're doing pretty well this year.

1. X-Men: First Class (First Weekend; $56 million)

2. The Hangover: Part II (Second Weekend; $32.4 million)

3. Kung Fu Panda 2 (Second Weekend; $24.3 million)

4. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (Third Weekendl $18 million)

5. Bridesmaids (Fourth Weekend; $12.1 million)

6. Thor (Fifth Weekend; $4.2 million)

7. Fast Five (Sixth Weekend; $3.2 million)

8. Midnight in Paris (Third Weekend; $2.9 million)

9. Jumping the Broom (Fifth Weekend; $0.8 million)

10. Something Borrowed (Fifth Weekend; $0.8 million)

Box Office Update: Bad Decisions Till Monday Night

I guess it was a bit much to expect people to behave rationally this weekend, which was a massive success, despite the pit in my gut. It set a record for the highest Top 10 box office results for Memorial Day weekend, pulled out the second highest grossing R-Rated release, and gained us a fair bit of traction towards catching up with where we were at the box office last year. It's not hard to beat out last year, which brought the disappointing openings of Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia. So why am I not as happy as I'd like to be.

Starting from the top, The Hangover: Part II ruled the box office this weekend, aiming at the unbelievably available demographic of college kids just out of school for the summer, not to mention the fans of the first film. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people will shell out their money based solely on hype for a film as redundant as this. I guess I was hoping for some degree of intelligence. If there had been such, perhaps Kung Fu Panda 2 wouldn't have performed as it did. The first film opened just north of $60 million, and the sequel came in just south of $50 million. Hopefully it will pick up in the coming weeks, but I'm still slightly downtrodden by this outcome.

Other than that, I honestly don't see what's to be upset about. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides fell substantially enough, as we knew it would. Thor remains the only blockbuster film this summer that didn't take so massive a fall after the first weekend. Bridesmaids continued to hold on well, despite the competition of The Hangover: Part II, or perhaps because of it. It stands to reason that they would make a compatible double feature. The last piece of modestly relevant news is that Midnight in Paris made the top ten, expanding to a mere 58 theaters, so bravo Woody Allen. We'll do a followup tomorrow when the numbers for Monday come in.

1. The Hangover: Part II (First Weekend; $86.5 million)

2. Kung Fu Panda 2 (First Weekend; $48 million)

3. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (Second Weekend; $39.3 million)

4. Bridesmaids (Third Weekend; $16.4 million)

5. Thor (Fourth Weekend; $9.4 million)

6. Fast Five (Fifth Weekend; $6.6 million)

7. Midnight in Paris (Second Weekend; $1.9 million)

8. Jumping the Broom (Fourth Weekend; $1.9 million)

9. Something Borrowed (Fourth Weekend; $1.8 million)

10. Rio (Seventh Weekend; $1.8 million)

Box Office Update: At World's End? Not So Much.

The weekend box office estimates would surely look a tad bit different if the world had ended at 6:00 on May 21. Thankfully, that silliness is now past us, and we can worry about real problems in the world. The summer box office marathon continued with great, yet somehow middling success, as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides took the top spot with about $90 million. It's not as high as the openings of the last two films, but there was bound to be some fourth flick backlash, not to mention negative word of mouth. Yet audiences still took to this film rather positively, as I kind of knew they would. Flash and pretension are two of the most powerful hooks for the gullible audience.

Ruling the holdovers with pink gloved fist was Bridesmaids, which fell only 20% from last weekend's more than modest debut. It has been proving to be something of what The Hangover was two years ago. I fear it will drop when The Hangover: Part II arrives next weekend, but probably not by much. Thor took a more substantial fall of 55%, which is understandable as the big blockbuster slot has now been filled by another. Fast Five fell another 48% as it moves ever so slightly closer to $200 million. All in all, this weekend was an 11% increase from the same weekend last year, when Shrek Forever After opened in first.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (First Weekend; $90.1 million)

2. Bridesmaids (Second Weekend; $21.1 million)

3. Thor (Third Weekend; $15.5 million)

4. Fast Five (Fourth Weekend; $10.6 million)

5. Rio (Sixth Weekend; $4.6 million)

6. Priest (Second Weekend; $4.6 million)

7. Jumping the Broom (Third Weekend; $3.7 million)

8. Something Borrowed (Third Weekend; $3.4 million)

9. Water for Elephants (Fifth Weekend; $2.2 million)

10. Soul Surfer (Seventh Weekend; $1 million)

Box Office Update: Always a "Bridesmaids"

This weekend looked to be another substantial drop-off from the success we've been having for the past two weeks, as there weren't any major blockbusters opening. In some ways, that played to the advantage of this particular weekend, with Thor holding on to the top spot impressively with only a 47.5% decrease from last weekend. That's less of a drop than Fast Five had after its massive opening. It also proves to be the smallest drop of any film in Marvel's Avengers lineup thus far. The film looks to be headed past the $200 million mark sometime within the next three weeks.

Meanwhile, in the land of the new releases, Bridesmaids proved to play a lot better than expectations believed it would. Coming in at just $10 less than Thor, the film could turn out to be a big player in the coming weeks, assuming it maintains its audience well enough. Priest didn't even break $15 million this weekend, but still earned more than it deserved. Fast Five landed in third, leveling out at a steady decrease of 39.8%. Rio rounded out the top five, dropping a minuscule 6% from last weekend. The film should do fine for the next two weeks until Kung Fu Panda 2 takes up its target audience. The weekend was still  4.6% lower than the same last year, but that's still impressive given last year's debut of Robin Hood and the holdover of Iron Man 2.

1. Thor (Second Weekend; $34.5 million)

2. Bridesmaids (First Weekend; $24.4 million)

3. Fast Five (Third Weekend; $19.5 million)

4. Priest (First Weekend; $14.5 million)

5. Rio (Fifth Weekend; $8 million)

6. Jumping the Broom (Second Weekend; $7.3 million)

7. Something Borrowed (Second Weekend; $7 million)

8. Water for Elephants (Fourth Weekend; $4.1 million)

9. Madea's Big Happy Family (Fourth Weekend; $2.2 million)

10. Soul Surfer (Sixth Weekend; $1.8 million)

Box Office Update: Mostly Refreshing

After last weekend gave us the lightning charge we needed after a long period of box office disappointment, this weekend continued the upward trend as best it could given the circumstances. This same weekend last year gave us the gigantic opening of Iron Man 2 which, despite being something of a disappointment, managed to be the highest opening of the year. Heading into this weekend, I was sure that the top ten this weekend wouldn't be able to surpass that. That being said, things were still pretty positive this weekend. Thor opened up to an impressive $66 million, confronting the public cynicism that has been surrounding it for months. Needless to say, it was the big winner this weekend.

It obviously didn't beat out Fast Five, which had franchise power going for it, along with the action crowd that's usually drawn in by Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. However, I'd say Thor has a better chance at maintaining its crowds in the coming weeks, seeing as Fast Five dropped 62.3% from its opening. I'm not exactly surprised by this, but it was surprising after so many were clearly fans of the film. As for the other new releases, do I really have to comment on them? Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed both landed around the same $13 million territory. Rounding out the top five was Rio, which fell a considerable 44.5% seeing as it had some 3D screens taken from it. That's not as major a factor as it was two years ago, as there are more 3D screens now than there were before. This weekend was only 10% down from the same weekend last year, which is still something of a victory.

1. Thor (First Weekend; $66 million)
2. Fast Five (Second Weekend; $32.5 million)
3. Jumping the Broom (First Weekend; $13.7 million)
4. Something Borrowed (First Weekend; $13.1 million)
5. Rio (Fourth Weekend; $8.2 million)
6. Water for Elephants (Third Weekend; $5.6 million)
7. Madea's Big Happy Family (Third Weekend; $3.9 million)
8. Prom (Second Weekend; $2.4 million)
9. Soul Surfer (Fifth Weekend; $2.1 million)
10. Hoodwinked Too! (Second Weekend; $1.9 million)

The Weekend Report: Rise from Repetition

As much as these weekly columns are meant as a refresher to the "For Your Anticipation" pieces I dole out during the week, as well as to comment on the state of the box office, I do try to impart some sort of reason across each week. More often than not, I fail. As a matter of fact, this entire year has fallen into general tedium, often only giving us clips, trailers, and reviews to talk about. There has to be a greater reason to this than just talking about what looks cool. I remember last July, just after Inception came out, and most sites devoted several posts to talking about the film, regardless of whether they liked it or not. I'm sure we'll enter into similar debates later on when the Cannes Film Festival titles start to unveil themselves, but there has to be more to talk about.

This week, regrettably, is not the week for that. I don't even refer to Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed as separate films anymore, because they've pretty much fallen into the same disgusting heap of predictability. I don't imagine these films drawing much audience, especially with the blockbuster arrival of Thor. I clearly approve of it as a fantastic adventure flick with some great performances, but I can't help but feel apprehension in the market towards it. There is too much cynicism going around for people not to scoff at the idea of this film, but they still pull it off. I don't expect a debut as massive as Fast Five, but it should still remain solid around $65-75 million. Whatever you see this weekend, be it a new release or an under-appreciated one, chime in in the comments section below.

For Your Anticipation: What Do You Know About a Woman?

I honestly do not have the strength to raise awareness to two different wedding comedies in two separate posts in one week. So I'm pretty much doubling up on this one. If you head out to see either Jumping the Broom or Something Borrowed this weekend, you'll probably be making a mistake either way. Don't try asking me which one you should go see, because I'll probably just tell you to see Thor. It's painful how many familiar failures have been coming out this year. The amount of disappointment greatly outweighs the amount of success, as it always has.

Dread Locks: May 2011

I don't have to go looking in order to eventually find bad movies, because one way or another, they find their way to me. Your Highness turned out to be far less than I had hoped it would be, not even providing minimal goods. I fear that Water for Elephants may be on the same route in terms of this weekend. I can hope I'm wrong, but I probably won't be. May is a particularly unpredictable bunch, because there are films that I'll see anyways, even if I know there's a great chance of failure. The Hangover: Part II and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides are two such features. With the way things are going, I may not even end up seeing the former. Too familiar and predictable for its own good.

Then we get down to the real crap, which there's a pretty certifiable chance that each of the films I've selected will be. Two of these films, both opening along the same weekend as Thor, have to do with people getting together for a wedding. Isn't that the cardinal cliche amongst romantic comedies? Handling the white end of it is Something Borrowed, a "she's sleeping with the guy marrying her best friend" feature set amongst a quaintly painted cityscape. Said feature features likable everyman John Krasinski as... actually, I don't know what he's meant to be doing in this film. Is he a friend of the protagonist, or does he like the best friend character? I don't know, I don't care, but I'll have to wait to figure out if I'll end up watching it.

Handling the black end of the marriage type comedy is Jumping the Broom. It's a bridging of an uptown family and a downtown family for a wedding between two people. I'm just going to break down the black comedy cliches that you can expect to be exposed to during this film, assuming that you decide to waste your time with it. We'll probably see an overweight mama bear sort of figure get into a fight a "skinny ass ho" from the rival family, or else two of the aforementioned "skinny ass hos" fighting amongst each other. You can expect guys chasing after girls from the family they're about to unify into their own. You can see white people trying to be black, trying not to break the mold of blackness. Ultimately, nothing I'd like to have to subject myself to. I already have to deal with a black comedy this month. I'm not going through that twice in a row.

And then there's Priest, the unholy vampire blockbuster spawn of the directors of last year's atrocity, Legion. I don't know how actors like Paul Bettany and Christopher Plummer get involved in crap like this, but the way things are going right now, I may have to end up seeing this film anyway. I don't need fake and predictable scares from obviously fake CG "vampires" fighting fake CG priests doing martial arts. I'm not the biggest fan of religion, but I can't even try admiring a film like this that twists religion to serve it's bone-headed needs. My view is that if the Bible is just a story, it's still a very good story. I've gotten to the point in which I don't want to see any of the films I've selected, so now it's up to you. Vote in the sidebar on which film you'd like me to see and review. The poll expires at the end of the month, at which point I will announce the winner via Twitter and start up the poll for next month.