Part I: Animation and Family Flicks Downgraded
Part II: Action and Superhero Films Underwhelm (coming tomorrow evening)
Part III: Adult Comedies Reign (coming Thursday evening)
Part IV: Other Movies (coming Friday evening)
Part V: Top 10 Grosses And Top 10 Personal Picks from Summer 2011 (coming Monday 9/12/11)
PART ONE
Animation and Family Films DOWNGRADED
There was a huge glut of family movies that hit the market this year, and with so much, who has time to buy tickets for all of them? It didn't seem most of them mattered much to American audiences like last year...
Kicking off the family/animation lineup was Kung Fu Panda 2, which was expected to be a huge megahit with its' four-day Memorial Day holiday advantage. But it's marketing wasn't as clever as the first one and ended up with just $47.7 million in three days and $60.9 million over four. While its' certainly nothing to sneeze at, the first Panda made that same amount of money over a 3-day weekend, indicating the sequels' attendance was three-quarters of the first one. Right now, the sequel has earned just south of $165 million domestically, and while that beats DreamWorks last film MegaMind as well as other recent pics such as Bee Movie and Flushed Away, it is $50 million short of the first Panda's $215 million total. The good news is that the film has become the fourth highest-grossing film of the year worldwide, as it has done huge overseas, with a worldwide total above $650 million, which is higher than the first Panda.
Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer was definitely a bummer in terms of summer box office, taking in only $6.1 million on opening weekend and finishing with $15 million. That was far short of recent childrens' book adaptions such as Ramona and Beezus and Nancy Drew, and even though it wasn't very costly ($20 million budget), it still wasn't a groundbreaking movie like Diary of a Wimpy Kid was.
The following weekend, Mr. Popper's Penguins was more of a modest success. It opened to a decent $18.4 million, which was on the high end for a childrens' book adaption, but far from star Jim Carrey's highest-grossing flicks. Its' gross currently stands at $67 million, which makes it a success against its' $55 million budget, and has become even bigger overseas, as its' worldwide total stands at a solid $170 million.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all the family films and maybe the year as well was that Cars 2 failed to live up to Pixar's usual expectations. It opened solidly with $66.1 million, then didn't see solid holds as it only has $189 million through today. That will make it the first Pixar movie to miss the $200 million mark domestically since A Bug's Life 12 years ago, which not to mention that number was also its' budget. However, like Kung Fu Panda 2, it made huge bounds overseas, beating its' predecessor with $540 million worldwide and still zooming.
Monte Carlo didn't spark much interest, as the teen/family adventure/romance flick earned $7.8 million over the four-day 4th of July holiday and wound up with $23 million domestically. That would make it a mild success against its' $20 million budget, but it was short of star Selena Gomez's last flick Ramona and Beezus, which aimed for a similar audience. However, it has made pretty good noise overseas, as it has earned $31 million worldwide.
Kevin James certainly didn't grow with Zookeeper. The talking animal comedy picked up $20.1 million on its' debut and has earned an okay $77 million, which is on the high end for a talking animal flick but nowhere near James' last film aimed at families, Paul Blart: Mall Cop ($138 million) It did fine compared to its' budget ($80 million budget) and became a hit overseas, selling nearly $150 million worldwide.
Faring worse, Winnie The Pooh had the difficult challenge of going up against the final Harry Potter and only earned $7.8 million on its' debut. And legs weren't much either, as it has only taken in $26.2 million, which is short of its' budget ($30 million, although it has passed it overseas). The only positive note is that this new Pooh was able to out-gross Pooh's Heffalump Movie and Piglet's Big Movie by a pretty wide margin. However, it is the best-reviewed animated film of the year, which means it should do fine on DVD.
The rare family gem out of all the roughs was The Smurfs. After tying Cowboys and Aliens for first place with $35.6 million, these little blue creatures were the only true winner of the family flicks, as it has earned an impressive $133 million so far, which is far ahead of majority of the other similar-genre flicks this year (with the exception of the animated sequels). What's even more impressive is that Smurfs has nearly tripled its' business overseas, and is approaching the $450 million mark worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie with a CGI-animated star.
Finally, Spy Kids: All The Time In The World failed to live up to its' predecessors' glory due to a long lapse of time. With an $11.6 million opening two weeks ago and $31 million through today, its' less than a third of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and trailing the other two by a very wide margin. Spy Kids will be lucky to reach $45-$50 million, which would be a good result since it was produced for just $27 million. Also, overseas grosses have already added nearly $20 million, which means the reboot probably will be among the most profitable flicks of the genre this summer.
