As expected, Dr. Suess' The Lorax took the top spot, but it did much more than that. The animated adaptation of the childrens' author's classic book earned a huge $70.2 million, for a per-theater average of a mammoth $18,830 from around 4,100 screens at 3,729 theaters (with 52% of business coming from 3D showings). One word that describes this number: WOW! And it also snagged a whole bunch of records, with 2011's biggest opening being only the least of them. The film opened higher than Despicable Me ($56 million) to become Illumination Entertainment's largest opening yet, as well as distributor Universal Pictures (who is having a fantastic 100th year of business so far) fourth-highest debut of their history, as well as the biggest opening ever for a computer-animated film that is not from Pixar or DreamWorks. It is also the ninth-biggest opening for an animated film as well as the third-biggest March debut (behind Alice in Wonderland and 300). Considering the fact that no original animated movies have opened above $50 million since mid-2010, this is an enormous win for both the industry and distributor Universal, who produced the film for just $70 million and had originally forecasted an opening in the low 40's millions. Despite mixed critical reception, audiences gave the film a great "A" CinemaScore grade, and with no new animated films until the end of April, this is going to be a massive hit.
The other new release, Project X, also was impressive in second place, with $21.1 million for a per-theater average of a fine $6,891 from 3,055 theaters. True, that was short of Chronicle's $22 million start and behind The Devil Inside's $33.7 million debut, but, considering it was much different in nature, its' still a pretty strong start. The director behind The Hangover kept the budget small as distributor Warner Bros. paid just $12 million to produce the film, and had forecasted an opening in the high-teens millions. Audiences gave the film a "B" CinemaScore.
After pulling the top spot last weekend, Act of Valor slid to the third spot, and held OK with a 45% ease to $13.6 million, for a solid $45.1 million gross in 10 days. Safe House holds onto the fourth spot, and stabilizes with a Top 10-best 32% ease to $7.4 million, for a $108.4 million gross in 24 days, and it became the years' second film to cross the $100 million barrier on Wednesday. Good Deeds fell from second to fifth and dropped 55% to $7 million, for a $25.8 million gross in 10 days. While steep, the drop was actually the second-strongest in Perry's career.
With Lorax out for family audiences, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island retreated to sixth place after being in the third spot for three straight weekends. The adventure sequel fell 51% to $6.5 million, for a $85.2 million gross in 24 days. It is still heading for around the same as the original Journey's final $102 million gross. The Vow slid to the seventh spot, but held better with a 39% ease to $6 million, for a $111.6 million gross in the same amount of time. The romantic drama should go past the $120 million mark by the time it leaves theaters.
This Means War jumped ahead of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance this weekend, as the action romance comedy held well in its' third weekend with a 34% ease to $5.6 million, for a decent $41.4 million gross in 17 days and slotting in eighth. The Nicolas Cage sequel followed with a 50% drop to $4.6 million, for a mediocre $44.8 million gross in the same amount of time. Wanderlust rounded out the Top 10 with a 41% ease to $3.8 million, for a mediocre $12.5 million gross in 10 days, and will likely close just north of $15 million stateside. (when actuals were reported, The Artist earned $3.6 million and 11th place following its' Best Picture win at the Oscars).
Overall box office was up a whopping 25% from last year when animated western Rango debuted on top with $38.1 million, on par with expectations. Winning this year's Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the Johnny Depp-starring flick would go on to gross nearly $125 million stateside and nearly $250 million worldwide. Matt Damon action flick The Adjustment Bureau opened in second with a solid $21.2 million, on its' way to over $60 million stateside and nearly $130 million worldwide. Teenage romance Beastly, an older update of Beauty and the Beast, debuted in third with a good $9.9 million, on its' way to close to $30 million stateside. Holdovers Hall Pass and Gnomeo and Juliet rounded out the Top 5 with 35% and 46% drops to $8.9 million and $7.2 million. The other new release, 80's remake Take Me Home Tonight, was a disaster, landing in 11th place with $3.5 million.
Here is the final Top 10:
# Movie Final Numbers Studio Estimates My Predictions
1 Dr. Suess' The Lorax $70,217,070 $70,700,000 $43,000,000
2 Project X $21,051,363 $20,775,000 $24,000,000
3 Act of Valor $13,572,578 $13,700,000 $15,000,000
4 Safe House $7,390,935 $7,200,000 $6,500,000
5 Good Deeds $7,047,061 $7,000,000 $7,000,000
6 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island $6,547,374 $6,925,000 $7,300,000
7 The Vow $6,011,147 $6,100,000 $5,500,000
8 This Means War $5,561,323 $5,625,000 $5,000,000
9 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance $4,545,637 $4,700,000 $4,500,000
10 Wanderlust $3,843,840 $3,800,000 ---
