As we can tell from this weekend’s box office numbers, the ongoing monster and zombie crazes aren’t ending any time soon.
Pixar may not be able to uphold its reputation for quality, but the studio is still killing it at the box office. The ‘Monsters, Inc.‘ prequel ‘Monsters University‘ was able to seize the top spot this weekend with $82 million, making it Pixar’s second-biggest opening. (The biggest debut still belongs to ‘Toy Story 3‘ with $110 million.) Overseas, the film pulled in $54.5 million. All told, the movie had a $136.5 worldwide opening. Yet despite the celebrations at Disney, Pixar still has a bumpy road ahead. First, 3D attendance for ‘Monsters U.’ was low, only 31%. Secondly, the competing ‘Despicable Me 2’ opens in two weeks. The Hollywood Reporter notes that ‘Monsters’ and ‘Despicable’ opened head-to-head this weekend in Australia, and ‘Despicable’ walked away the winner with $4.3 million. ‘Monsters U.’ only pulled in $3.5 million there.
This weekend’s #2 movie also made some noise. The $66 million debut for ‘World War Z‘ marks the highest opening for a Brad Pitt film. Overseas, ‘WWZ’ earned $45.8 million, giving the Paramount tentpole a $111.8 million worldwide opening. That’s much better than anyone expected. Due to the delayed release date and reports of massive reshoots, pre-release buzz was far from positive. Paramount is so pleased with the outcome that it has already announced that a sequel is in the works. The 3D percentage has not yet been announced.
‘Man of Steel‘ may have crossed the domestic $200 million mark this weekend, but that’s hardly good news when you see how much its attendance dropped. The Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan film added another $41.2 million to its haul, but slipped more than 64% in attendance. The movie, however, is still giving ‘WWZ’ a run for its money in some international markets. The ten-day worldwide tally for the latest Superman reboot is $398.3 million so far.
The fourth and fifth titles benefited from great carryover. Apocalyptic comedy ‘This Is the End‘ only dropped 37% in attendance, adding another $13 million to its $57.7 ten-day total. Meanwhile, four-week-old magical thriller ‘Now You See Me‘ added another $7.8 million to its $94.4 million cumulative gross.
While ‘Iron Man 3‘ has fallen to the #10 spot, this weekend it crossed the $400 million mark domestically, bringing its worldwide total to $1.2 billion.
The expansion of Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Bling Ring‘ proved a wise decision, but the indie drama wasn’t able to crack the Top 10. Finishing in 11th place, the film earned $2 million from 650 screens. It has now pulled in $2.3 million domestically and $1.4 million internationally.
Weekend estimates have yet to be announced for the horror thriller ‘Maniac‘, but the lightweight, feel-good comedy ‘An Unfinished Song‘ did quite well. On just two screens, the Terence Stamp/Gemma Arterton/Vanessa Redgrave film earned $27,700. I imagine that the Weinstein Company will expand ‘An Unfinished Song’ over the next few weeks.
Top 10:
1. ‘Monsters University’ (Buena Vista) – $82,000,000
2. ‘World War Z’ (Paramount) – $66,000,000
3. ‘Man of Steel’ (Warner Bros.) – $41,215,000
4. ‘This Is the End’ (Sony) – $13,000,000
5. ‘Now You See Me’ (Summit) – $7,870,000
6. ‘Fast & Furious’ (Universal) – $4,725,000
7. ‘The Internship’ (Fox) – $3,425,000
8. ‘The Purge’ (Universal) – $3,412,000
9. ‘Star Trek into Darkness’ (Paramount) – $3,000,000
10. ‘Iron Man 3’ (Buena Vista) – $2,175,000
