Weekend Box Office: ‘Oz’ Proves Powerful After All

After the failure of last year’s ‘John Carter‘, Disney is back on track with a record-setting March blockbuster. Although the studio couldn’t match the success of 2010’s ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ this week, its new film performed well enough to hold the record for third-highest March debut.

As the prequel to a 74-year-old timeless classic, ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful‘ had a great opening weekend. Its $80.2 million premiere is not only the best of 2013 (so far), but also the highest opening since ‘The Hobbit’. 53% of the audiences who returned to the colorful and visually stimulating land of Oz saw the film in 3D (10% in IMAX 3D). With a price tag of $215 million (The Hollywood Reporter notes that the worldwide cost including marketing was actually north of $300 million), the domestic opening was decent, though not as good as the predicted $92.4 million. Luckily, ‘Oz’ also pulled in $69.9 million from overseas showings, giving it a $150.2 million worldwide debut. Do you smell a sequel? Maybe ‘The Wicked Witches of Oz’?

Appealing to the same demographic who flooded ‘Oz’ showings, ‘Jack the Giant Slayer‘ tanked in its second weekend. Down 63.2% from its opening, the movie only earned another $10 million, bringing its 10-day total to $43.8 million. That’s deathblow for the $195 million picture.

Identity Thief‘ is unstoppable. In its fifth weekend, the R-rated comedy is still going strong. Only slipping 34.9%, its $6.3 million weekend was enough to land in the #3 spot. The $35 million flick has now made $116.5 million.

Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace’s romantic gangster revenge thriller ‘Dead Man Down‘ finished within $200,000 of its predicted debut. Sure, the $5.3 million opening weekend wasn’t great, but with a low $30 million budget and international draw, it’s not horrible. The non-existent marketing campaign sure didn’t help. Hopefully, international box office will boost the film, but it won’t open in most overseas markets until April or beyond.

The 260-screen limited release of the WWII drama ‘Emperor‘ featured a strong draw. The $1 million debut landed in the #15 spot and warranted a $4,012 per-screen average.

Weekend totals for documentary ‘Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey‘ have yet to be announced.

Top 10:

1. ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’ (Buena Vista) – $80,278,000

2. ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ (Warner Bros.) – $10,020,000

3. ‘Identity Thief’ (Universal) – $6,319,000

4. ‘Dead Man Down’ (FilmDistrict) – $5,350,000

5. ‘Snitch’ (Summit) – $5,100,000

6. ’21 & Over’ (Relativity) – $5,056,000

7. ‘Safe Haven’ (Relativity) – $3,800,000

8. ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (Weinstein) – $3,745,000

9. ‘Escape from Planet Earth’ (Weinstein) – $3,207,000

10. ‘The Last Exorcism Part II’ (CBS) – $3,120,000

12 comments

  1. William Henley

    53% of the audiences who returned to the colorful and visually stimulating land of Oz saw the film in 3D (10% in IMAX 3D).

    Is that 10% of the 53%, or 10% out of 100?

    Either way, isn’t 53% for a 3D showing pretty high nowdays?

  2. ‘Oz’ was one of the only movies to draw my interest thus far this year, but I was dismayed by the the number of 3D shots since I went with a 2D viewing.

    I think that ‘Into Darkness’ is the next movie to even be on my radar. Are there any promising movies coming out before then?

    • JM

      Antoine Fuqua’s ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ – March 22.

      Jon Chu’s ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ – March 29.

      ‘Jurassic Park (3D)’ – April 5.

      Brian Helgeland’s ’42’ – April 12.

      Joseph Kosinski’s ‘Oblivion’ – April 19.

      Michael Bay’s ‘Pain and Gain’ – April 26.

      Shane Black’s ‘Iron Man 3’ – May 3.

      Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ – May 10.

      J.J. Abrams’s ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ – May 17.

      Justin Lin’s ‘Fast & Furious 6’ – May 24.

      Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Midnight’ – May 24.

      M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘After Earth’ – June 7.

      Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ – June 14.

      • I’m pretty embarrassed that Die Hard wannabe ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ even exists. Can’t we get sequels to Sudden Death and Cliffhanger first? (No seriously don’t make sequels or remake those movies.)

        ‘Iron Man 2’ was no fun for me, but I’ll try to muster some excitement for this new direction. ‘The Great Gatsby’ looks like a great boondoggle, but I’ll try to want to see that as well.

        So based off of that list March and April look pretty damn weak. Somehow ‘Oblivion’ looks less interesting than an ‘Outer Limits’ episode.

        • JM

          Roland Emmerich’s ‘White House Down’ starring Channing Tatum – June 28.

          But will the Die Hard rip-offs be worse than the Die Hard sequels…?

          • JM

            Test screening buzz is that ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ is more hardcore than ‘Die Hard 1&2’ combined.

            $10 says it still can’t top the trailer for ‘Las brujas de Zugarramurdi.’

    • If you’re looking for “event” movies, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Oblivion, Pain & Gain and Iron Man 3 are the biggest titles scheduled for release between now and Star Trek in May. How many of those look promising is up to you. 🙂

      Also notable (though smaller) are the Evil Dead remake and Upstream Color.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *