Weekend Box Office: International Audiences “Assemble,” Domestic Fall Flat

What a sad weekend for the domestic box office. The domestic reports are embarrassing compared to the international reports, which praise the overseas opening success of ‘The Avengers’. In only 39 markets (which don’t even include major players China, Russia or Japan), ‘The Avengers’ brought in an amazing $178.4 million, sinking ‘Battleship’ in all markets where the two went head-to-head. What happened stateside? Not much. The movie predicted to finish in the #1 spot with $22.5 million actually finished in fifth with only $11.1 million.

That’s right, ‘The Five-Year Engagement‘ earned less than half of what it was expected to. Ouch. Despite advertisements that made connections to ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘ and ‘Bridesmaids‘, the female-heavy audiences who actually went to see ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ were on the older side, 57% over the age 30. With a co-financed production budget estimated around $30 million, Universal doesn’t seem too worried about the low opening.

So, if the expected #1 movie finished in fifth, what took first? For a second weekend in a row, ‘Think Like a Man‘ claimed the top spot. Adding $18 million to its $60.9 million ten-day total, this African-American comedy is pacing better than most Tyler Perry movies, which are typically very successful.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits‘ nabbed the #2 spot, even though its weekend total was nearly $5 million below expectations. With a $55 million budget, Sony is very happy with the $11.4 million domestic earning, coupled with with a $63.7 million international opening.

The Lucky One‘ took third place, slipping 50% in attendance with its $11.3 million weekend. Its ten-day total is almost at $40 million. ‘The Hunger Games‘ once again barely fell, dropping only 23.3% attendance. This $11.2 million weekend has brought the film’s grand total up to $372 million.

Only $243,000 separates the movies that finished second through fifth, so it’s very possible that the ranking can switch around as the actuals are announced later today. The same goes for the sixth and seventh place movies, ‘Safe‘ and ‘The Raven‘, respectively. ‘Safe’ earned $7.72 million and ‘The Raven’ earned $7.25 million.

Richard Linklater’s ‘Bernie‘ featured the best per-screen average for the week, pulling in $30,133 on each of its three screens. That makes for a $90,400 opening weekend. Fox Searchlight’s ‘Sound of My Voice‘ earned an impressive $8,020 average on each of its screens, making $40,100 on just five screens. Aside from ‘Bernie’, the only other movie with a better per-screen average was ‘Think Like a Man’.

Top 10:

1. ‘Think Like a Man’ (Screen Gems) – $18,000,000

2. ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’ (Sony) – $11,400,000

3. ‘The Lucky One’ (Warner Bros.) – $11,325,000

4. ‘The Hunger Games’ (Lionsgate) – $11,250,000

5. ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ (Universal) – $11,157,000

6. ‘Safe’ (Lionsgate) – $7,720,000

7. ‘The Raven’ (Relativity) – $7,250,000

8. ‘Chimpanzee’ (Buena Vista) – $5,460,000

9. ‘The Three Stooges’ (Fox) – $5,400,000

10. ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (Lionsgate) – $4,500,000

4 comments

  1. JM

    ‘The Avengers’ is tracking to surpass $1 Billion worldwide.

    Will it take the #3 spot from ‘Harry Potter 7.5’?

    With a few sequels, Joss Whedon could become the new king of the billion dollar club.

        • Question is, how many Avengers fans show up to see Joss Whedon’s vision? I’m pretty sure a lot of viewers are just lovers of the characters and the franchise, and less of the director/screenwriter …

          But I could be wrong.

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