Weekend Box Office: The Almighty God of Thunder Wins

Although ‘Thor‘ didn’t receive the thunderous opening some may have expected, it sure dominated the box office by bringing in more than double that of its closest competitor, ‘Fast Five’. ‘Thor’ took in more than $66 million, while ‘Fast Five’ dropped over 62% in its second weekend to $32.5 million. Including the international box office, ‘Thor’ has already accumulated nearly $250 million in box office revenue over the last two weekends.

Speaking of international box office, even though ‘Fast Five’ significantly diminished its domestic profit in its second weekend, it received a record-setting international opening for Universal Studios. Opening in 44 additional markets, ‘Fast Five’ brought in $86.6 million in 58 countries.

Winning this weekend’s battle of romantic comedies to open in third place was ‘Jumping the Broom‘ with $13.7 million. That already doubles its $6.6 million budget. ‘Something Borrowed‘, the second of the romantic comedies to open, took the #4 spot with $13.1 million. Although ‘Something Borrowed’ features a better known cast than ‘Jumping the Broom’, the immoral and unlikable nature of the unfaithful characters in ‘Something Borrowed’ proved to be less than enticing to date night audiences.

Only opening on 22 screens, Jodie Foster’s Mel Gibson vehicle ‘The Beaver‘ brought in a remarkable $4,727 per-screen average, almost ensuring strong box office predictions for when the film opens wider throughout May.

Without any huge films opening next weekend, the box office battle ought to be unique. In the same vein as ‘The Hangover’, Kristen Wiig’s ‘Bridesmaids’ goes head-to-head with Paul Bettany’s futuristic vampire action flick ‘Priest’. With the strong word-of-mouth surrounding ‘Thor’, does ‘Priest’ have enough pull to knock the Norse God off the Number 1 cloud?

The Top 10:

1. ‘Thor’ (Paramount) – $66 million

2. ‘Fast Five’ (Universal) – $32.5 million

3. ‘Jumping the Broom’ (Tri Star) – $13.7 million

4. ‘Something Borrowed’ (Warner Bros.) – $13.2

5. ‘Rio’ (Fox) – $8.2 million

6. ‘Water for Elephants’ (Fox) – $5.6 million

7. ‘Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family’ (Lionsgate) – $3.9 million

8. ‘Prom’ (Buena Vista) – $2.4 million

9. ‘Soul Surfer’ (Tri Star) – $2.1 million

10.’Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil’ (Weinstein) – $1.9 million

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