Iron Man 2 suffered a sizable 58.6% decline from its opening weekend, but still easily took the weekend box office crown with an estimated $53 million. Ridley Scott’s somber and bloated (148 minutes) Robin Hood beat expectations by earning an estimated $37.1 million. Robin Hood easily captured second place, while two other newcomers, the romcom Letters to Juliet ($13.7 million), and the NBA-themed Just Wright ($8.5) seized the next two spots. Overall the top ten films grossed 3% more than their counterparts in 2009 when Angels and Demons opened with $46.2 million.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): May 14- 16, 2010 | |||||
|
|
Film |
Wknd Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
|
1 |
Iron Man 2 |
$53,000,000 |
4,390 |
$12,073 |
$212,160,000 |
|
2 |
Robin Hood |
$37,114,000 |
3,503 |
$10,595 |
$37,114,000 |
|
3 |
Letters to Juliet |
$13,750,000 |
2,968 |
$4,633 |
$13,750,000 |
|
4 |
Just Wright |
$8,500,000 |
1,831 |
$4,642 |
$8,500,000 |
|
5 |
How to Train Your Dragon |
$5,120,000 |
2,620 |
$1,954 |
$207,764,000 |
|
6 |
A Nightmare on Elm Street |
$4,700,000 |
3,075 |
$1,528 |
$56,109,000 |
|
7 |
Date Night |
$4,000,000 |
2,481 |
$1,612 |
$86,699,000 |
|
8 |
The Back-Up Plan |
$2,465,000 |
2,497 |
$987 |
$34,202,000 |
|
9 |
Furry Vengeance |
$2,300,000 |
2,695 |
$853 |
$15,147,000 |
|
10 |
Clash of the Titans |
$1,255,000 |
1,300 |
$965 |
$160,151,000 |
Iron Man 2 had the top per-theater average at $12,073. So far it is more than holding its own with the first Iron Man film, which demonstrated incredible “legs” during its lengthy run. The Iron Man sequel has now brought in $212.1 million domestically and $450.4 million worldwide. Through Friday Iron Man 2 had posted the 9th biggest 8-day opening run in theatrical history. IMAX screenings accounted for a solid 8% of the IM 2 gross.
Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, which stars Russell Crowe, did better overseas ($74 million) than here where it earned just half of that total. Robin Hood’s per theater average of $10,595 is on par with that of the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe Gladiator and close to that of the 1991 Kevin Costner Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which averaged $10,817. While Universal would undoubtedly be happy with a Gladiator-like domestic gross of $187.7 million, the new Robin Hood appears more likely to end up in Costner’s $165 million neighborhood. The opening weekend total was great, but the demographics for the new Sherwood Forest pic weren’t—63% of the audience was over 30 and 56% of the crowd was male. Even worse, audiences gave the film a poor “B-“ CinemaScore (Hollywood definitely grades on a curve, so anything below a “B+” is liable to result in poor word of mouth).
It appears that Summit Entertainment did a good job of counter-programming with its female-centric Letters to Juliet, which attracted an audience that was 81% female and 63% over 25. Letters to Juliet also managed to get a CinemaScore of “A-,” which means it could stick around during the next few weeks as an alternative to the testosterone-fueled summer action films.
Two films that have demonstrated great staying power in the past few weeks, How to Train Your Dragon and Date Night continued to impress, falling just 23% and 26% respectively. Both films will receive major competition next week when Shrek 4 and the Saturday Night Live sketch-based action comedy MacGruber.
