Oscar night is the one time that Hollywood cannibalizes its own box office with a massively popular TV broadcast, and it appears that this weekend, which saw Gnomeo and Juliet take the top spot for the first time in its third weekend of release, is no exception. In spite of strong performances from holdovers in the top ten, only one of which declined by more than 50%, the box office was down 10% from the same frame last year largely because of the lack of a potent new film. The Farrelly brothers’ comedy Hall Pass debuted in second place with $13.4 million, while the other new film, the Nicolas Cage vehicle Drive Angry bowed disappointingly in ninth place with an estimated $5.1 million.
| Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): February 25 - 27, 2011 | ||||||
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| Film | Weekend Gross | Screens | Avg./ Screen | Total Gross | Wk# |
| 1 | Gnomeo and Juliet | $14,213,000 | 3,037 | $4,680 | $75,147,000 | 3 |
| 2 | Hall Pass | $13,420,000 | 2,950 | $4,549 | $13,420,000 | 1 |
| 3 | Unknown | $12,435,000 | 3,043 | $4,086 | $42,840,000 | 2 |
| 4 | Just Go With It | $11,100,000 | 3,544 | $3,132 | $79,355,000 | 3 |
| 5 | I Am Number Four | $11,036,000 | 3,156 | $3,497 | $37,744,000 | 2 |
| 6 | Justin Bieber: Never Say Never | $9,200,000 | 2,810 | $3,274 | $62,776,000 | 3 |
| 7 | The King's Speech | $7,618,000 | 2,386 | $3,193 | $114,509,000 | 14 |
| 8 | Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son | $7,550,000 | 2,821 | $2,676 | $28,574,000 | 2 |
| 9 | Drive Angry | $5,131,000 | 2,290 | $2,241 | $5,131,000 | 1 |
| 10 | The Roommate | $2,050,000 | 1,726 | $1,188 | $35,928,000 | 4 |
With no big film debuting (Gnomeo topped the list with just $14.2 million), what strength there was at the box office was spread out through the top 15 films, which included a number of Academy Award hopefuls led by The King’s Speech at #7 ($7.6 million), True Grit at #11 ($1.9 million), and The Fighter at #12 ($1.6 million). Last week’s #1 film, the Liam Neeson thriller Unknown dropped 43% and fell to #3, but still brought in an estimated $12.4 million. The Adam Sandler romcom Just Go With It dropped to #4 in its third weekend.
D.J. Caruso’s adaptation of the popular YA novel I Am Number Four posted a pretty solid hold as it declined just 43.3% and earned an estimated $11 million. So far the $60 million production has earned $37.7 million in ten days. The jury is still out on the question of whether or not Disney will be able to create a viable franchise based on the property. I Am Number Four was adapted by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the creators of Smallville, and if the film does overcome its less-than-stellar debut and become successful, it could provide Caruso with the clout to make a film based on Garth Ennis’ Preacher.
The “R” rated Drive Angry, which was supported by an ad campaign that stressed that film was actually shot in 3D, has to go down as one of the most disappointing debuts for both the extra-dimensional format and for Nicholas Cage, who won an Oscar on this weekend some 15 years ago, and who scored major hits with his National Treasure films in 2004 and 2007. Cage’s medieval fantasy film Season of the Witch, which debuted in January, earned a mediocre $24.5 million, and the big budget The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which opened in the summer of 2010 was a disappointment. The actor who is starring in the new Ghost Rider movie (due to debut in February of 2012) badly needs anything that even vaguely resembles a hit.
