Bradley Cooper won the battle of the cinematic hunks as his Limitless took the weekend box office with an estimated $19 million, while Matthew McConaughey’s legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer ended up in fourth place with an estimated $13.4 million.  Greg Mottola’s science fiction comedy Paul, which stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ended up (for now—final numbers are out tomorrow) in fifth with an estimated $13.1 million.  Overall the box office was down once again, with a 10% drop from the same weekend last year when Alice in Wonderland held strong for a third week with $34.2 million continuing a trend that has held true for most of the first quarter of 2011.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): March 18 - 20, 2011

 

Film

Weekend Gross

Screens

Avg./

Screen

Total Gross

Wk#

1

Limitless

$19,000,000

2,756

$6,894

$19,000,000

1

2

Rango

$15,315,000

3,843

$3,985

$92,577,000

3

3

Battle: Los Angeles

$14,600,000

3,417

$4,273

$60,602,000

2

4

The Lincoln Lawyer

$13,400,000

2,707

$4,950

$13,400,000

1

5

Paul

$13,155,000

2,802

$4,695

$13,155,000

1

6

Red Riding Hood

$7,255,000

3,030

$2,394

$25,962,000

2

7

The Adjustment Bureau

$5,932,000

2,660

$2,230

$48,779,000

3

8

Mars Needs Moms

$5,317,000

3,117

$1,706

$15,401,000

2

9

Beastly

$3,260,000

1,810

$1,801

$22,245,000

3

10

Hall Pass

$2,600,000

1,905

$1,365

$39,590,000

4

 
The “PG-13” rated Limitless, a sort of thinking man’s superhero movie that features a struggling writer who turns around his life thanks to wonder drug that allows him to utilize “all” of his brain, earned a solid “B+” from an audience that was slightly female (53%), older (60% 25 and over) and ethnically diverse (57% Non-Caucasian).
 
Lionsgate’s “R-rated” The Lincoln Lawyer earned a strong “A-“ CinemaScore and benefited from an innovative ticket coupon deal with Internet-based Groupon.  A whopping 89% of those who attended with a coupon said that they wouldn’t have seen the film without the inducement of the coupon.  Perhaps the $5 coupon, which allowed many to see the film for just $1, might have influenced perceptions of the movie?
 
Paul, which includes scenes filmed at the San Diego Comic-Con as well as fanboy staples such as Area 51 and the Devil’s Tower, earned a solid “B+” rating from its older (58% 25 and older) male (56%) audience.  The raunchy $40 million comedy has already earned $28 million overseas.
 
Paramount’s animated feature Rango held well at #2, dipping just 32%, earning $15.3 million and bringing its total to $92.5 million.  The Johnny Depp-starring toon will pass the $100 million mark later this week.
 
Last week’s winner, the science fiction/action film Battle Los Angeles dropped 59% in its second weekend, which unfortunately is about par for the course for highly-hyped action movies.
 
Disney’s $185 million motion-capture animated Mars Needs Moms managed a fairly solid hold.  The Berkeley Breathed-based movie was down just 23%, but its opening last week was so disastrous that this week’s take was a meager $5.3 million.  The film has earned only $15.4 million domestically and just $3.4 internationally in ten days of release.
 
Next weekend Zack Snyder’s genre-mash-up Sucker Punch and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules will attempt to get the 2011 box office back on track.