Sam Raimi’s big-budget tentpole Oz: The Great and Powerful slipped just 46.6% in its second weekend as it added an estimated $42.2 million to bring its domestic total to $145 million, making it the highest-grossing film of 2013 so far.  The Call, a thriller starring Halle Berry, was a surprise second-place finisher with an estimated $17 million, which put it well in front of the disappointing Steve Carrell comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which debuted limply with $10.3 million.  The estimated total of the top 12 films was virtually identical with that put up during the same weekend last year when the "R"” rated comedy 21 Jump Street opened with $36.3 million.

 

While Raimi’s pricy Oz film still has a long way to go until it reaches the break even point for Disney, the movie has now earned $281 million worldwide, which means it is about halfway home on the road to profitability.  The film’s strong second week hold has got to have the Mouse House execs breathing a major sigh of relief.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): March 15-17, 2013
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Oz The Great and Powerful	$42,222,000	3,912	$10,793	$145,026,000	2
2	The Call	$17,100,000	2,507	$6,821	$17,100,000	1
3	The Incredible Burt Wonderstone	$10,305,000	3,160	$3,261	$10,305,000	1
4	Jack the Giant Slayer	$6,220,000	3,357	$1,853	$53,913,000	3
5	Identity Thief	$4,519,000	2,842	$1,590	$123,706,000	6
6	Snitch	$3,500,000	2,353	$1,487	$37,257,000	4
7	21 and Over	$2,619,000	2,424	$1,080	$21,868,000	3
8	Silver Linings Playbook	$2,587,000	1,602	$1,615	$124,613,000	18
9	Safe Haven	$2,495,000	2,206	$1,131	$66,953,000	5
10	Escape From Planet Earth	$2,327,000	2,211	$1,052	$52,166,000	5

 

The surprise of the week was The Call, which few analysts picked for the second spot. The Call opened considerably better than the 2007 thriller Perfect Stranger, which also starred Berry and earned just $11.2 million.  The R-rated The Call, a tense saga about a 911 operator attempting to save an abducted girl, cost just $13 million to produce.  The film earned a solid "B+" CinemaScore from a racially diverse audience, which indicates that it may stick around for a bit even as the competition heats up in the coming weeks.

 

Warner Bros. and New Line, which took it on the chin with the failure of Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer, suffered another blow with the disappointing debut of the PG-13 rated "dueling magicians" comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which featured an all-star cast including Steve Carrell, Jim Carrey, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin.  In spite of all that comedy star power, the film earned a weak "C+" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences.

 

Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer did manage to finish at #4 in its third weekend, and it suffered only a 37% decline, its second straight week of smaller-than-usual drops.  The problem is that the film opened so weakly that the small drops are rendered more or less meaningless, since the film has earned just $53 million domestically so far and looks to finish in the $75 million range.  At this point the movie isn’t doing well overseas either, so it chances of earning its money back for the studio are nil.  With a production and promotional budget that is nearly the equal of Disney’s new Oz film, Jack would have to make nearly $600 million worldwide to break even.  The good news for Warner Bros. is that Burt Wonderstone’s production costs were just around $32 million, so any losses on that film will be minor compared with those incurred by Jack the Giant Slayer.

 

The rest of the top 10 suffered small declines (from rather small numbers).  It is worth noting that the "R" rated comedy Identity Thief starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman continues to chug right along as it has earned $124 million domestically, while David O. Russell’s Oscar contender Silver Linings Playbook continues to show great legs long after the Academy Awards show has passed into well-deserved oblivion.

 

Check back next week to see if Dreamwork’s heavily advertised animated film The Croods or the terrorists capture the White House thriller Olympus Has Fallen (aka "Die Hard in DC") can manage to unseat Oz: The Great and Powerful.