The "R" rated comedy 21 Jump Street starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill took the weekend box office crown with an impressive $35 million debut that ended The Lorax's two-week run at the top of the chart. Disney’s expensive tentpole John Carter tumbled 55% in its second frame.  The total of the top 12 films was down nearly 7% when compared with the same frame in 2011 when Limitless topped the box office with $18.9 million, as Hollywood's 2012 winning streak came to a brief halt before the expected boost from next weekend's debut of The Hunger Games.

 

Sony appears to have scored a signal success with 21 Jump Street, a broad comedy about inept undercover cops that bears only a passing resemblance to the TV cop series that gave it its name.  Sony also did a good job in marketing the film to young audiences.  Half of the debut weekend audience was under 25, and just 53% of it was male, which would tend to indicate that Channing Tatum has developed into a real drawing card with distaff viewers.  With The Vow and now 21 Jump Street Tatum has two major hits already in 2012, something that bodes well for this summer's G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The under 25 crowd  also found Jump Street more to their liking, giving the film an "A" CinemaScore, while older folks gave it a lukewarm "B."

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): March 16 - 18, 2012
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	21 Jump Street	$35,000,000	3,121	$11,214	$35,000,000	1
2	Dr. Seuss' The Lorax	$22,800,000	3,769	$6,049	$158,400,000	3
3	John Carter	$13,515,000	3,749	$3,605	$53,172,000	2
4	Project X	$4,005,000	2,922	$1,371	$48,131,000	3
5	A Thousand Words	$3,750,000	1,895	$1,979	$12,103,000	2
6	Act of Valor	$3,678,000	2,765	$1,330	$62,398,000	4
7	Safe House	$2,800,000	1,920	$1,458	$120,200,000	6
8	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island	$2,460,000	1,935	$1,271	$95,066,000	6
9	Casa De Mi Padre	$2,200,000	382	$5,759	$2,200,000	1
10	This Means War	$2,125,000	1,660	$1,280	$50,525,000	5

 

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax fell just 41% during its third weekend in theaters as it brought in an estimated $22.8 million, raising its domestic total to $158.4 million.  The Lorax will likely be the first 2012 film to break the $200 million barrier

 

John Carter's drop is not unprecedented for a big budget action film, in fact if it had scored a big opening, a 55% drop wouldn’t be considered that bad.  With $53.1 million earned so far in North America, it appears unlikely that the film will end up even close to $100 million domestically.  It's only hope is overseas where so far it has earned $126.1 million for a worldwide total of $179.2 million still well short of the $600 million it would take to break even.

 

The "found footage" teen comedy Project X took it on the chin from Jump Street, dropping 64% as it earned an estimated $4 million.  Declines among the other films in the "Top Ten" were low, led by Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which fell just 32% and remained in the “Top Ten” for the sixth weekend in a row.

 

This week's other newcomer is the Will Ferrell project Casa De Mi Padre, a telenovela parody acted entirely in Spanish with English subtitles.  Despite the language barrier and a limited release to just 382 theaters, the film made the "Top Ten" with an estimated $2.2 million. 

 

Check back next week to see what happens when The Hunger Games, the most hyped and anticipated film of 2012 so far, opens.