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This is shaping up to be a VERY strong second weekend in a row at the box office. Early box office numbers indicate strong performances by Rio and Hop, a solid opening for Madea, and an OK opening for Water for Elephants. April 22-24, 2011 Pre-Wknd Wknd Showbuzz
(millions) Showbuzz Early Friday Domestic
Forecast Proj. Actual Final*
Rio (Fox) [$26 ] $27.5 $11.2 $157 ++
Madea’s Big Happy Family [$31 ] $26.0 $10.7 $ 59
Water for Elephants (Fox)[$16 ] $16.8 $ 7.0 $ 45
Hop (Uni) [$ 9 ] $12.0 $ 4.4 $126 ++
African Cats (Dis) [$ 7 ] $ 7.3 $ 3.2 $ 21
Scre4m (Weins) [$ 8.5] $ 6.0 $ 2.4 $ 43 —
Soul Surfer (Tri) [ N/A ] $ 5.9 $ 2.2 $ 44
Insidious (FilmDis) [ N/A ] $ 5.4 $ 2.1 $ 57
Source Code (Sum) [ N/A ] $ 5.3 $ 1.8 $ 58
Hanna (Foc) [ N/A ] $ 4.7 $ 1.7 $ 45
Arthur (WB) [ N/A ] $ 4.4 $ 1.7 $ 39
Note: The table above summarizes an early look at the weekend. The first column is reminder of each film’s ShowbuzzDaily Forecast for the weekend (in brackets). The second column, on which the films are sorted, displays the new weekend projection for each film, based on the Friday numbers (the third column). The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Ultimate number for the film’s total run in North America. A “++” indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a “–” indicates a downgrade.
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $125 million total. This is a huge increase from comparable weekends the past few years.
Top 12 Films: Fourth Weekend in April
(millions)
Volume
2011 $125 (+49% vs 2007-10 average; +39% vs 2010)
2007-10
Avg $ 84
Movies Opening That Weekend
2010 $ 90 Back-Up Plan $12, The Losers $9, Oceans $6
2009 $104 Obsessed $29, Fighting $11, The Soloist $10, Earth $9
2008 $ 80 Baby Mama $17, Harold & Kumar Escape $15,Deception $2
2007 $ 62 The Invisible $8, Next $7, Condemned $4
Next weekend should also be solid. Opening next week are Fast Five from Universal, Prom from Disney, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil from Weinstein, and Dylan Dog: Dead of Night from Freestyle Releasing. Look for Fast Five to make the most noise and ignite the entire weekend. Also, Rio should continue to do well. These strong films will be enough to fuel increase from the same weekend last year when A Nightmare on Elm Street opened with $33 million and Furry Vengeance struggled with a little more than $6 million. A positive weekend would be the third in a row, and as movies do well they provide a platform for trailers of upcoming films, creating a cycle of success for future weekends and the summer season itself.
Look for updates of the weekend box office on Sunday, based on the Saturday actual numbers.
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