Box Office Actuals: May 20-22, 2011

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

Estimates were spot on with the fourth entry in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series as "...On Stranger Tides" kickstarted its run with $90.1 million, helped with also having the widest opening of 2011 at 4,155 locations. Aided by higher 3-D prices, a little more investigation learns why this biggest opening of 2011 was viewed as "soft" and a "disappointment" in North America.

When calculating numbers, Box Office Mojo reports that this "Pirates" suffered the lightest attended opening since the first film launched in 2003. That first offering drew repeat business again and again and grossed $305.4 million domestically and $654 million worldwide. As reported here yesterday, the "Pirates" films have generated ticket sales of more than $2.2 billion thus far and if excitement was muted in North America, Disney and Buena Vista were downright giddy with the worldwide reception of "...On Stranger Tides".

Audiences were galvanized by the return of Captain Jack Sparrow to the tune of more than $256 million in foreign receipts counted. Already, "POTC:OST" has grossed $346 million worldwide. In looking at the 50 biggest grossing films of all time worldwide, the three previous "Pirates" films all rank on the list. Moral of the story? Stay skeptical if you hear that "Pirates" is a disappointment.

The Top 40 Films of the Weekend and a luminous "Midnight" after the cut!



In what appears to be the biggest per screen opening of Woody Allen's career, "Midnight In Paris" stunned prognosticators with a tremendous opening, finishing in 12th place overall despite appearing on only 6 screens!!! "Paris" started with $599k and a jaw-dropping $99,834 average per site. Aiding "Midnight In Paris" are Woody Allen's best reviews in years and an attention-grabbing cast, including Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Carla Bruni, and a reported breakout performance by television actor Corey Stoll, has positioned this to be a breakout for Sony Pictures Classics.

In terms of sheer dollar figures, Allen's biggest grossing film was 1985's "Hannah And Her Sisters" which grossed $40.1 million in its run and also scored 3 Oscars. When looking at the Top 25 largest per screen average debuts of all time, no film has earned less than $40 million with a start like this, except for Kevin Smith's forthcoming "Red State", which has not received its thorough national rollout yet. All depends on how Sony Pictures Classics runs with this, but Allen could have his latest film in the conversation for many months to come, including Oscar season, if this opening and the acclaim is any indication.

Within the Top 10, "Bridesmaids" continued to impress, sliding a mere 20.4% in its second weekend; a rarity for comedies. Rapturous reviews and huge "you have to see this" talk spurred it on as counterprogramming for "Pirates". "Bridesmaids" ended the weekend with a 10-day take of slightly less than $60 million overall and will have doubled its production budget by the middle of the week. Very intriguing to see how this holds up with "Hangover Part II" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" expected to deliver huge numbers this coming weekend.

"Priest" saw the biggest dropoff for films within the Top 10 and seemed to hurt the most by the avalanche of attention for "Pirates". Dipping 68.2%, the Paul Bettany-led post-apoc horror film has earned $23.8 million in 10 days and will likely not come anywhere close to earning back its $60 million budget domestically.

Digging deeper in the rankings finds many of the same indie films adding a few screens here and there and chugging right along. "The Double Hour" saw a 10% gain as it rolled out to 36 sites. In its six week run, the thriller has grossed $532k and Samuel Goldwyn seems content in adding a few new locations every weekend. The film grossed $1.2 million overseas and has a production budget of approximately $4.5 million.

Canadian drama "Incendies" added more locations (59 in total) and amassed another $187k, a healthy increase of 38.5%. The Oscar-nominated film has grossed $620k stateside and more than $2.0 million worldwide.

Summit Entertainment's "The Beaver" saw its planned wide release scrapped, as the film only expanded out to 168 sites and not the 600+ it needed to be defined as a wide release. With a poor $1,120 per screen average the film grossed $188k, raising its haul to a mere $580k on a $21 million budget. One of the largest disappointments, based on expectations, for 2011.

Elsewhere, in the second-chance sweepstakes, a handful of films ("Rango", "I Am Number Four", "Limitless") were released to discount and lower-priced second run theaters and one film in particular, "Mars Needs Moms" turned heads by increasing 863%?!?! The film, notoriously branded as one of the biggest bombs of all time, in terms of production budget-to-overall gross, earned more than $100k for the first time in weeks. All is not great news though as the film has still earned a barren $21 million for a film reportedly made for $150 million.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", earned $90.1 million

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "Shrek Forever After", debuted with $70.8 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "Midnight In Paris", $99,834 at 6 locations ($599k cumulative)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Go For It!", $226 at 64 locations ($14k, $172k cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "Mars Needs Moms", +863.0%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Go For It!", -87.9%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 9

Films Which Surpassed $100m: N/A

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend: N/A

The Top 40, with other notables!

TW	LW	DAY	FILM	WKD	TOTAL	% CHG
1	N	3	Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	$90.1m	$90.1m	New
2	2	10	Bridesmaids	$20.9m	$59.3m	-20.4
3	1	17	Thor	$15.5m	$145.4m	-55.5
4	3	24	Fast Five	$10.6m	$186.2m	-48.3
5	4	10	Priest	$4.8m	$23.8m	-68.2
6	5	38	Rio	$4.7m	$131.7m	-43.4
7	6	17	Jumping The Broom	$3.7m	$31.3m	-47.6
8	7	17	Something Borrowed	$3.5m	$31.5m	-48.8
9	8	31	Water For Elephants	$2.2m	$52.5m	-48.2
10	9	31	Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family	$957k	$51.7m	-20.8
11	10	45	Soul Surfer	$930k	$40.6m	-49.1
12	N	3	Midnight In Paris	$599k	$599k	New
13	15	10	Everything Must Go	$529k	$1.6m	-33.2
14	13	24	Prom	$504k	$9.7m	-46.3
15	12	52	Insidious	$474k	$52.4m	-50.5
16	18	24	Cave Of Forgotten Dreams	$415k	$2.0m	-12.0
17	14	52	Source Code	$412k	$53.0m	-50.8
18	28	80	Rango	$395k	$121.2	+53.1
19	11	24	Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil	$371k	$9.2m	-67.7
20	23	66	Limitless	$341k	$78.1m	-4.7
21	20	66	Win Win	$276k	$9.4m	-31.9
22	16	31	African Cats	$261k	$14.6m	-60.9
23	17	45	Hanna	$260k	$39.1m	-56.5
24	21	52	Hop	$257k	$107.2m	-36.1
25	22	66	The Lincoln Lawyer	$253k	$56.5m	-36.2
26	25	45	Born To Be Wild IMAX	$250k	$5.4m	-22.8
27	19	38	The Conspirator	$241k	$10.9m	-48.1
28	24	73	Jane Eyre	$213k	$10.4m	-36.9
29	33	17	The Beaver	$188k	$580k	+16.7
30	35	31	Incendies	$187k	$620k	+38.5
31	26	59	Diary Of A Wimpy Kid...Rodrick Rules	$185k	$51.9m	-36.4
32	49	94	I Am Number Four	$177k	$55.0m	+202.7
33	29	45	Arthur	$131k	$32.8m	-44.8
34	31	101	Gnomeo And Juliet	$125k	$99.5m	-31.5
35	40	38	The Double Hour	$118k	$533k	+10.4
36	32	80	The Adjustment Bureau	$109k	$62.5m	-35.4
37	74	73	Mars Needs Moms	$106k	$21.0m	+863.0
38	30	73	Battle: Los Angeles	$101k	$83.4m	-46.8
39	41	430	Hubble 3D	$99k	$25.0m	-6.2
40	27	38	Scream 4	$91k	$37.7m	-67.1

BUBBLING UNDER INCREASES AND OPENINGS:

43. “13 Assassins”, $72k, $302k total, +37.1%

46. “Bill Cunningham New York”, $50k, $1.1m total, +3.6%

50. “L'Amour Fou”, $41k, $100k total, +10.0%

51. “The First Grader”, $38k, $67k total, +86.3

54. "35 And Ticking", $30k, NEW