Box Office Bulletin: "Fast Five" Obliterates the Competition...

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

The Summer Movie Season, which typically kicks off in the first weekend of May, hit early with a staggering and stunning record-setting opening for "Fast Five", the fifth film in "The Fast & The Furious" franchise. Hauling in a likely overestimated but still incredible $83.6 million, "Fast Five" not only had the biggest opening ever for the series, but delivered the largest April opening weekend of all time, breaking its own record-setting $71 million "Fast and Furious" entry in April 2009. People knew the film would deliver the biggest opening weekend of the year, but this debut, even when revised actuals drop the number a bit on Monday, far exceeded most expectations. Speculation turned from the worry of diminished box office returns to a tone of optimism that perhaps "Fast Five" could kickstart a wave of films which will have wide-ranging commercial appeal. We shall see.

While "Rio", "Rango", and "Hop" had delivered the biggest openings so far in 2011, "Fast Five" more than doubled the best of those openings and the film already ranks as the 7th biggest grossing film of 2011. "Fast Five"could reach $100 million in total receipts by next weekend when "Fast Five" lines up next to the eagerly anticipated "Thor". And what if "Fast Five" can hold off and outrun "Thor"? Stay tuned...

NEW OPENINGS:

The brutal reality of the other weekend's openings is that no one truly cared about any of the other offerings. The estimated per screen averages for Disney's "Prom" and The Weinstein Company's "Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil" were on par with films that have played for 4 or 5 weeks. Although in Disney's case, the poor performance may not be too disappointing in the long run.

"Prom", which was advertised as a non-musical "High School Musical" style film earned $5 million with a dismal $1,832 per screen average. Dismal that is, unless you are budgeted at $8 million, in which case the film may be profitable by the weekend. Nikki Finke at Deadline reports however that this is still going to be recognized as a major disappointment for Disney and raises questions as to why the film was not just morphed into a 4th "HSM" feature. Whether the film is a bomb or not can be left open to interpretation, but Disney execs are spinning this as a success. With the rush to DVD and probable multiple airings on the Disney Channel by the fall, "Prom" may not be as terrible a performer as many are speculating.

There really is no spin that can be leveraged at The Weinstein Company's "Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil" however. Opening to a paltry $4.1 million and $1,653 per screen average at 2,505 locations, "Hoodwinked Too!" delivered the worst 3-D opening of all time for a wide release. Budgeted at $30 million, this ill-conceived sequel will likely lose money and provide a reversal of fortunes when compared to the surprising $51 million haul of 2005's "Hoodwinked". Nikki Finke shared an insider's Email on the film, which stated: "Between Blue Valentine, Company Of Men, Scream 4, and this film, they are starting to give back all the money they made on The King's Speech." Ouch.

Although it opened at a scant 875 locations, the comic book adaptation, "Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night" was a non-starter for OmniLab Media and Freestyle Releasing. Not screened for critics ahead of its release, this comedic/horror hybrid starring former "Superman", Brandon Routh, arrived with little in the way of promotion. Grossing $885k, fans of the supernatural horror series were reportedly not pleased at the film being more comedy and less chills and thrills. Italian audiences, where the comic originated from, were also less than thrilled last month when the film opened there.

Other notable trends and happenings after the cut!


ALSO OF NOTE

"Rio" became the fourth film to move past $100 million at the box office, joining "Rango", "Hop", and "Just Go With It" in reaching that plateau. Two other films, "The Green Hornet" and "Gnomeo And Juliet" continue to play in theaters and are desperately trying to reach that summit; however, both films are stuck in the $98 million range.

The expected post-Easter drop off came for "Hop" and the film was abandoned to the tune of shedding 79% of its Easter weekend audience. When actuals are tallied, "Hop" should secure one final week inside the Top 10.

Werner Herzog's G-rated 3-D documentary, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams", which has earned some early Oscar buzz had a strong start, scoring an impressive $25,400 per screen average at 5 sites for an estimated opening of $127k. Near unanimous reviews and Herzog's loyal fanbase paced this to a notable debut. If IFC can broaden the reach of this and market it effectively, this could turn into a pretty nice success.

Takashi Miike's ultra-violent and ultra-anticipated "13 Assassins" scored a projected $40k start at 4 locations. Many of Miike's features have arrived in the States without theatrical release, but this opening bests the first weekends of 2005's "Three...Extremes" and 2007's "Sukiyaki Western Django". Magnolia Pictures opened the film in New York, Los Angeles, and Texas (?!).

Elsewhere, the much-buzzed Tom Shadyac documentary, "I Am", gained another 10% as it widened to 46 locations, earning an approximate haul of $141k. The film looks to be well on its way in providing upstart studio Paladin with its first $1 million grossing feature.

Expansions for Foreign Language Film nominee "Incendies" and Oscar winner "In A Better World" were again gains for Sony Pictures Classics. At 10 screens, "Incendies" surged 42% while "...World" saw a more modest 8% increase playing at 41 locations.

Overall, the weekend box office earned an estimated $142 million grossed by the Top 12 films, a gain of an additional 17.1% from the previous weekend. The Top 12 from the same weekend in 2010 amassed just $91.7 million when "Nightmare On Elm Street" led the tally with a $33 million opening.

THE TOP 10 (Estimates, with Actuals reported on Monday)

1. "Fast Five" (Universal), $83.6 million, NEW
2. "Rio" (20th Century Fox), $14.4 million, $103.6 million, 3 wks
3. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" (Lionsgate), $10.1 million, $41.1 million, 2 wks
4. "Water For Elephants" (20th Century Fox), $9.1 million, $32.3 million, 2 wks
5. "Prom" (Buena Vista), $5.0 million, NEW
6. "Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil" (Weinstein Co.), $4.1 million, NEW
7. "Soul Surfer" (TriStar/FilmDistrict), $3.3 million, $33.8 million, 4 wks
8. "Insidious" (FilmDistrict), $2.7 million, $48.3 million, 5 wks
9. "Hop" (Universal), $2.6 million, $105.3 million, 5 wks
10. "Source Code" (Summit), $2.5 million, $48.9 million, 5 wks