Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, and other sources:Branded as the comeback weekend for the middling North American box office, 20th Century Fox's "Rio" dominated the weekend, presaged by a huge international opening the weekend prior to its domestic release. "Rio", if numbers hold, will have the largest opening of 2011. With its approximate $40 million North American haul, coupled with $127 million already taken in across the water, "Rio" is the international breakout film of the year and could settle in for a long run at the top of the rankings. "Rio" looks to have virtually no competition for its dollar for the foreseeable future, as next week's "African Cats", and the following week's"Hoodwinked Too!" and "Prom" have a muted interest and/or limited audience at best.
NEW OPENINGS:
Landing in second place is The Weinstein Company and Dimension's joint release, "Scream 4". Projections were high for this franchise's return, which had earned nearly $300 million domestically and was making a much-hyped return to the big screen for the first time in more than 11 years. Message boards were alive, reviews were good-to-mixed, and interest resurfaced in the 3 previous slasher flicks. And then when it opened...no one came. Or at least to the anticipated levels the studio and analysts were expecting. "Scream 4" opened with an estimated $19.3 million and stands to finish in the mid-$50 million range when the film runs its course theatrically, more than $30 million less than "Scream 3"'s take. Reports show that audiences bailed on Saturday and Sunday and may have opted instead to check out another horror flick playing in another theater down the hall, but more on that in a moment.
On just 770 screens, Robert Redford's "The Conspirator" (Roadside Attractions) scored a Top 10 debut and one of the highest per-screen averages for the weekend. Earning $3.9 million with an older-skewing audience, this re-telling of the Abraham Lincoln assassination delivered an impressive cast and became Roadside's biggest opening weekend of all time. It will be interesting how Roadside handles this better-than-expected result, as "The Conspirator" needs only to earn a little less than $5 million going forward to become the studio's biggest grossing film (2007's "Bella" earned just over $8 million). The film could have legs and attendance grew over the weekend with some matinee showings selling out. Stay tuned...
One other notable opening at #14 is the long-simmering "Atlas Shrugged, Part I", an adaptation based on the writings of Tea Party-favorite Ayn Rand. Hollywood has always been interested in bringing Rand's writings to the big screen but it took indie Rocky Mountain Pictures, a studio known for releasing Christian-themed and inspirational fare, to make it a reality. Critics were less than kind to the film and it holds a 10% from Rotten Tomatoes at press time. The film has been a galvanizing entity within the Tea Party movement and on just 300 screens, the film scored an estimated $1.7 million, providing a slightly higher per-screen average than "The Conspirator" and virtually every other film in platform, medium, or wide release not named "Rio" or "Scream 4". The negative reviews were re-tweeted and shared via Tea Party supporters and were seen by some as a catalyst in drumming up impressive attendance numbers. Budgeted at $10 million, Parts II and III are reportedly ready if the film can draw enough money to support their being made.
ALSO OF NOTE
FilmDistrict's first two releases, the inspirational "Soul Surfer" and intense horror film, "Insidious" were quite impressive in their second and third weekends respectively. "Soul Surfer" dropped a mere 30% in its second weekend, a high retention of audience for an inspirational sports drama. But "Insidious", despite sliding to #7 overall, continues to hold strong, slipping a scant 27% and undoubtedly hampering "Scream 4"'s overall take. "Insidious" has earned nearly $36 million on its $1.5 million budget and remains a much buzzed-about and talked about film.
The twisty-turning romantic mystery/thriller, "The Double Hour", an Italian film released by Samuel Goldwyn Company, scored an impressive $15,400 per screen average in its two-screen opening.
Another highly anticipated foreign release from IFC Films, "The Princess of Montpensier", a historical period French film about a female aristocrat forced into an unwanted marriage while she carries on a passionate affair, scored a $7,800 per screen average on 4 screens.
The documentary, "Armadillo", discussed by our own Robert Hamer in his weekend preview, did not have its estimates reported.
Overall, the weekend box office surged to nearly $120 million grossed by the Top 12 films, a gain of 16.6% from the previous weekend, and earning the highest tally amongst the Top 12 since "Rango" opened on March 4.
THE TOP 10 (Estimates, with Actuals reported on Monday)
1. "Rio" (20th Century Fox), $40.0 million, NEW
2. "Scream 4" (Weinstein/Dimension), $19.3 million, NEW
3. "Hop" (Universal), $11.2 million, $82.6 million, 3 wks
4. "Soul Surfer" (TriStar/FilmDistrict), $7.4 million, $20.0 million, 2 wks
5. "Hanna" (Focus), $7.3 million, $23.3 million, 2 wks
6. "Arthur" (Warner Bros.), $6.9 million, $22.3 million, 2 wks
7. "Insidious" (FilmDistrict), $6.9 million, $36.0 million, 3 wks
8. "Source Code" (Summit), $6.3 million, $37.0 million, 3 wks
9. "The Conspirator" (Roadside), $3.9 million, NEW
10. "Your Highness" (Universal), $3.9 million, $16.0 million, 2 wks
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