Circuit Round-Up, 05/01

* Last week, Joey Magidson reviewed The High Cost of Living, Arthur, and Jane Eyre, while Michael Ward lent his thoughts to the animated hit Rio.

* Joey had a barren slate to work with for his DVD Picks of the Week.

* Luckily, Joey was very enthusiastic about the screenplay for Jodie Foster’s upcoming film The Beaver.

* Anna Belickis paid tribute to recent Oscar winner Natalie Portman for Women in Cinema.

* Sadly, she also had to bid farewell to the likable Chris Jericho in her "Dancing with the Stars" recap.

* Guy Pearce got the Under the Circuit treatment from yours truly.

* I also looked into my (snarky) crystal ball for possible heavy hitters of the summer.

* Finally, the staff gave their long-anticipated early predictions for the next Academy Awards. Whose will be the most accurate? Guess we’ll all find out on Tuesday, January 24^th!

Box Office Bulletin: A "Hop"ping Good Time!

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

Live action/animation hybrid "Hop" seems to have exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations by landing, if estimates hold, the largest opening weekend of 2011 with approximately $38.1 million in box office receipts.


NEW OPENINGS:

"Hop", made by Illumination Entertainment for $63 million, the studio who debuted with 2010's blockbuster, "Despicable Me", delivered the first true all-family film of 2011 and reaped the benefits. Despite the massive success of "Rango" and the well-attended "Gnomeo and Juliet", "Hop" looked like the year's first film which would engage everyone in the household and families responded. Despite most critics panning the film, distributor Universal Pictures won in the court of public opinion. Featuring voice work by Russell Brand, Hugh Laurie, and Hank Azaria, and James Marsden in the main live-action role, this Easter Bunny meets the Santa Claus storyline may elicit a sequel down the line. A second strong weekend looks promising as the next animated family film to come down the pike, the G-rated "Rio", lands on April 15.

A look at "Source Code", "Insidious", and a knockout "Sucker Punch" after the cut...

Box Office Actuals: March 25-27, 2011

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

With actual receipts tabulated, it appears that the sequel "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" did take the weekend with a slightly underestimated $23.8 million haul. Besting the first film's $22.1 opening weekend, "...Rodrick Rules" has already turned a profit for 20th Century Fox. Undoubtedly the studio will be optioning another edition of Jeff Kinney's popular series, as this appears to be an appealing and growing film franchise.

"Sucker Punch" saw a minuscule uptick in actuals to $19.1 million for its opening frame. At best, the film looks to finish in the mid-$50 million range when all is said and done. Although comparisons can be made to 2010's "Kick-Ass", which opened with slightly more money but ended up short of $50 million, "Sucker Punch" appears to be all hype and no payoff for Warner Bros., who aggressively marketed the film as THE first must-see movie of the Spring. This is a major disappointment for Warner Bros. and director Zack Snyder, who seemingly could not withstand the vitriolic critical response and increasingly bad word-of-mouth which grew and grew through the weekend.

THE WEEKEND BREAKDOWN

#1 Film - "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules:, earned $23.8 million

Last Year's #1 Film at this time: "How To Train Your Dragon", earned $43.7 million

Biggest Per Screen Average: "Win Win", $20,192 at 23 locations ($464,420)

Worst Per Screen Average (50+ Sites): "Drive Angry", $383 at 72 locations $27,549,
$10.6 cumulative)

Largest Increase (50+ Sites): "From Prada To Nada", +412.3%

Steepest Decline (50+ Sites): "Take Me Home Tonight", -68.4%

Films Earning More Than $1m for the weekend: 15

Films Which Surpassed $100m: Rango, Just Go With It

Films Which Surpassed Reported Budget This Weekend: Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick
Rules, Limitless, Battle: Los Angeles, The Adjustment Bureau.


The Top 40, with other notables, after the cut!
Bold signifies new openings or gains in audience from previous week:

Box Office Bulletin: "Limitless" Takes The Weekend!

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

"Limitless" surprised many experts by taking a comfortable win at the weekend box office, outlasting the persistent "Rango", and leading a slate of tepid and underwhelming offerings.




NEW OPENINGS:

"Limitless", a suspense/thriller for Relativity Media and Rogue Pictures, featuring Bradley Cooper as a depressed writer who finds a wonder drug that changes his life's fortunes, earned an estimated $19.0 million from 2,756 sites. Neil Burger's first wide release since 2006's "The Illusionist", "Limitless" was modestly budgeted at $27 million and should turn profitable within the week. While one can point to "The Hangover" and "The A-Team" as being Cooper-featured films, "Limitless" is arguably the first film Cooper has "opened" with his name above-the-title.