The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
Things picked up somewhat as March kicked off with the release of Bryan Singer’s fantasy epic Jack the Giant Slayer (New Line/WB), starring Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor and newcomer Eleanor Tomlinson, and though it didn’t have much competition, allowing it to gross $28 million over the weekend, that might be seen as a disappointment compared to its reported $200 million budget.
It opened on Friday with a modest $7.7 million but it got a nice bump on Saturday showing that despite its PG-13 rating, it was able to bring in a family audience. It grossed $3.4 million of its weekend gross from its 317 IMAX sites.
The hit comedy Identity Thief (Universal) dropped back down to second place for the second time, bringing in $9.7 million over the weekend to become the first 2013 movie to cross the $100 million mark with $107.4 million since opening in early February.
The R-rated coming-of-age comedy 21 and Over (Relativity Media), directed by the writers of The Hangover, opened in third place with a relatively disappointing $9 million in 2,771 theaters, roughly $3,200 per site.
The horror sequel The Last Exorcism Part II (CBS Films) may indeed prove to be the last exorcism this time as it tanked with just $8 million in 2,700 theaters.
Dwayne Johnson’s action thriller Snitch (Summit Entertainment) dropped to fifth place with $7.7 million, down just 42% from its opening week, with $24.4 million grossed so far.
The animated family comedy Escape From Planet Earth (The Weinstein Company) took sixth place with $6.7 million and $43.2 million to date, while the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven (Relativity Media) followed in seventh place with $6.3 million and $57.1 million in the same amount of time.
David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company) had a nice 3% bump following Jennifer Lawrence’s win at the Oscars last weekend as it added another $5.9 million to its running total of $115.5 million.
Bruce Willis’ action sequel A Good Day to Die Hard (20th Century Fox) and the alien invasion thriller Dark Skies (Dimension Films) both took substantial drops, taking ninth and tenth place with $3.5 million and $4.5 million, respectively. The fifth “Die Hard” installment has grossed a measly $59.6 million over the last three weeks while Dark Skies has grossed just $13.5 million in ten days.
The Top 10 brought in roughly $89.5 million, which was down $56 million from the March opening last year when the animated Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (Universal) blew into theaters with over $70 million with the R-rated comedy Project X (Warner Bros.), produced by The Hangover director Todd Phillips, taking second place with $21 million.
Back in the present, new distributor RCR Distribution tried to give the submarine thriller Phantom, starring Ed Harris and David Duchovny, a wide release into 1,100 theaters over the weekend but it was a failed effort that amounted to roughly $465 thousand or $416 per theater, which is among the worst for a wide release into over 1,000 theaters.
There were a lot of limited releases out on Friday, but the true standout was the psychological thriller Stoker (Fox Searchlight), directed by Korea’s Park Chan-wook and starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, which brought in an estimated $158 thousand in 7 theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Its $22.6 thousand per site was the best theater estimate for the weekend.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
