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.
Despite the entry of four new movies at the box office, 20th Century Fox’s prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes remained on top with a solid $27.5 million, down less than 50% from its opening weekend. It has grossed $104.9 million total domestically in just ten days. The apes also took in $40.5 million internationally for an overseas total of $75 million after two weeks.
Opening on Wednesday and grossing $9.9 million before the weekend, Tate Taylor’s adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s bestseller The Help (DreamWorks), starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer, was a breakout hit, taking a close second with an estimated $25.5 million in just over 2,500 theaters. It averaged an astounding $10,000 in those venues to have the second-biggest average of the weekend.
The fifth installment of the horror mainstay franchise Final Destination 5 (New Line/WB) didn’t fare as well as the previous movie, opening with just $18.4 million to take third place. That was a smaller opening than the previous two movies despite getting some of the best reviews of the franchise.
Sony Pictures’ The Smurfs became the second movie of the weekend to cross the $100 million mark with the $13.5 million it grossed in its third weekend. It has earned $101.5 million domestically so far. Overseas, the Smurfs brought in $60 million from 44 markets. The film has reached $141.1 million at the foreign box office.
Ruben Fleischer’s action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less (Sony), starring Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, was the second R-rated comedy in a row to do disappointing business, grossing an estimated $13 million to take fifth place.
Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens (Universal/DreamWorks) dropped 52% to sixth place with $7.6 million over the weekend and a total gross of $81.5 million.
Paramount and Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The First Avenger took seventh place with $7.1 million and $157 million total, while the Steve Carell romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love. (Warner Bros.) was eighth with $6.9 million and $55.4 million total.
Officially the highest-grossing movie of 2011 with over $350 million, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 brought in another $6.9 million, down 44% despite losing over 700 theaters on Friday. Internationally, the Harry Potter film added another $30 million to take its massive foreign total to $857.8 million. The movie has earned $1.215 billion at the worldwide box office.
The R-rated teaming of Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds, The Change-Up (Universal) took a nosedive all the way down to tenth place with $6.2 million, down 54% from its weak opening weekend.
Opening outside the Top 10 at #11, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (20th Century Fox) took in an estimated $5.7 million over the weekend in just over 2,000 3D theaters, a pitiful per-theater average of $2.7k per venue.
The racing doc Senna, about the famed Brazilian Formula 1 racer, did an astounding amount of business in just two theaters in New York and L.A., grossing an estimated $66k this weekend.
Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.
