Doh! Women flexed their box office muscles once again and helped boost the bland Valentines Day to a record breaking weekend. Silly Hollywood, when will you learn?
First we had New Moon, then last weekend Dear John, and now Valentine’s Day. Each time a movie that has a largely female demographic wins the weekend, all the trades are SHOCKED to find out that women go to the movies.
Each time, I read that there will be a onslaught of female centric movies green lit by the studios. And, it never happens. I must say I am not completely proud of what my sisters choose to spend their box office dollars on (before you boys snicker, might I remind you of G.I. Joe, and Transformers), but it is interesting to note this possible shift in marketing.
Three day totals for Valentine’s Day are around $52 Million, making it the highest grossing movie ever for a President’s Day weekend. Women weren’t the only ones in the mood for movies this weekend. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief made a very respectable $31 Million over the weekend, and Benicio Del Toro’s The Wolfman took a bite out of the box office to the tune of $30 Million (sorry, that was a terrible pun.)
Avatar took a tumble to the number four position this weekend, but a $22 Million gross is still quite astonishing for its ninth week in release. Dear John dropped about 50% from its opening weekend, which is average, and earned an additional $15 Million.
The action movies Edge of Darkness, and From Paris, With Love both are shaping up to be box office disappointments. Edge of Darkness has only made $36 Million in three weeks (with a budget of $80 Million), and From Paris now stands at $15 Million after two weeks.
