Box Office: ‘Dragon’ Knocks Off Newcomers

Things were awful quiet at the box office this weekend, you could hear a pin drop at your nearest multiplex.  The combined gross of the top four films this weekend did not even hit the $50 million mark.  Also, audiences did not have a lot of love for new movies this weekend, as How to Train Your Dragon won the weekend over The Back-Up Plan, starring Jennifer Lopez, and The Losers.  Ultimately, Dragon dropped about 23% from last weekend and made $15 Million on its fifth week in release.

The Back-Up Plan was no doubt a disappointment for fledgling film company CBS films, and for Lopez.  The company’s first and only other release was Extraordinary Measures, the Harrison Ford/Brendan Fraser medical drama that was released in late January.

That film only managed $11.8 Million in its first three weeks in release, so The Back-Up Plan is faring a bit better, with $12.2 Million for the weekend.  Still, it is a very underwhelming gross for an opening weekend, and CBS films and Lopez could definitely have used a hit.

In fourth place came an action movie that a lot of people thought would win the weekend.  The Losers is based on a comic book, and features a sexy ensemble cast, and plenty of explosions. Audiences barely gave the $25 Million film a second glance, and it limped into fourth place never breaking $10 Million in ticket sales.  It stands at $9.6 Million.

Holdover Date Night nabbed the number three spot, dropping only 36% in its third week for about $10.5 Million.  The film has almost grossed $64 Million, and it had a $55 Million budget.  Last week”s winner (narrowly), Kick-Ass fell over 50%, sealing the coffin on any hopes the film would pick up steam as word of mouth spread.

In two weeks it has made almost $35M, but it only had a budget of $30M, so it has recouped its budget. If this would have had a typical bloated budget, the box office would be considered disastrous, but funding the movie outside the studio system will prove to be the saving grace for director Matthew Vaughn.

Death at a Funeral dropped about 50% in its second week, and now stands at $28.4 Million.  Disney’s new nature documentary Oceans made about $6 Million.  That seems a little low, but it only opened on about 1,200 screens, while The Back-Up Plan and The Losers both opened on around 3,000 screens. Oceans actually had the best per-screen average of the three new films.

Next week: One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…but are you going to see the Nightmare on Elm Street movie?  Jackie Earle Haley dons the familiar sweater  of Freddy Kreuger for the reboot of the Elm Street horror franchise.