Rango just had the largest opening weekend total of 2011. The animated film directed by Gore Verbinski made a cool $38M this weekend, snagging first place at the box office and bragging rights for the biggest opening of 2011 thus far.
This is the first film made entirely by Industrial Light and Magic studios. The film cost $135M to make, but it has made a nice dent in its budget. Unfortunately audiences that were polled when they left the movie weren’t overly enthusiastic about the film. It’s average rating was “C”.
Matt Damon’s latest thriller The Adjustment Bureau took second place with $20.9M. That is Matt Damon’s best weekend since 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum. Audiences gave it a “B” score.
Beastly came in at number three with $10.1M. That might sound disappointing, but Beastly only cost around $17M to make, so as long as teenage girls attend a few more weekends, the film should be fine. 78% of the audience were female, and almost half was under the age of 18. That seems about right. All those gals gave the film a “B+”. Take that, critics.
The Farrelly brothers’ Hall Pass only dropped 33% from last week, making $9M for fourth place. After flirting with the top spot last week, Gnomeo and Juliet tumbled down to number five this week. It has made just over $83M in its first four weeks in release.
The week’s other new release, Take Me Home Tonight, didn’t fare so well. Despite playing on over 2,000 screens, the film only made $3.5M. That put it in 11th place. Are audiences over the 80’s? Hot Tub Time Machine didn’t have a good showing last year, either. It made about $48M over its entire theatrical run.
The highest per/screen averages this week belonged to HappyThankYouMorePlease, which only played on two screens, but earned $15,000 per screen. Of Gods and Men played on 42 screens, but enjoyed $6,800 per screen.
Next week Red Riding Hood squares off against Mars Needs Moms, and Battle: Los Angeles.
Source [Box Office Mojo, EW]
