The Lorax is the big winner of the box office this weekend, bringing in a massive 70.7 million. This is a monumental number and further proof that the concept of prime seasons being the only way a film can make bank is dead.
We are now in the thick of the ‘Spring Movie Season’ which for the last few years has yielded some of the most successful and surprising films of the years. The staggering numbers for The Lorax also represent a bit of a coming out for Universal’s animation house Illumination Entertainment, which previously won a lot of people over with the very fun Despicable Me.
The impressive haul also marks a new high water mark for Dr. Seuss adaptions, topping the previous high of 55.1 million raked in by How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The film is likely to have a decent run as well with few marquee kids films on the immediate horizon, and mixed reviews that do tend to skew a bit towards positive.
The Lorax wasn’t the only new comer this weekend. The found footage, party extravaganza film Project X brought in just over 20 million in it’s first weekend. The total might not seem all that great compared to the top dog, but for an R-rated, found footage party film who sees half of it’s target audience not even able to buy tickets, it did pretty well. This is the third strait decent opening for a found footage film.
Last week’s winner fell a fair 44% to just over 13 million over the weekend, but the good times are short lived. Act of Valor has to weather the direct storm of John Carter, 21 Jump Street and Hunger Games in the next three weeks. Meaning the film is not likely to show significant legs. Although it should be noted, the movie is already in the win column for just about all involved.
Also seeing a nice weekend bump is the new best picture winner, The Artist. Getting a nice Oscar push to put it into the top 10, the silent film brought in nearly 4 million in it’s fifteenth weekend in release. The movie probably wont stay in the top ten for long, but it is nice to see such an interesting film get some much deserved public love.
Next weekend sees the release of Disney’s John Carter. Early geek pulse was rather negative for the film, but early reports are that the film is generally very fun and should make a splash next weekend. Of course that splash will probably pale in comparison to The Lorax who will have something to say about next weekend’s top spot as well.
1 Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax – $70,700,000
2 Project X – $20,775,000
3 Act of Valor – $13,700,000
4 Safe House – $7,200,000
5 Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds – $7,000,000
6 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – $6,925,000
7 The Vow – $6,100,000
8 This Means War – $5,625,000
9 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance – $4,700,000
10 The Artist – $3,900,000
