Well, it didn’t make a killing, per se, but the Nightmare on Elm Street remake took in a healthy $32 Million over the weekend to win the box office. The film only cost about $35 Million, so it will easily make back its budget. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that there was a drop in box office from Friday to Saturday, which is never a good indicator of box office stamina.
That other 80’s horror franchise, Friday the 13th, opened to about $40 Million in February of 2009. It also had a drop off from Friday to Saturday, and went on to gross about $65 Million domestically during its run. Looks like Nightmare will follow a similar trajectory.
How to Train Your Dragon took the number two spot, after occupying the top spot last week. It only dropped 29%, and it has been out for six weeks now. HTTYD made $10.8 Million over the weekend. Date Night continues to enjoy brisk business after one month in release. The film only dropped 27%, and earned an additional $7.6 Million, and was followed very closely by The Back Up Plan with $7.2 Million.
Limping across the fifth place finishing line was the Brendan Fraser film Furry Vengeance. It had a reported budget of around $35 Million, and has an embarrassing Tomatometer reading of 2% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think that is lowest I have ever seen. Ouch.
The real money making went on overseas. It’s rather unusual to see a big tent-pole movie released overseas before it is released in the States, but Iron Man 2 opened up to over $100 Million. According to the Los Angeles Times, the film is trying to open ahead of the World Cup in June, and the opening is 26% greater than the foreign opening of Iron Man.
It’s pretty much a given that Iron Man 2 will win the box office next weekend, but the question is, how much money will it rake in? If you’ve got an answer, let us know in the comments.
