Box Office: ‘Tron Legacy’ Scores, ‘Black Swan’ Surprises

Tron Legacy did manage to take a commanding lead at the box office this weekend, but its final numbers were not high enough to warrant the title of blockbuster. The $170 Million follow-up to Disney’s 1982 movie made a solid $43.6 Million at the box office.

Box Office Mojo reports that almost 82% of that total was from 3D screenings. Fortunately, audiences seemed to like the movie more than the critics, giving it a B+ score on CinemaScore.

Compare that total to last year’s must see event movie  Avatar, which made $77 Million on the same weekend last year. Avatar went on to make almost $750M domestically.

Yogi Bear came in at a distant second place with $16.7 Million.  That’s rather ho-hum for a family friendly movie.  Perhaps some parents took heed of the rather dismal reviews.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader added another $12.4 Million to its total, which now stands at $42.7 Million after two weeks, far below its $155 Million price tag.  The Fighter expanded wide into 2,500 theaters this weekend, and pulled in $12.2 Million.  With all the Oscar buzz around this movie, it should easily surpass its modest $25 Million budget during its theatrical run.

Holdover The Tourist came in at the number five spot, earning about $8.7 Million. The film has recouped about a third of its reported budget.

Outside of the top five, Black Swan is the big story. The film expanded to about 950 theaters, and made $8.6 Million.  That was good enough for an $8,000+ per screen average.  The film only cost about $13 Million to make, and it has already exceeded that total.  It just goes to show that high quality movie making need not come with a steep price tag.

How Do You Know was a certifiable flop, earning $7.6 Million.  The pricey ($120 Million) romantic comedy is proof that a great cast does not translate to a great movie.  Jack Nicholson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson couldn’t muster enough interest to save this movie from financial failure. The movie opened at number eight.