Weekend Box Office for 6/18-6/20

Well this weekend was so easy that nearly anyone could have predicted how it would have gone.   WHen the reports came in on Friday that Toy Story 3 had managed to pull in 41 million we all knew where the weekend was going, the movie did slow down a little on Saturday and Sunday but not significantly and we also have to take into account a couple of things: there was a midnight premiere for the movie, and it was also father’s day weekend.   The movie still did a staggering 109 million (estimated so far) for its three-day weekend and this is a Pixar movie so it has long legs to the point that it will probably be in theaters throughout the summer and pull in over 300 million as well.    Toy Story 3 may have been easy to guess but the other wide release this week was a hit or miss and I missed.   I should have stuck by my gut and put the movie down below the top five but I figured that there would be enough people who wanted to see it that it might make 20 million.

I was wrong and I admit it.    In second place for its second week of release was The Karate Kid yes two family movies pulled into the top two spots.  Karate Kid pulled in another 29 million, nearly 30 again this weekend to bring its two-week total already up over 100 million.  Even with a huge release like Toy Story 3 it only fell by 47 percent over the week before.   In third place was The A-Team which I am hearing from friends is not as bad as it looks, it has some good laughs and some action.   The A-Team managed to pull in another 13.7 million for the weekend while not great it still shows that the movie is getting some interest from people who want to see a funny action film.

In fourth Get Him to the Greek came in with another 6 million roughly and is showing that a simple comedy can still make some money, it has earned back all of its budget now and I think this one will perform well on DVD when it comes out.   It’s a funny movie with a simple premise about one man getting a crazy rock star to a show that he needs to perform and all of the antics that happen on the way.   The film has done decent in its three weeks of release.   Falling to fifth was Shrek Forever After with another 5.5 million for the weekend, Shrek like Iron Man 2 before it has had some long legs, staying in the top five for the past 5 weeks and now is finally slowing down, perhaps because a lot of its 3-D screens were taken away for Toy Story 3 this weekend.    Shrek will probably not cross the 300 million mark in the domestic market at this rate, unless it stays in theaters all summer.

In sixth despite its slow release and so far only decent amounts of money Prince of Persia came in with another 5. 2 million, over the weekend Prince which has been out for 4  weekends had a stronger showing than the new release Jonah Hex which is in the similar vein of movies.  People would rather go see a movie based upon a video game with semi-decent acting and plotting over a movie based on a semi-popular comic book franchise with questionable acting and plotting any day of the week I suppose.    Prince will not make back its budget but it is showing that people are liking the film to an extent.   In seventh was Killers which managed another 5.1 million I have heard that the movie is horrible from more than a few people.

Jonah Hex came in at 8th place with an estimated 5 million, call me a little surprised.   Initially when I wrote my predictions last week I thought that the movie would pull in around 5 to 8 million, but then I went back and looked at it again seeing what people were saying about it and I bumped it up to pull in the amount that the Karate Kid did.  There were three reasons I did this: the movie got horrible reviews, which I figured meant people would go see it regardless of the horrible reviews (this happens a lot).  Secondly the movie was in a different genre than Toy Story 3 so I figured that those that had went to see movies like the A-team or Prince of Persia would have gone to see Jonah Hex.  Thirdly the movie starred Megan Fox so I thought that her fan club of guys who like hot girls and don’t care how they act would be out to see it….perhaps that was what that 5 million was? I should have stuck to my gut, apparently everyone could see from the trailers what a dud Jonah Hex appeared to be.

Rounding out the top ten was Iron Man 2 and Marmaduke both managed over 2 million and came close to 3.   Iron Man 2 has pulled in over 300 million at the box office so I wonder when people are going to stop saying that it isn’t as successful as the one before it now.  it’s obviously going to reach the same total as the one before it, perhaps if it stays in most of the summer even go over it so it is a successful film and a successful sequel to a film as well, but people still say it should have made more money in its first month of release.

Next Week we will see the release of Grown Ups the new Adam Sandler film and also Knight and Day the new Tom Cruise movie that also happens to star Cameron Diaz.    It will be interesting to see how things go after this weekend.   Grown Ups looks funny in that same way that every other Sandler comedy looks funny.   This one has an interesting premise about friends getting back together after not seeing each other in ages, but its hard to say if this will appeal to anyone who isn’t a fan of these kinds of Adam Sandler movies as even though it has a lot of stars they are all in the same vein as one another.    Knight and Day despite all of the press that Cruise has been giving it and despite how interesting and funny it looks is a sinker, the movie is not going to make money and I am going to stand by that this time.   I can just tell its not.

My guess for this weekends box office goes like this:

1. Toy Story 3 with another 50 to 70 million
2. Grown Ups with 30 to 40 million
3. The Karate Kid with 20 to 30 million
4. Get him to the Greek with 10 to 20 million
5. Knight and Day with around 10 million

I really do think that Grown Ups is going to attract family crowds and also just people who like Adam Sandler comedies.  The Karate Kid is also going to continue to perform because almost everyone has said that it is really good and word of mouth is getting around about the film.   I am sorry Knight and Day you look funny but you’re just barely going to finish in the top five and that’s only if Shrek doesn’t do better…athough I don’t think it will.     How do you think it will finish out give me an answer it the poll below: