'Captain America' takes the lead as 'Harry Potter' plummets

By Sarah Sluis

Given Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2's record-breaking $169 million weekend, it's no wonder the highly anticipated film fell 71% to $48 million its second weekend. It's the same fate suffered by The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which also plunged 70% its second time around. While huge drops usually indicate a movie was all marketing and no substance, they also hold true for fan movies. No serious Harry Potter fan would see the movie a week after it came out. It's pretty respectable that Deathly Hallows Part 2 earned $48 million, in fact, which is more than most movies' opening weekends. If Deathly Hallows Part 2 follows Twilight's trend, it will level its fall in a few weeks and then benefit from repeat viewings and interest from casual moviegoers.

With Harry Potter plummeting, Captain America: The First Avenger easily summited the first place spot with a $65.8 million opening. Audiences appeared to have no superhero fatigue. Thor and X-Men: First Class each had a different take on the genre, so that kind of creativity has helped keep the superheroes fresh.

Friends with Benefits grabbed $18.5 million and third place. Despite better reviews, the Mila Kunis/Justin Timberlake rom com earned less than January's No Strings Attached. The audience for Friends with Benefits skewed less female and slightly younger than the January sex comedy. Good reviews, however, could help this movie remain a popular pick in weeks to come.

Fox Searchlight's heavily promoted indie release Another Earth earned $19,600 per screen at four locations, an auspicious start. The perennial appeal of Holocaust-era films, however, meant the film was outshone by Sarah's Key. The Kristin Scott Thomas-starring tale about a woman's investigation into her family's past averaged $23,400 per screen at five locations. In the top ten, Midnight in Paris continued its run as this summer's indie darling by accruing $1.8 million, a 2% increase from last week.

This Friday will be packed. Cowboys & Aliens will set its sights on the action/sci-fi crowd. Crazy, Stupid, Love, with an all-ages cast, will try to grab multiple generations with its romance and comedy, and The Smurfs will turn the big screen blue.

Will 'Captain America' strike down 'Harry Potter'?

By Sarah Sluis

"Old-fashioned rightness and integrity" take center stage in Captain America: The First Avenger (3,715 theatres), which received a thumbs-up from critic Frank Lovece. The "heroic achievement" of a film features "bravura action sequences, exceptional performances and core emotional truth." Just don't see it in 3D, Lovece warns. The effects, added in post-production, are "barely noticeable."

Captain America's biggest competitor will be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which earned $169 million last weekend. Deathly Hallows Part 1 fell 60% in its second weekend. A similar drop would put Deathly Hallows Part 2 at $67 million its second weekend, slightly above the expected opening of Captain America. The superhero movie, which has the added benefit of 2,511 3D screens, is considered capable of a $55-60 million debut.

Comedy-seeking audiences will have the second opportunity this year to catch an R-rated "buddies who hook up" romantic comedy. This winter's No Strings Attached grabbed 49% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Friends with Benefits (2,926 theatres) is faring slightly better, with 65% positive reviews from critics. Critic Kevin Lally wasn't one of those in favor. Though "Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis make an attractive couple," the movie is way too "superficial." One extended gag involves a rom-com inside a rom-com, which didn't quite work with Lally. "If you're going to make fun of rom-com tropes, you had better make certain you're not wallowing in them yourself." Though the market has been saturated with R-rated comedies, Friends with Benefits should rack up at least $20 million.

Festival favorite Another Earth (4 theatres) uses the sci-fi genre to "mount a 'what-if' investigation of penance, redemption, and the possibility of a second chance to make a terrible act come right." Actor/writer Brit Marling is a star on the rise, making this a movie a "must see" for in-the-know indie moviegoers.

A woman's family's complicity in the Holocaust is explored in Sarah's Key (5 theatres), an adaptation of a book of the same name. Alternating between WWII and modern times, Kristin Scott Thomas plays a woman who is trying to determine what happened to the Jewish family who lived in her family's current home until 1942. Doris Toumarkine praised Scott Thomas' performance, noting that the movie puts the viewer through an emotional ringer, with "alternating wonderful, horrifying and tear-inducing moments."

On Monday, we'll see what kind of muscle Captain America wielded at the box office, and if audiences were ready for a second rom-com with the same premise as No Strings Attached.