‘The Winter Soldier’ ices the competition

The Avengers effect was on full display this weekend as Captain America: The Winter Soldier blew its predecessor out of the water, not to mention the other films currently playing in theatres, with a $96.2 million debut. That tallies out to a 48 percent improvement over the first Captain America’s opening weekend haul, and falls just shy of the wildly successful Iron Man’s $98.6 million bow in 2008. Since The Avengers premiered in summer of 2012, subsequent films featuring Avengers characters have enjoyed great success, prompting pundits to coin the term “The Avengers effect.” To wit: Iron Man 3’s debut was up 63 percent over pre-Avengers Iron Man 2, while Thor: The Dark World enjoyed a 30 percent bump over its predecessor. If Captain America: The Winter Soldier roughly follows the same theatrical trajectory as The Dark World, it should end up banking around $230 million in total. With audiences (64 percent male) awarding the movie an A CinemaScore grade, The Winter Soldier’s hold should prove strong in the weeks ahead.

Coming in way, way, practically subterranean (subaquatic?) below Captain America, Noah landed the weekend’s No. 2 spot with a $17 million gross. Down a whopping 61 percent from last weekend, Noah has so far earned $72.3 million.

For its part, the weekend’s No. 3 earner, Divergent, has raked in $114 million to date. It earned $13 million of that total this weekend.

God’s Not Dead continues to testify to the power of the faithful: The film added an additional $7.7 million to its cume that now stands at $32.5 million.  Clocking in at No. 5, The Grand Budapest Hotel continues to testify to the appeal of Wes Anderson: The film raked in $6.3 million. Its cume thus far tallies out to $33.4 million.

Halle Berry’s maltreated Frankie & Alice, which has been ready and waiting for theatrical release since 2010, finally debuted this weekend. Unfortunately, interest in the flick, for which Berry earned a Golden Globe nomination in ’10, was wanting. The movie earned just $350,000 from 171 locations.

On the positive end of the specialty spectrum, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson raked in $140,000 from four theatres (two in LA and two in New York City), which tallies out to a nice per-theatre average of $35,000.

‘Thor’ proves its mighty earning mettle

As predicted, Thor: The Dark World ruled the multiplexes this weekend. The latest Marvel action (with a hefty dose of comedy) flick earned $86 million at the domestic box office and $180 million worldwide. It looks as if the lauded sequel will soon out-gross its predecessor: By the end of  summer 2011, Thor had earned a successful $450 million worldwide, while The Dark World has already amassed a stellar $327 million after only two weeks. Many are crediting Thor’s appearance in 2012’s The Avengers with increasing interest in his character. The “Avengers Effect” was certainly in play for Iron Man 3, which saw a significant boost in sales over Iron Man 2 (36%) after it opened post-Avengers. Not everyone is thrilled with what is undoubtedly a blockbuster debut, however. 3D attendance was down from the first Thor, and 3D sales made up just 39% of The Dark World’s overall gross, falling short of Gravity-influenced expectations. But that’s splitting hairs on a well-coiffed head. Lacking as it does any significant competition, Thor is expected to hold onto its title for some time.



Unfortunately for everyone else, standing next to a Norse god is bound to dwarf you.  This weekend’s No. 2, Bad Grandpa, earned just $11.3 million, down 44% from last weekend. The good news? Even with the inevitable dropoff, Grandpa is the second highest-grossing Jackass film of all time, on track to earn well over $100 million.

Third and fourth place just missed out-grossing Grandpa. Free Birds and Last Vegas earned $11.2 and $11.1 million, respectively. Their overall cumes are equally waddle-neck-in-neck:  Audiences have more or less ignored the critics and helped Free Birds earn $30.2 million and Last Vegas $33.5 million to date.



Dropping faster than an intergalactic deity to Earth, Ender’s Game suffered a sales dip of 62% to earn $10.3 million. That brings the film’s total up to $44 million, which, considering its advance hype, production costs and this weekend’s steep sophomore dropoff, qualifies it as a bomb. Expect the film to hang around for another week or two, but once Katniss and co. stage their multiplex takeover come November 22 for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Ender’s Game will be all but over.

Not so with Steve McQueen’s everyone-loves-it 12 Years A Slave. After expanding wide to 1,144 locations, Slave earned $6.6 million to bump its total earnings up to $17.3 million. The rollout, and profits, will continue this coming weekend when the film screens at roughly 1,300 theatres.



Finally, with the weekend’s smallest opening, The Book Thief earned a solid $108,000 from four locations. The film, though, isn’t tracking too hot on Rotten Tomatoes – 59% rotten – and Fox has yet to announce further expansion plans.

'Iron Man 2' bests 'Robin Hood'

By Sarah Sluis

Robin Hood bowed this weekend in second place, earning $37.1 million. The medieval action movie was no match for the second week of Iron Man 2. The sci-fi blockbuster dropped 59% in its second week to $53

million, easily beating Robin Hood. However, both sets of theatres were equally packed. Iron Man 2 brought in $12,000 per theatre, while Robin Hood averaged out at $10,000 per theatre. With almost 900 more locations, however, Iron Man 2 was able to rack up a $15 million lead over Robin Hood.

Romantic counterprogramming to the action fare also did well this weekend. Letters to Juliet led the pack with $13.7 million. Along with the undisclosed amount earned during last week's sneaks, this

modestly budgeted romantic drama should do quite well for Summit. It also cements Amanda Seyfried's star power. By comparison, the more established star Jennifer Lopez opened The Back-Up Plan to the tune of $12.2 million a few weeks ago. Seyfried did have the help of Vanessa Redgrave, however, to bring in Moms and older viewers (teens probably don't know who she is), so she can't take all the credit for the strong opening.

Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah, opened to $8.5 million with a per-screen average that matched that of Letters to Juliet. Both averaged around $4,600 per screen, a sign that Fox Searchlight made a wise decision when it pared the size of the release to 1,800 theatres.

Among returning films in the top ten, Date Night had one of the smallest drops, 26%, to $4 million in its sixth weekend. The comedy has earned $86 million in six weeks, higher than would be expected for a movie that opened at $25.1 million. An older-skewing audience and strong word-of-mouth have propelled this film ahead of similar comedies. CG animated How to Train Your Dragon added another $5.1 million in its eighth week, falling just 23%. The movie will probably take a big drop next week with the opening of DreamWorks Animation movie, Shrek Forever After.

On the specialty front, IFC Films' Looking for Eric and Daddy Longlegs both debuted in the $8,000 range, in one theatre apiece. Princess Kaiulani opened to a $5,500 per-theatre average in 33 locations for a total of $184,000.

This Friday, SNL skit-turned-movie MacGruber will open opposite America's favorite green monster in Shrek Forever After.

'Robin Hood' enters the action movie fray

By Sarah Sluis

Director Ridley Scott may not quite hit the bull's eye with Robin Hood (3,503 theatres), but the movie will provide stiff competition this weekend as it goes against the second weekend of Iron Man 2. Without a

"dramatic pulse," according to critic Ethan Alter, the origin tale proves to be most exciting at the beginning before settling into a "stultifyingly boring" second half. My guess is that Robin Hood will win the Friday box office before coming in second to Iron Man 2 over the weekend, but it's unclear exactly how the two films will stack up against each other.

Those in for a more romantic view of history can take in Letters to Juliet (2,968 theatres), a romance starring Amanda Seyfriend as an

American visiting Italy. She finds an old letter bemoaning a lost love and decides to track down and reunite the couple. Summit did advance screenings in several hundred theatres last weekend, with 70% of audiences reporting that they would give it positive word-of-mouth, so this could help boost its opening weekend--or drag it down, if many of the audience members managed to see it the previous weekend.

Queen Latifah stars as a sports trainer in Just Wright (1,831 theatres). After a basketball player (Common) is injured, she nurses him back to health and they spark to each other. The limited number

of theatres in release indicates that Fox Searchlight is focusing the release in cinemas that do strong business with black moviegoers--the so-called "Tyler Perry" audience. Our critic Shirley Sealy liked the performances of Common and Paula Patton but felt "her highness" Queen Latifah "couldn't be bothered" to turn in a nuanced performance.

On the specialty front, Princess Kaiulani will release in 33 theatres. The historical romantic drama of Hawaii's last princess is playing in two theatres in New York, four in L.A. and eight near Oahu, so the release skews toward the West Coast and in Hawaii, where Kaiulani is a household name. A local cast and use of the Hawaiian language add authenticity to the project, while the colonial-era story should appeal to "art-house patrons who appreciate period romance," according to critic Justin Lowe.

Dads who feel they can do no good will appreciate Daddy Longlegs (NYC), the uneven story of a divorced dad hanging out with his kids for two weeks. While "there's little more here than a picaresque slice of life with a paternal though not particularly skilled single dad," according to critic Frank Lovece, "the emotions play as real." Also playing in New York City is Looking for Eric, the tale of a depressed, working-class Englishman who receives "hilarious" advice from football player Eric Cantona.

On Monday, we'll see if Robin Hood exercised its box office muscle or if Russell Crowe should put away his quiver and bow to the titanium-plated Iron Man 2.

'Iron Man 2' kicks off blockbuster season

By Sarah Sluis

Iron Man 2 racked up an astounding $133 million over the weekend, a dramatic improvement over Iron Man's

$98 million debut in 2008. The superhero movie had its strongest

performance on Friday, and fell

slightly through the rest of the

weekend. Overseas, Iron Man 2 is already in its second week and going strong. Stateside, it will have to compete with the action-driven Robin Hood releasing

this Friday. Last year, X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped 70% in its

second weekend, when Star Trek bowed. Even a 70% drop will still give Iron Man 2 a $40 million second weekend, but given its stronger reception than Wolverine, it will likely post a much higher second weekend.

Babies debuted at number ten with $1.5 million. The documentary followed four babies around the world from birth to first steps. Reviews were starkly separated between baby-haters and those that just

couldn't stop oo-ing and aa-ing

over the cute creatures. While the per-screen average could be higher

(just $2,900 per screen at 534 locations), the movie has a chance at

performing well in coming weeks if it attracts positive word-of-mouth.

Besides Babies, Mother and Child also opened this weekend to take advantage of the Sunday Mother's Day holiday. At four locations, the movie earned $11,000 per theatre, the strongest per-theatre average for a specialty film this week. Please Give, in its second week, posted $9,000 per location as it quintupled the amount of theatres in its release (5 to 26).

A Nightmare on Elm Street tumbled 72% in its second week to $9.1 million, a fall expected for the horror movie. Iron Man 2 drove competing action movies downward: Clash of the Titans fell 60%, The Losers went down 69%, and Kick-Ass dropped 66%.

Family movies and comedies emerged unscathed. How to Train Your Dragon crossed the $200 million mark with a $6.7 million weekend, a 36% drop. Date Night dropped 30% to $5.3 million and The Back-up Plan fell 40% to $4.3 million. Even Furry Vengeance dropped just 40% after a disappointing first weekend, adding $4 million to its gross for an $11 million cumulative gross.

This Friday, Gladiator duo of director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe re-team for Robin Hood. The Queen Latifah romantic comedy Just Wright and Italy-set romance Letters to Juliet will go up against the male-driven fare.