$87 million for 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

By Sarah Sluis

Coming in right in the middle of the $70-$100 million estimates that were floating around in Hollywood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine earned $87 million this weekend, six times the amount of the second-runner-up, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ($15.3 million). The latter film earned the same amount as last year's Made of Honor, which seems fitting since both received similar thumbs-down reviews.

The success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a pleasant kick-off to the summer movie season. Despite the recession, movie grosses are up, and the turnout for Wolverine suggests that other big titles this summer--including next week's origin re-do, Star Trek, and the time-traveling Terminator Salvation two weeks from now, can bring in at least the same audiences.

Among the rest of the top ten, titles competing for the Wolverine audience, like Fighting ($4.1 million), dropped heavily, while kid-oriented titles 17 Again ($6.3 million), Hannah Montana: The Movie ($4 million), and Monsters vs. Aliens continued to hold strong. However, proving counterprogramming doesn't always work, kid-oriented, animated opener Battle for Terra debuted outside of the top ten at number twelve, earning $1 million, and only $916 per (3D) theatre. Compare that take with the six-week-old Monsters vs. Aliens, which dropped only 31% even as it shed 732 theatres, some of them 3D screens that made the mistake of screening Battle for Terra. The Paramount/DreamWorks film still earned twice as much per theatre, $2,200, totaling $5.8 million. While surely the marketing budget wasn't there for Terra, I think the quality of the animation, as well as the fact that it wasn't from an "animation-focused" studio like Disney or even DreamWorks, impacted its tiny gross.

This Friday Star Trek, helmed by "Lost's" J.J. Abrams, opens. I had the chance to see the film last week, and despite my unfamiliarity with the Star Trek mythology, I found the film compelling, humorous, and appealing to demographics beyond just the "Trekkies." It's truly a mild PG-13 film, so I imagine it doing extremely well with younger crowds. With Wolverine exceeding expectations this weekend, will some of the moviegoers who saw the film take a break and not see Trek on opening weekend? May is a tight month, with Star Trek being followed by Angels & Demons, then Terminator Salvation, then Pixar's Up the last week of May, so viewers will have to prioritize, even with tentpoles.