'Kick-Ass' and 'How to Train Your Dragon' both finish around $20 million

By Sarah Sluis

Kick-Ass and How to Train Your Dragon finished neck-and-neck this weekend, each earning around an estimated $20 million, so until the actuals come in we're calling them even. It's pretty unusual for a movie to return to first place in its fourth week (though Dragon opened in first place), but the release trajectory for Dragon was changed by the last-minute release of Clash of the Titans in 3D, which took 3D screens and the number one spot away from Dragon in its second week. With week-to-week drops ranging from 14-33% so far, the movie is in good shape. This week Dragon crossed the $150 million mark, the reported budget of the animated film.

Kick-Ass was expected to open a bit higher than the $20 million it brought in. However, the movie garnered much better reviews than say, Clash of the Titans, so it should play strongly in coming weeks as word gets out about its fairly unique perspective on the superhero genre. However, its underperformance (at least in its opening week) reflects some of the concerns that led director Matthew Vaughn to seek financing for the project outside studios. All of the studios reportedly balked at the foul language and R-rated script, so Vaughn

found his $50 million in financing elsewhere, then Lionsgate picked it

up at Comic-Con for a number in the teen millions. Half of the audience members were under 25 (so, half the audience was from 17-25 since it's R-rated, unless they were there with a parent), so its R rating probably did take a toll on the box office.

Death at a Funeral opened to a respectable $17 million, a more than break-even point for a comedy reported to cost $21 million. However, the black-skewing movie could not compare to the latest work by the king of that demographic, Tyler Perry, whose dramedy Why Did I Get Married Too? opened to $29 million three weeks ago.

Three specialty releases opened to per-screen averages in the high teens and above. Leading the pack was The City of Your Final Destination, which earned $22,000 on one screen. Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop posted an impressive $20,000 per location in eight theatres. The Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes, earned $17,600 per screen at ten locations. Because the latter two films were able to open on multiple screens with such high screen averages, they are exceptionally well-positioned for further expansion.

This Friday, romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan will go up against the CIA action movie The Losers.