'Dragon' rises above 'The Back-up Plan' and 'Losers'

By Sarah Sluis

In an impressive fifth-week feat, How to Train Your Dragon ascended to number one over the weekend with a $15 million gross and a $10,000 per-screen average. There's two lines of reasoning to explain the rise. One is word-of-mouth. Anyone who's seen the movie (judging from my own reaction and Facebook status updates) has been blown away by the impressive visuals, cute characters and great story. Second is the overcrowded slate during Dragon's release. The movie released as 3D Alice in Wonderland was winding down, and a week later 3D Clash of the Titans opened, crowding the 3D market. Because this movie is so quality, I'm glad to see audiences rewarding the film by voting for it with ticket sales.

The Back-Up Plan was at first place on Friday before settling in at second place with $12.2 million. The romantic comedy finished roughly in line with expectations. This kind of lackluster performance is the reason people think women don't go to movies--when really, they're saving their movie dates for Sex and the City and Twilight.

The Losers had a disappointing #4 debut. The movie was expected to open above $10 million but came away just shy with $9.6 million. Given its

withering reviews, this movie got what was coming to it.

Oceans, the Earth Day release from Disneynature, brought in $6 million over the weekend for a four-day cumulative gross of $8.4 million. The nature film opened below last year's Earth, which earned over $8 million its opening weekend and $14 million from Wednesday to Sunday. However, this type of film tends to play well over several

weeks. Last year's Earth may have benefited from a Wednesday Earth Day, which gave the movie more time to build through the weekend.

Last week's limited releases Exit Through the Gift Shop and The Secret in their Eyes held extremely well. Exit Through the Gift Shop dropped 12% while adding three locations. Each of the eleven locations earned $13,500, the highest per-screen average of the week, for a total of $149,000. The Secret in their Eyes went up 120% from last week going from 10 to 33 locations. Its per-screen average of $11,000 was the second-highest of the week.

This Friday, the environmental comedy Furry Vengeance will open wide opposite the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.