'Hangover Part II' goes on 5-day, $137 million bender

By Sarah Sluis

Since its release Thursday at midnight, The Hangover Part II has collected $137 million from moviegoers' pockets. The repetition from the previous installment may have irked critics, who gave the film just a 37% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but fans turned the comedy into a hit, with 94% of Rotten Tomatoes users giving the film a "fresh" rating. I'm with the audience on this one. Any movie that makes me laugh out loud gets at least one thumb up, and in some instances the repetition helped the comedy build humor from one installment to the next. With this kind of opening, there will surely be a Hangover 3. The only single member of the wolfpack is Zach Galifianakis, so my bet is that the third film will center on his wedding.

Kung Fu Panda 2 has totaled $68 million since Thursday, but since its $47 million weekend total was less than the first film's $60 million weekend, DreamWorks stock went spiraling downward. The same thing happened last year when How to Train Your Dragon opened on the light side, so I'm not worried about DreamWorks Animation. Their films have been better and better, and Variety's top online story is the fact that Kung Fu Panda 2 broke box office records in China. A good animated film will have a long, long shelf life, and the film's positive reception (80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) will ensure it finds an audience.

On the specialty circuit, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris launched into the top ten with $1.9 million while playing in just 58 locations. Terrence Malick's long-awaited The Tree of Life opened with a per-screen average of $93,000, just $6,000 under Allen's film's debut last week.

In the top ten, Bridesmaids fell just 20% for the second week in a row, earning $16.5 million. One spot ahead, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides did not fare as well, doing a typical tentpole drop (56%) to a still-hefty $39.5 million. The math on Bridesmaids is pretty impressive. If the comedy had done the "usual" and dropped 50% every week, it would have ended up with $52 million. With just two weeks of 20% drops, the comedy has already totaled $90 million. Using my trusty Excel spreadsheet, I calculated that Bridesmaids could go on to gross over $170 million if it continues to drop just 20% a week. That exact figure is unlikely, but it shows that staving off big drops can pay off in a huge way. I love comedies like Bridesmaids, because they prove that a film's worth can be measured well beyond its opening weekend.

This Friday, X-Men: First Class has the new release marquee all to itself, and The Weinstein Co. will begin to show off its quirky coming-of-age picture Submarine.