'Harry Potter' levitates to the top of the box office worldwide

By Sarah Sluis

Two out of three moviegoers this weekend bought tickets for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, giving the wizarding finale $168.5 million and the record for biggest opening weekend. Abroad, the movie also broke records, including best international opening weekend: $307 million. The spectacular numbers backed up the general agreement that the final Potter film was more than worthwhile. Critics rated the film 97% positive, and 93% of Rotten Tomatoes audiences liked the franchise's conclusion. Longtime Hogwarts fans made sure they turned out for the final installment. Audience members over 25 comprised 55% of audiences, compared to 45% for the penultimate film. With so many people making it a priority to see Harry Potter its opening weekend, next weekend could see a dramatic fall. However, repeat viewing could bolster the film as it rides out the rest of the summer.

Tyke favorite Winnie the Pooh was no match for Harry Potter, capturing just $8 million of the weekend box office. Even 2000's The Tigger Movie opened slightly better, and that's not counting a decade of inflation. Still, this kind of property will have a long life on DVD and Blu-ray and undoubtedly boost merchandise sales for Disney.

Literary adaptation Snow Flower and the Secret Fan debuted to a soft $5,600 per-screen average on 24 screens. Given the popularity of the book, I expected the marketing and release to approximate Memoirs of a Geisha, at least, but perhaps the marketing mavens at Fox Searchlight anticipated the 14% positive rating garnered by the movie on Rotten Tomatoes.

Documentary Tabloid grabbed a tidy $7,200 per screen at 14 locations. Director Errol Morris' latest garnered up a sizeable amount of press, and the film in turn released in an above-average amount of locations for an indie film.

This Friday, we're back to comic book superheroes with Captain America: The First Avenger. Friends with Benefits, featuring a similar plot to this spring's No Strings Attached, will also release wide.

'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.

'Avatar's' $73 million opening weekend puts pressure on week to come

By Sarah Sluis

Avatar faced snowstorms all along the East Coast its opening weekend, dampening its first returns. Still, the movie racked up $73 million, and should see high weekday returns for the next two weeks, which many people have off. It was bested by 2007's December release I Am Legend, which brought in $77 million, but the two films' per-screen averages were neck and neck. Both earned $21,000 per screen, since I Am Legend had 700 more screens in its release. Still, since viewers were paying more to see the movie in 3D, Avatar's theatres were probably less full.

Given the positive word-of-mouth on the 3D adventure, Avatar should continue do well as word catches on. 3D has mainly been the realm of family movies, so many viewers may need quality reassurance from their friends before they don the glasses themselves. Overseas, the movie earned $159 million worldwide, where director James Cameron's famous tin ear for dialogue is lost in translation. While most movies end up with half their gross from overseas, Avatar currently has 70% of its gross from outside North America, making hiccups like East Coast snowstorms less significant.

The other wide release of the week, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, underperformed slightly, earning $7 million. Some of those moviegoers undoubtedly chose The Blind Side instead, which finished a spot ahead with $10 million.

The biggest mover in the rest of the top ten was Up in the Air, which gained three spots when it more than doubled the theatres in its release. Playing in 175 theatres, it earned $3.1 million. Its per-screen average of $17,000 was the best of any returning film.

Golden Globe contenders Nine, Crazy Heart, and The Young Victoria debuted this week. Nine had the best per-screen average, $61,000, and a four-screen release. Crazy Heart came in second with a $21,000 per-screen average, also at four locations. The Young Victoria had a different strategy, releasing in twenty locations, which brought its per-screen average down to $7,000. It made more money than Crazy Heart, however, due to the size of its release.

In just two days, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel will open, followed by Sherlock Holmes and It's Complicated on Christmas Day. 'Tis the season.

'The Blind Side' goes to #1 its third time around

By Sarah Sluis

Borrowing the ascendancy story in its plot, The Blind Side made an unusual jump to #1 in its third week at the box office, earning $20.4 million. Uplifting and family-friendly, the story of a Christian Southerner who

took in a lost soul and turned him into an NFL superstar is the

heartland special, with a broader audience than New Moon. The teenage romance and The Blind Side have been coming in at 1-2 since the week before Thanksgiving, but the heavy 63% drop suffered by New Moon allowed the family-friendly drama to rise to the top. The movie's positive reception has drawn attention to Sandra Bullock, who has been discussed as an awards contender for Best Actress.

Among new movies, Brothers placed strongest. Debuting at #3 with $9.7 million, the war drama/romance received positive, but not glowing reviews. For a film trying to place itself within the critical bracket, it may have been hurt by failing to receive much "must-see in 2009" interest.

Up in the Air, which has received that "must-see" buzz, opened in just 15 locations and went on to earn $1.1 million, an auspicious start for a movie that will open wide over Christmas. I put it in the category of films that families of adults would enjoy together, or a couple of friends, but it will have a lot of competition to contend with in that category, from populist actioner Sherlock Holmes to adult romance It's Complicated.

Miramax's final release as a standalone company, Everybody's Fine, earned $4 million and the last spot in the top ten. The movie's lackluster performance can be attributed to mixed reviews and the state of its distributor--most of the staff has been laid off and are perhaps not so willing to declare disingenuously protest that "Everything's fine."

Of the new genre movies, Armored fared well, earning $6.6 million with its story of armored truck drivers who dip into their cargo. Transylmania, however, fared far, far worse. It earned $272 per location in its 1,000-screen debut, likely angering exhibitors who gave up screens that could have turned a much bigger profit. Hopefully the ticket-buyers bought popcorn.

Most of the returning films had a difficult time maintaining their audiences in the wake of so many new films, dropping 50-60%. Precious fell out of the top ten, falling 67% to $2.3 million in its third week in the 600-theatre range. Will expansion be the answer to maintaining box office?

This Friday, The Princess and the Frog will expand to wide release. The 2D film has been making a killing at the box office in limited release. This past weekend it added another $744,000 to its coffers from just two locations. It will be joined by Clint Eastwood's latest, Invictus, as well as Peter Jackson's literary adaptation The Lovely Bones. To round things out, the critically lauded A Single Man will roll out in seven theatres nationwide.

'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa' earns a roaring $63 million

By Sarah Sluis

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa opened to $63.5 million this weekend, slightly exceeding the first-week revenue of this year's animated competitor Wall-E,
which earned $63.08 million.  Because these numbers are box-office
estimates, it's possible that the figures have been rounded up to give Madagascar the reigning position among this year's CGI films.  Even matching Wall-E's take is impressive, given that fall's animated features have generally opened to $30 to $40 million.  2007's Bee Movie, for example, debuted with $38 million.  Overall, this fall has been strong for family-oriented films: Beverly Hills Chihuahua took
advantage of a lull in family fare and drove to a multiple-week #1 finish, and HSM3,
which opened two weeks ago, dropped less than 40% this week to earn
$9.2 million and the highest finish for an existing release (#3).  Of
course, the box office is only a starting point for HSM3's DVD, soundtrack, and merchandise sales.

In second place, Role Models earned $19.2 million, exceeding
expectations and flabbergasting those that expect all R-rated, heavily
marketed comedies to fare the same.  Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which finished at number five this week, earning $6.5 million, only opened to $10 million.

Changeling earned $6.2 million this weekend, dropping only
22%.  While the film has garnered mediocre reviews, with critics
perhaps holding their praise for Eastwood's winter release, Gran Torino,
the word-of-mouth spin on the movie is "it's nothing like the commercials
make it seem," commentary that could raise interest in the film among
those who wrote it off based on the reviews.  A serial child abductor
can do that to a movie.

In a disappointing debut, Soul Men earned $5.6 million.  Perhaps those looking for a career retrospective of Bernie Mac chose Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa instead?

Among the bottom five, Saw V and The Haunting of Molly Hartley both tapered off, earning $4.2 and $3.4 million each.  Despite similar performances this week, Saw V's stellar opening week accounts for a total box-office gross quintuple that of Molly Hartley.

At number nine, The Secret Life of Bees continues to buzz along, also dropping only 22% from last weekend.  Finally, Eagle Eye,
at number ten, is now less than $4 million from crossing the $100
million mark.  While it's already in its seventh week of release, a few
more weeks of crossing the $1 million mark would bring it to the
coveted seven-figure box-office total.

This week has one major release, the twenty-second installment of
the James Bond franchise, so most of these titles will stay in the top
ten for another week.

Complete studio estimates here.