Weekend Box Office Report: March 29-31 2013

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT "” March 29-31, 2013(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

1. G.I. Joe: Retaliation ($41.2 million)2. The Croods ($26.5 million)3. Tyler Perry's Temptation ($22 million)4. Olympus Has Fallen ($14 million)5. Oz the Great and Powerful ($11.6 million) 

Under the powerful hypnosis of nostalgia, audiences flocked once again to a G.I. Joe movie, forgetting all about The Rise of COBRA and the track record of movies based on action figures and board games. With its estimated $51 million since it opened late Wednesday, Retaliation is down from its predecessor's $61 million in that time frame. Still, that manages to be the best opening weekend ever for star Bruce Willis. It's No. 2 for The Rock (behind Fast Five) and No. 3 for Channing Tatum (behind the first G.I. Joe and The Vow).

Tyler Perry churned out yet another film this year, a Madea-less drama loosely adapted from his play The Marriage Counselor. With $22 million, Temptation is an improvement over last year's Good Deeds, but down from 2010's Why Did I Get Married Too. It's his ninth movie to take in more than $20 million in its debut weekend. That's awe-inspiring considering he earned his first directorial credit in 2006. 

The weekend's other new release, the dreadful Stephenie Meyer sci-fi flick The Host, opened at No. 6 with only $11 million. That's less than any previous Twilight film made on any single day of its opening weekend. Ouch. But a gross that bad couldn't have happened to a more deserving film.

Outside the top 5:- You can't stop Ryan Gosling. His crime thriller The Place Beyond the Pines averaged $67,500 on its four screens to be the weekend's arthouse champ.- Room 237, about all the possible crazy hidden meanings in The Shining, intrigued enough conspiracy theory buffs to pull in $36,000 on its two screens.- Oz the Great and Powerful has yet to top $200 million in its fourth week. I think that's indicative of a larger trend that will start to take hold in 2013: There won't be that many blockbusters any more. Last year was packed with them, but since we're years away from another Batman, James Bond or Avengers movie, I think a lot of audiences are going to stay away from the increasingly expensive theater. It's been headed this way for a while, and I think this will be the year Hollywood really starts to feel its wallet get lighter.

Next Week:That completely pointless Evil Dead remake rears its ugly head.  There's plenty of buzz on the internet about it, but it's been proven time and time again that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.  I'm predicting about $12 million, which might not even be good enough to crack the top five.  I think the 3-D release of Jurassic Park will ride on enough nostalgia to sneak into the No. 1 spot with $30 million, much like The Lion King did two years ago.

Facebooktwitterredditmail

About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

Leave a Reply