Film Weekend Purr Total
1 The Karate Kid $56,000,000 $15,288 $56,000,000
2 The A-Team $26,000,000 $7,355 $26,000,000
3 Shrek Forever After $15,800,000 (-38.0%) $4,085 $210,052,000
4 Get Him to the Greek $10,100,000 (-42.5%) $3,738 $36,500,000
5 Killers $8,170,000 (-48.4%) $2,858 $30,670,000
6 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time $6,600,000 (-52.9%) $2,124 $72,300,000
7 Marmaduke $6,000,000 (-48.3%) $1,867 $22,278,000
8 Sex and the City 2 $5,525,000 (-55.2%) $2,009 $84,745,000
9 Iron Man 2 $4,550,000 (-42.5%) $1,974 $299,311,000
10 Splice $2,860,000 (-61.3%) $1,167 $13,071,000

This just in: Hot monkey love.

When I wrote my summer predictions, which have already proved – as they were meant to – how woefully wrong I can be, I targeted The Karate Kid as the breakout non-sequel hit. When I wrote my column Friday I thought it would get trumped by The A-Team. Shows you what I know. I thought the film would be a slow and steady, but this could parallel the numbers and success of The Hangover, in that it could play all summer. Next week – how it weathers Toy Story 3, which has some but not all of the same audience – will show if this is a $100 Million dollar grosser, or a $200 Million dollar grosser.

The A-Team is an action movie with large, stupid action that the trailers advertised. For some reason it didn’t click. There appears to be little cultural currency to the title, and the cast aren’t necessarily stars. Bradley Cooper is still just a year off The Hangover, Liam Neeson a year off of Taken, and Sharlto Copley a year off of District 9. This film came together fast. Fox may be able to get it to $100, but it’s going to have to not drop a lot next week. Jonah Hex is direct competition, but it’s also supposedly terrible – though exceptionally short. Sounds like the junket is better than the movie. Hopefully A-Team plays internationally, but it’s weird that Fox couldn’t open it. They’re not having a great year so far. Marmaduke is bombing, they’re still on a limp trying to get Date Night to $100 Million (they’re at $96 Million, and made half a mil this weekend). Knight and Day is tracking weak, and they haven’t whipped fanboys into a frenzy over Predators, which should be an easy sell. What’s up with that? 

Shrek 4 cleared $200 this weekend, though next week’s just a big nut-punch for the guy. At this point, $230 seems like a right stopping point, but it could get to $250 if it doesn’t lose all its Imax and 3-D. Get Him to the Greek is playing as well as could be hoped for after last weekend. It could hang out for a while, and it was reasonably cheap… unlike Killers, which was not cheap, and did not hit. Also depressing: the Prince of Persia numbers, which have not gotten any better for anyone. International is stronger (it’s at $190 Million, so $262 all in), but it may be wiped out by soccer. I’ve seen a lot of people giving a shit stateside about the World Cup, so that may have hurt The A-Team‘s numbers, but I think a lot of people probably watched the USA-England game, but when it ended in a tie that may have sent them on their way. Sex and the City 2 has a good shot of just getting to $100 domestic, and it has done over $100 internationally. The “paycheck” nature of this film will likely keep it from being the middle chapter (the film was expensive because everyone got paid), and the cast is getting too old for this shit. But Hollywood doesn’t like leaving money on the table if they can help it, so a third film will be all about keeping the budget down if they go for it.

Iron Man 2 is less than a million away from $300, but will not best Alice in Wonderland‘s domestic total, and so far it’s the summer’s only unqualified hit, though The Karate Kid should join those ranks. Robin Hood (at #11) is less than half a million away from $100. Splice is not getting loved, but could still find an audience on home video. next week promises one of the monsters of the summer with Toy Story 3. But the mantra of the summer seems to be – for most movie fans – Inception and Scott Pilgrim.