| Film | Weekend | Per | Total | |
| 1 | Hop | $38,118,000 | $10,650 | $38,118,000 |
| 2 | Source Code | $15,053,000 | $5,084 | $15,053,000 |
| 3 | Insidious | $13,496,000 | $5,605 | $13,496,000 |
| 4 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules | $10,200,000 (-57.1%) | $3,219 | $38,355,000 |
| 5 | Limitless | $9,402,000 (-37.6%) | $3,313 | $55,604,000 |
| 6 | The Lincoln Lawyer | $7,050,000 (-34.4%) | $2,604 | $39,637,000 |
| 7 | Sucker Punch | $6,085,000 (-68.1%) | $2,006 | $29,876,000 |
| 8 | Rango | $4,560,000 (-53.3%) | $1,455 | $113,783,000 |
| 9 | Paul | $4,300,000 (-45.3%) | $1,686 | $31,899,000 |
| 10 | Battle: Los Angeles | $3,500,000 (-53.8%) | $1,547 | $78,466,000 |
This just in: A joke. Julia Roberts walks into a bar, and the bartender says “Why the long face?” Julia Roberts says “because I look like a horse, but also because I have cancer.”
I terribly underrated the appeal of Hop, and I did so because the reviews were terrible. I had no idea the film would open to nearly the same numbers as Rango. But perhaps that’s the lesson here. Well-marketed kids movies with poop jokes make a shitload of cash. What a great lesson to learn. Expect the film to make it a hundred at this point, and expect Rio to open to similar if not better numbers. Parents want movies to take their kids to, and this is the steadiest and surest business these days.
Source Code also played well. I guess it’s an expectations thing. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan are names but they don’t open pictures, so this is a solid non-blockbuster number. The film should be able to do $40 domestic, it all depends on word of mouth – which I think will be solid, if unremarkable. Duncan Jones has shown he can play with slightly bigger toys. Insidious also had a solid opening for what it is, but it’s going to be much more front-loaded. Horror rarely has word of mouth, but that does happen from time to time. This should get over $30 Million, which is not terrible, and I don’t think they were expecting this to be the new Saw.
Do you think Fox is already green-lighting the third Wimpy Kid movie? I do. Cheap to make, cheap to market, it’s going to do more than $50 Million, which are solid numbers for the picture. The audience mostly went opening weekend, but such is life. Limitless and The Lincoln Lawyer have been holding well. Limitless should get over $70, Lawyer over $50 at this point, and play into May.
Rango should get past $120, but that’s still a little disappointing. Paul could make it past $40, which shows that Pegg and Frost have expanded their fan-base in America and Battle: Los Angeles isn’t going to hit $90 domestic, which makes it a bit of an underperformer.
Sucker Punch. Oh, Sucker Punch. A near 70% tumble means the film will be lucky to do much more than $40 domestic, which is less than half its budget. Mr. Snyder will have to be on his best behavior when it comes to Superman, because he needs to prove that Warners invested well. Perhaps this is just what he needs, and perhaps the man should have some greater supervision when it comes to scripting. The film created some interesting discussion, but ultimately did not connect with the audience it was intended for. Perhaps the film will find them when it becomes available on Netflix, but that seems unlikely. I think this is a film that will be largely forgotten, or seen as Snyder’s 1941. It’s a key work to understand him, but also – as I’ve said – a fiasco.