WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: King Takes Queen

Sure, there is a slight age difference but if the Teen Choice Awards were to hold a prom and announce a king and queen of this prom, I’m pretty sure the masses would vote for Zac Efron as king and Miley Cyrus as queen. (Sorry, Vanessa Hudgens.) And this week, in one swift move, the king has taken the queen down a few notches to be crowned.


A $24 million opening weekend for the Efron vehicle, 17 AGAIN, is a far cry from the $34 million opening of Cyrus’s HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE but it does still outpace any other title playing this week by $10 million. HANNAH MONTANA actually suffered a steep drop in its second week, falling 60% over its fan heavy opening weekend. If the declining trend continues, it would show that Cyrus perhaps appeals only to her fan base and not much further past that. 17 AGAIN has a much more broad appeal and stands a stronger change of showing sturdier legs in the weeks to come. Any way you look at it though, Efron, after opening his last picture, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3, at number one as well, is proving to be a pretty bankable face.


Opening solidly in second place is the political journalist thriller, STATE OF PLAY, starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. Given the amount of teenagers that must have been running around the multiplex this weekend, I’m sure this adult fare could have fared better if parents weren’t being dragged what were likely mind numbing experiences. Speaking of which, CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE opening poorly in sixth place this weekend. The Jason Statham now failed franchise pulled in about half as much as the first film did in its opening weekend. It seems to me like the film could have used some extra voltage of its own. Statham isn’t the only semi-bankable star suffering this weekend. Seth Rogen’s OBSERVE AND REPORT suffered the steepest decline in this week’s Top 10, dropping off more than 63%. At this rate, it will be his lowest grossing picture since he rose to fame.


Below the Top 10, the best per screen average of any film playing belongs to EVERY LITTLE STEP, taking in $73K on 8 screens. This documentary follows the rise of one of Broadway’s most successful and most influential shows, “A Chorus Line”. Something tells me though that this film will only play well in that same market. And the Michael Caine starring, IS ANYBODY THERE?, also pulled in a solid per screen average, $45K on 6 screens. The film has the potential to become something of a sleeper hit as it expands to over 50 screens next week, so the next few weeks will be crucial.

NEXT WEEK: Walt Disney celebrates Earth Day on the 22nd with their appropriated footage from the BBC series, “Planet Earth” compiled together for a feature called simply EARTH (1800 screens). The Joe Wright directed, THE SOLOIST, finally hits theatres after being delayed from last fall (1800 screens). And Channing Tatum in FIGHTING (2100 screens) will take on Beyonce Knowles in OBSESSED (2400 screens) for what will inevitably be a disappointing frame.

Source: Box Office Mojo

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Fast Hannah, Furious Diesel

The first time I was ever asked to write a box office report was around this same time last year. I had to report how Miley Cyrus and her alter ego, Hannah Montana, had broken new ground for 3D pictures and concert flicks alike when the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS concert took in over $31 million in what was supposed to be a limited engagement. Taking advantage of the Easter weekend, Disney has unleashed the Cyrus’s first big screen adventure, HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE, and proved that you don’t need to lie about limited runs to get people out on opening weekend.


Box office prognosticators debated all week whether HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE would be able to topple last week’s unexpected juggernaut, FAST AND FURIOUS. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker may appeal to the ladies out there but the ladies are no match for tween girls. FAST AND FURIOUS managed an almost respectable 60% drop this weekend but its fate was officially sealed when HANNAH MONTANA debuted to $17 million, the biggest opening day ever for a G-rated non-animated film. That one day accounted for 50% of the final weekend gross and allowed America’s newest underage sweetheart to easily slide past F&F’s $28 million. In other holdover news, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS performed strongly in its third week, thanks surely to many kids having Friday off.


Audiences and critics were essentially split on whether OBSERVE AND REPORT was horrifically offensive or hilarious. Either way, this latest Seth Rogen vehicle is his weakest opening besides last fall’s disappointment, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO. The bad press on this one will likely ring louder than those who actually enjoyed it given the gravity of how offensive it has the potential to be so a quick decline is to be expected. Even though it did debut higher than ZACK AND MIRI, I would expect OBSERVE AND REPORT to gross less in the long run. The week’s only other Top 10 debut belonged to DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION. None too surprisingly, the film fizzled but it had already made over $25 million internationally prior to this domestic release so all is not lost.


The week’s best per screen average belonged to ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL. This well received rockumentary tells the story of two Canadian buddies who made a promise to rock out forever together and have never gone back on that promise. Playing on three screens in all of North America, the film pulled in a decent $11K average. Meanwhile, quirky indie, LYMELIFE, starring Alec Baldwin and Rory Culkin, pulled in an average of over $7K on four screens.

NEXT WEEK: CRANK:HIGH VOLTAGE (2200 screens) will try to make as much as money as possible before its heart explodes; and even though STATE OF PLAY (2700 screens) boasts a cast including Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren, I’m pretty sure none of them have as much appeal these days Mr. High School Musical himself, Zac Efron, whose first major starring vehicle, 17 AGAIN debuts on over 3000 screens. Screaming girls everywhere will flock to see him; I may join them.

Source: Box Office Mojo