Weekend Box Office (April 15 - 17, 2011)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND In what was expected to be a close race, the animated birds of Rio trounced the 10-years-in-the-waiting horror sequel Scream 4 while holdovers were a mixed bag.

Fox has another animated hit on its hands (along with a possible franchise) as Rio opened with $39.2M this weekend, according to final studio figures, from 3,826 theaters for a per screen average of $10,252. The opening was almost exactly on par with Hop which opened two weeks ago to $37.5M and a $10,490 average. With no built-in audience from a previous installment and a brand new concept, the opening for Rio was pretty good, although the 3D surcharges should have added a few more dollars. Hop was in 2D and opened on 250 less screens. Still, $39M is nothing to sneeze at and other than Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, there are no other family films coming out until Kung Fu Panda 2 at the end of May, so Rio should see some good legs over the next few weeks.

11 years after the last installment, the masked killer(s) of Scream 4 returned with a soft opening of $18.7M. Expectations ran high amongst fans of the original trilogy, but those expectations didn't turn into dollars as its per screen average of $5,656 was barely higher than the film that debuted in eleventh place this week. It seems fans came out this weekend but not a lot of new fans were created which was a bit of a surprise since horror fans are usually dependable. The last horror film to come out was two weeks ago with Insidious which is holding on remarkably well, and may have actually pulled out a few customers from Scream 4. Insidious opened to $13.3M with a $5,551 average but has fallen by less than 30% each weekend since.

After a 2-week reign on top, the birds of Rio pushed the Easter Bunny of Hop down into third with $10.7M, down 48% from last weekend bringing its cume to $82.2M. Obviously the entrance of a new animated family film hurt, but Hop is still on target to get to $110-115M overall. In its second weekend, the young assassin Hanna landed in fourth with $7.3M falling 41% and bringing its total gross to $23.3M. A final number of around $40M is likely. The true-life story of Soul Surfer finished in fifth this weekend falling a slim 30% from last weekend to finish with $7.3M bringing its total to $19.9M. A final gross in the area of $40M is possible.

Warner's remake of Arthur fell 43% into sixth place with $6.8M bringing its cume to $22.2M. Look for another final total in the $40M range. Seventh place belonged to the horror entry Insidious which had the best hold in the Top 10, dropping only 27% to $6.7M and bringing its current total to $35.9M after three weeks. Based on its strong holds even with a major horror film opening this weekend, there is the outside chance that Insidious could eventually out gross Scream 4 which would have been unthinkable even three days ago. Another film with a strong hold ended in eighth place this weekend as Source Code fell a slim 27% to $6.2M bringing its cume to $36.9M.

The Universal flop Your Highness followed with the biggest drop in the Top 10 falling 58% to $4M for a 2-week total of only $16.1M. Look for a final tally in the $25M range and a quick trip on to DVD. Rounding out the Top 10 was Relativity's Limitless with $3.7M, down 33%, for a $69.6M total.

Robert Redford's latest directorial work The Conspirator opened in eleventh this weekend with $3.5M from 707 screens for an average of $4,963.

The Top 10 grossed $110.6M this weekend which was up 2% from 2010 when Kick-Ass debuted at number one with $19.8M; and up 14% from 2009 when 17 Again opened at the top of the charts with $23.7M.


Compared to projections, Rio opened lower than my optimistic $50M prediction, while Scream 4 opened up a little below my $25M forecast.

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com on Twitter.

For NEW reviews of Rio and Scream 4 visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Madea's Big Happy Family and Water for Elephants open wide.

Marketplace - Shop for DVDs, electronics, books, and posters at discounted prices:

# Title Apr 15 -17 Apr 8 - 10 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Rio $ 39,225,962 3,826 1 $ 10,252 $ 39,225,962 Fox
2 Scream 4 18,692,090 3,305 1 5,656 18,692,090 Dimension
3 Hop 10,715,205 21,298,240 -47.6 3,608 3 2,970 82,157,605 Universal
4 Hanna 7,282,546 12,370,549 -40.8 2,545 2 2,862 23,282,858 Focus
5 Soul Surfer 7,268,502 10,601,862 -30.2 2,214 2 3,283 19,865,129 Sony
6 Arthur 6,755,340 12,222,756 -43.2 3,276 2 2,062 22,163,757 Warner Bros.
7 Insidious 6,744,623 9,371,769 -26.8 2,233 3 3,020 35,870,891 FilmDistrict
8 Source Code 6,209,058 8,650,238 -27.2 2,557 3 2,428 36,898,580 Summit
9 Your Highness 4,019,710 9,360,020 -58.4 2,772 2 1,450 16,077,475 Universal
10 Limitless 3,660,104 5,461,378 -33.0 1,885 5 1,942 69,589,322 Relativity
11 The Conspirator 3,509,048 707 1 4,963 3,509,048 Roadside
12 The Lincoln Lawyer 2,884,979 4,281,598 -32.6 1,702 5 1,695 50,454,640 Lionsgate
13 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules 2,081,944 4,770,987 -56.4 1,849 4 1,126 48,122,773 Fox
14 Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 1,686,347 299 1 5,640 1,686,347 Rocky Mountain
15 Win Win 1,276,196 1,150,180 11.0 384 4 3,323 5,033,567 Fox Searchlight
16 Jane Eyre 993,232 1,157,935 -14.2 274 5 3,625 6,605,035 Focus
17 Rango 715,526 2,301,507 -68.9 976 7 733 118,775,731 Paramount
18 Born To Be Wild 625,014 856,133 -27.0 207 2 3,019 1,840,529 Warner Bros.
19 Sucker Punch 606,242 2,102,082 -71.2 555 4 1,092 35,292,286 Warner Bros.
20 Battle: Los Angeles 507,452 1,528,411 -66.8 554 6 916 82,193,266 Sony
Top 5 $ 83,184,305 $ 65,865,176 26.3
Top 10 110,573,140 98,389,397 12.4
Top 20 125,459,120 112,470,117 11.5
Top 20 vs. 2010 125,459,120 115,943,194 8.2

Last Updated: April 18, 2011 at 7:00PM ET

Watch Gitesh Pandya's weekly box office preview on CNN International airing live each Thursday at 7:40pm ET.