Standing tall, Disney’s Gnomeo and Juliet reaped the benefits of being the only family animated film in wide release took the top spot with $14.2 million in its third weekend of release. (Gnomeo is in good company: True Grit and The Blind Side also ascended to first in their third weekends). Sustaining yet another small weekend over weekend drop, the film has gotten solid word-of-mouth and has become a hit with kids and families. With an impressive President’s weekend finish that had less than $40,000 separating it from the top spot in its second weekend of release, Gnomeo will continue to enjoy a strong courtship with an adoring family audience.
The Farrelly brothers gave Warner Bros. a second place $13.4 million debut with the R-rated Hall Pass. Owen Wilson stars as a married man whose wife gives him permission to behave like a single man, have an affair and act very un-married. Of course he takes his buddy played by Saturday Night Live’s Jason Sudeikis along for the ride. With a premise that had married couples and the date crowd heading out to theaters and the Farrelly brothers reputation for raunchy comedy with a heart, Hall Pass was the comedy of choice this weekend.
Check out our exclusive Hall Pass-themed comic strip from Francesco Marciuliano. Francesco writes the internationally-syndicated comic strip “Sally Forth” and the webcomic “Medium Large.” He was the head writer for the PBS series “SeeMore’s Playhouse,” for which one of his episodes won two 2007 Daytime Emmys. He currently writes for the Onion News Network.
Liam Neeson’s number one President’s weekend debut in Warner Bros.’ Unknown solidified the star’s reputation as everyone’s favorite action hero. Now in its second weekend, a mere 43% drop earned the film another $12.4 million for a third place finish and a domestic cumulative of $42.8 million to date. Notably, the PG-13 action revenge tale has been posting solid mid week numbers and enjoying strong word-of-mouth.
Sony’s romantic comedy Just Go With It took fourth place with $11.1 million against a small 40% third weekend drop and a total domestic tally of $79.3 million. Adam Sandler continues to prove his box office appeal to audiences as he along with co-star Jennifer Aniston keep the moviegoers heading to theatres.
With a third place debut over the extended President’s holiday weekend, Disney’s suspense thriller I am Number Four took a second weekend gross of $11 million against a 43% drop and total revenue to date of $37.8 million. The film continues to get a major boost from the IMAX enhanced showings.
The tenacious Justin Bieber held at sixth place for the second straight weekend with a new version of Paramount’s G-rated Justin Bieber: Never Say Never that boasts additional footage and a director’s cut that brought the teen girls back for more and another $9.2 million in the bank. The film has earned $62.8 million to date.
At the other end of the spectrum with a ninth place debut of $5.1million is the very R-rated 3-D action fantasy Drive Angry directed by Patrick Lussier who edited the first three films of the Scream horror franchise. The very prolific Nicolas Cage brought his own special brand of humor to the proceedings but grossed less than the early January $10.6 million debut of Season of the Witch.
Fortunately the fourteen week box office down streak was broken last weekend. Unfortunately, a solid year ago frame led by Shutter Island with $22.6 million, the $18.2 million debut of Cop Out and the $16.1 million opening of The Crazies handed the industry another tough comparison and thus another down weekend.
Top 5 Movies – For Weekend of February 25, 2011 – 3-Day Estimates
Movie F-S-S Weekend Total
1 Gnomeo & Juliet (G) $14.2M $75.2M
2 Hall Pass (R) $13.4M $13.4M
3 Unknown (PG-13) $12.4M $42.8M
4 Just Go With It (PG-13) $11.1M $79.3M
5 I Am Number Four (PG-13) $11.0M $37.8M
