Sony/Screen Gems “Think Like A Man” performed well beyond expectations earning almost double pre-release projections with $33 million. The film impressively earned back its negative cost of $12 million in its first day. Steve Harvey’s best-selling book was brought to life in this big screen in this adaptation of his observations of the romantic interaction between men and women. Featuring an eclectic ensemble cast that showcases intersecting tales of love and romance, the PG-13 film outperformed even the most optimistic predictions and gives Sony its fourth number one debut of the year.
Warner Bros.’ “The Lucky One” stars Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling in this the latest romantic drama based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. Efron is an Iraq war Marine who travels home after three tours of duty to search for an unknown woman in a photograph that he found during combat. The PG-13 romantic drama drew women, their not-so-reluctant dates and a better-than-expected $22.8 million in tear soaked dollars to the multi-plex this weekend. A great marketing campaign was effective in pushing the weekend gross into the low twenty millions from an expected high teen debut.
Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games” wound up in an unusual spot this weekend after its seemingly permanent reign at the top of the box office for an astonishing 28 consecutive day run as the number one film in North America. The film grabbed a weekend gross of $14.5 million for a third place finish and impressively will amass nearly $357 million by Sunday night after just 31 days in release.
Disneynature brought its heartwarming and hugely entertaining “Chimpanzee” to over 1,563 theaters this weekend. The fourth in its series of “Earth Day” theatrical releases, the film earned a series best debut of $10.2 million and sets a new high bar for these amazing nature documentaries.
In its second weekend, Fox’s updated PG-rated spin on “The Three Stooges” poked out the eyes of the holdover competition by claiming the fifth spot with $9.2 million and a N. American cumulative of nearly $30 million after just 10 days of release.
Two “down” weekends in a row (and only the third “down” weekend of the year) cannot put a dent in the year-to-date attendance advantage of 19% as we head closer to the start of the Summer Movie Season on May 4 with the debut of Disney’s much-anticipated “The Avengers.”
Weekend Box Office (Estimates)
Top Movies for Weekend of April 20, 2012
Movie Weekend Gross Total to Date
1 Think Like a Man (PG13) $33.0M $33.0M
2 The Lucky One (PG13) $22.8M $22.8M
3 The Hunger Games (PG13) $14.5M $356.9M
4 Chimpanzee (G) $10.2M $10.2M
5 The Three Stooges (PG) $9.2M $29.3M
