It took the eighties to save the box office in 2010 as Sony’s “The Karate Kid” and Fox’s “The A-Team” lead the first solid weekend in a month at the nation’s theatres.
Who would have thought that the oft-maligned 80’s would come in and the save the box office day with a pair of Phil Collins-era retro hits? Well, if the much higher than expected gross on “The Karate Kid” is any indication, lovers of the 80’s are a much bigger group than anyone could have imagined. With a whopping $55.6 million debut, Jaden Smith proves that the box office apple does not fall far from the money tree. A great marketing campaign, perfect release date and a ShoWest screening that brought the house down, made this one a much-needed winner this weekend. A great performance by Jackie Chan is the icing on the cake for this terrific family film.
Following perfectly in the time warp theme of the weekend, Fox’s “The A-Team” provided a solid second place finish with $25.7 million. Good reviews and solid word-of-mouth should keep this one in the summer mix for the next few weeks. With an ensemble cast that includes Liam Neeson and the ever-popular Bradley Cooper, look for “A-Team” to remain a staple of the box office top five.
Shrek is living forever after in the top tier of the box office chart that is at number three with another $15.8 million. The Paramount/DWA release has earned $210 million to date and still performed well in its fourth weekend of release despite the pull of “The Karate Kid” for families.
At number four is Universal’s “Get Him to the Greek” with a second weekend gross of $9.9 million. Debuting last week at number two, the film got a high profile boost from the MTV Movie Awards with a memorable appearance by the stars of the film. With a domestic total of $36.4 million, the film is performing in line with comedies from this creative bloodline and should continue to do well in the coming weeks.
Rounding out the top five is Lionsgate’s “Killers” starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl with a weekend total of $8 million and a total to date of $30.3 million. After a debut at number three last week, the film remains in the top five and offers a nice date night at the movies for couples looking for something they can both enjoy.
In indie action the Joan Rivers documentary from IFC earned an impressive $164,351 in just seven theatres and a per-theatre average of $24,500. Great reviews and Rivers’ high-profile made this a solid performer this weekend. Also showing some indie muscle was “Winter’s Bone” from Roadside Attractions with $85k on just four screens, the “Coco Chanel film from SPC with nearly $45k in just three theatres and “The Lottery” from Variance Films with $16,435 in just one theatre.
A terrific weekend that came not a moment too soon as we look to keep the momentum rolling with “Toy Story 3” poised to maintain the perfect Pixar/Disney box office track record next weekend.
