The Ocean’s Thirteen gang took the top spot at the North American box office this weekend with $37 million, pushing reigning champ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End down to second with $21.3 million.
The third installment in the Ocean franchise, which saw the boys back in Vegas to take down a hotel mogul (Al Pacino), didn’t do as well as its predecessors. Ocean’s Eleven opened in 2001 with $38 million, while Ocean’s Twelve debuted in 2004 with $39 million.
“It’s really become an opening-weekend business, but with all the competition, in the long haul, they just don’t have the legs that their predecessors did,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers told The Associated Press. “Studios really have to rely on those worldwide grosses to make up the difference in the long run.”
As for the other newcomers, Surf’s Up, a mockumentary about surfing penguins, opened in fourth place with $18 million. It earned good reviews, but audiences may have grown tired of penguin movies, especially after the success of Happy Feet which grossed nearly $200 million domestically and won the Academy Award for best animated feature.
Also wearing thin is the gory horror movie genre. The sequel Hostel: Part II, about rich people who pay to kill victims in grisly ways, debuted only in sixth place with $8.7 million–less than half the $19.6 million debut of last year’s Hostel.
The Top 12 movies took in $133.5 million, down 9.17 percent from last year’s total of $147 million but up 3.56 percent from last weekend’s total of $128.9 million. The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Buena Vista’s Cars, which opened at No. 1 with $60.1 million in 3,985 theaters, averaging $15,086 per theater; Universal’s The Break Up, which dropped to second place in its second week of release with $20.3 million in 3,075 theaters, averaging $6,610 per theater; and 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand, which stayed in third place in its third week with $16 million in 3,680 theaters, averaging $4,369 per theater. (Click here to read last year’s box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Ocean’s Thirteen (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $37 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,565
• Per-theater average: $10,401
No. 2: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Buena Vista, PG-13)
• Gross: $21.3 million (-52%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 4,002 (-360)
• Per-theater average: $5,326
• Cume to date: $253.6 million
No. 3: Knocked Up (Universal, R)
• Gross: $20 million (-35%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,876
• Per-theater average: $6,960
• Cume to date: $66.2 million
No. 4: Surf’s Up (Sony, PG)
• Gross: $18 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,528
• Per-theater average: $5,102
No. 5: Shrek the Third (DreamWorks, PG)
• Gross: $15.7 million (-44%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,925 (-184)
• Per-theater average: $4,013
• Cume to date: $281.8 million
No. 6: Hostel: Part II (Lionsgate, R)
• Gross: $8.7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,350
• Per-theater average: $3,723
No. 7: Mr. Brooks (MGM, R)
• Gross: $5 million (-50%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,453 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $2,038
• Cume to date: $18.6 million
No. 8: Spider-Man 3 (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.4 million (-42%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,570 (-832)
• Per-theater average: $1,712
• Cume to date: $325.6 million
No. 9: Waitress (Fox Searchlight, PG-13)
• Gross: $1.6 million (-18%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 708 (+103)
• Per-theater average: $2,331
• Cume to date: $12 million
No. 10: Disturbia (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $550,000 (-51%)
• Weeks opened: 9
• Theaters: 568 (-467)
• Per-theater average: $968
• Cume to date: $77.7 million
OTHER OPENINGS
La Vie En Rose (Picturehouse, PG-13)
• Gross: $171,786
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 8
• Per-theater average: $21,473
