Paramount/DWA’s “Shrek Forever After” tops the chart for the third consecutive week as overall box office hits a speed bump.
Even four new wide release openers could not goose the box office as audiences continue to vote with their absence at the nation’s theatres. After the lowest attended Memorial Weekend in seventeen years, the stunning lack of momentum has stalled this, the most important movie season of the year, and put us at a YTD attendence deficit of nearly 3%.
The good news for “Shrek Forever After” is that this slowdown in the marketplace has left things wide open for the big green guy and given him his third consecutive weekend at number one with another modest drop and $25.3 million for the three days and a cume total of $183 million.
At number two is Universal’s “Get Him to the Greek” with a solid $17.4 million. The R-rated music industry send-up which brings back Russell Brand and Jonah Hill from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” takes the Aldous Snow character and pairs him with a naïve and star-struck record company operative played by Hill. In a perfect number of theatres, the film had the best per-theatre average of any film in the top 10 and put it right in line with “Sarah Marshall” which grossed $17.7 million opening weekend and went on to earn $63.2. A reasonable budget should make this one a winner for the studio.
At number three was the newcomer “Killers” from Lionsgate starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl in a melding of action and romance calculated to drive men and women in equal measure to the theatre. $16.1 million places the film in line with expectations respectable per-theatre average. An 11% increase from Friday’s to Saturday’s gross indicates good playability.
At number four with $13.8 million is Disney’s “Prince of Persia” which debuted last week at number two for the Memorial holiday frame. The film has grossed $59.5 million against a 54% second weekend drop as it hopes to continue to draw audiences looking for a traditional summer-style action movie.
Rounding out the Top Five with $12.6 million is Warner Bros.’ “Sex and the City 2” starring Sarah Jessica Parker and her three partners in romantic crime. After a third place Memorial Weekend debut, the film dropped 59% and is now approaching the $75 million mark at the domestic box office.
Opening outside of the Top Five is Fox’s “Marmaduke” with $11.3 million. The sixth place debut is surprising given the seemingly insatiable appetite for family entertainment in the summer. Also surprising was the eighth place debut of the horror/thriller “Splice” from Warner Bros. With some solid reviews, a wild premise and a well above-average cast for a film for this genre, the $7.5 million opening came somewhat out of left field.
The third “down” weekend in a row and summer revenues down 4% and attendance down 10% have many of us praying for an 80’s-style miracle with all eyes on Sony’s “The Karate Kid” and Fox’s “The A-Team” to get us out of this very unwelcome and unwanted summer slump.
