Weekend Wrap-Up: Oblivion Survives Opening Weekend
April 22, 2013
The overall box office was in line with expectations, more or less, which is unfortunately bad news, as expectations were low. Oblivion easily won the weekend, but the overall box office still fell 5.7% from last weekend to $110 million. Worse still, this is 19% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2013 has pulled in $2.77 billion, which is 11% lower than 2012's pace. 2013 is already $350 million behind 2012 and even with Iron Man 3 looming large, I don't see how 2013 is going to turn things around any time soon.
Oblivion opened with $37.05 million, which is the eighth biggest April opening weekend of all time. It is also Tom Cruise's biggest opening since Mission: Impossible: III. On the downside, the reviews are below the overall positive level and with direct competition arriving shortly, its legs will suffer. Fortunately, its early performance internationally is better that its debut here and the film should break even sooner rather than later.
42 fell a little faster than expected down 36% to $17.72 million over the weekend. This is still great, but with $53.75 million after ten days of release, $100 million is a lot harder to get to. Its reviews will continue to help its word-of-mouth, while its per theater average will help it hold onto theaters some more, so $100 million isn't impossible.
The Croods remained in third place with $9.24 million over the weekend for a total of $154.63 million after a month of release. This is an impressive run for this time of year.
Many thought that Scary Movie 5 would utterly collapse this weekend. Its reviews certainly pointed that way. Granted, it fell 57% to just $6.15 million over the weekend for a running tally of $22.80 million, but this is better than expected given its opening. By this time next week, it will have topped its production budget domestically. If it can match its domestic numbers internationally, and it didn't cost a ridiculous amount to advertise, it will break even sometime on the home market.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation fell to fifth place with $5.76 million over the weekend for a total of $111.20 million after four weeks of release. Thanks to even stronger international numbers, this film will have no trouble earning a healthy profit.
The Place Beyond the Pines just missed the top five with $4.92 million, giving it a running tally of $11.64 million. It hasn't yet expanded truly wide, and with a per theater average of $3,189, it likely won't expand too much more, but this is still an excellent run for a limited release.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Croods, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Oblivion, Scary Movie V, 42, The Place Beyond the Pines, Tom Cruise