Weekend Wrap-Up: Hunger Still Filling
April 2, 2012
Despite falling a little bit further than expected, The Hunger Games easily won the race for top spot in the box office this weekend. Wrath of the Titans and Mirror Mirror couldn't compensate for the number one film's decline and the overall box office fell 31% to $149 million. However, and more importantly, the box office was up 19% when compared to last year. Year-to-date, 2012 has expanded its lead to 20% at $2.62 billion to $2.18 billion after three months.
The Hunger Games fell 62% to $58.55 million over the weekend for a total of $248.48 million after two. This is a little lower than the average analyst predicted before the weekend, but given its explosive start and the Fangirl Effect, it was a good holdover. I expect the film will reach $300 million by this time next week, while $350 million to $375 million overall is a solid target to reach. This is enough to pay for the film's production budget and its P&A budget, not to mention putting a serious dent in the production budget of the next installment. And this is before we take into account the home market and merchandising.
Wrath of the Titans also opened on the low end of expectations with $33.46 million. This is barely more than half of what Clash of the Titans opened with two years ago. The collapse at the box office is pretty easy to explain. Clash earned terrible reviews and Wrath was marginally worse. The film's legs will likely be quite bad, but perhaps it will redeem itself internationally.
Likewise, Mirror Mirror missed most expectations with an opening of $18.13 million. A family friendly target audience should help going forward, while its reviews were not bad for this type of film. On the other hand, the film cost a lot to make and it will need help internationally and on the home market to break even any time soon.
21 Jump Street beat expectations with $14.83 million over the weekend for a total of $92.88 million after three. By this time next week, it will be the fifth film released in 2012 to reach the century mark.
Meanwhile, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax remained on pace to become only the second film of 2012 to reach $200 million. This past weekend it added $7.78 million for a running tally of $189.33 million after a month of release. It will likely take two or three weeks to reach its next milestone, but this is more than enough to ensure more Dr. Seuss stories will be adapted.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, 21 Jump Street, Wrath of the Titans, The Hunger Games, Mirror Mirror