March 2-4, 2012 Box Office Results

Weekend of March 2-4, 2012

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax – $44,000,000 estimate – My prediction: Over – $70,217,070 actual – Over
Project X – $20,000,000 estimate – My prediction: Under – $21,051,363 actual – Over

The Lorax shattered box office predictions and the box office was booming again being 27% up from last year. For the second week in a row, Randy got all of the predictions correct.

The Lorax has become the third highest opening for a film in the month of March and the highest opening for a Dr. Seuss-adapted film. Marketing for the film was stupendous as I even saw advertising everywhere. That and not having very many options for kids right now really allowed the movie to dominate the box office. Oh, and 3D and IMAX prices.

Project X came in right behind The Lorax, but with an almost $50 mil gap between the two. It didn't do quite as well as last month's other teen found footage film, Chronicle, but Project X had a higher rating. This one was close, and probably could have gone either way, but the majority of us picked Under.

As far as per theatre averages go, The Lorax came out on top, followed by the Focus Features film Being Flynn, and then Boy, and The Salt of Life. We're getting back into the indie season really soon, so I'll be keeping track of PTA as much as possible.

Alright, we have a decent weekend coming up. Disney's John Carter will be arriving in theatres. Most of the people I've spoken to see nothing good about this film, but the early reviews and test screenings are coming out very positive. One review on /Film has seen it twice now and wants to watch it again. Disney is already planning on this becoming a huge franchise, but I guess we'll have to wait and see how it performs. The horror/thriller Silent House, starring Elizabeth Olsen, claims to be shot in one-take (probably clever editing). Unknown at this point if that will be enough for this film (which premiered at Sundance last year) to gain a lot of money. Then there's A Thousand Words starring Eddie Murphy. It's from the same director as Norbit. It was actually filmed in 2008 and had problems in the Dreamworks/Viacom separation and then got repeatedly pushed back. Yeah, this one should fail big time. Friends with Kids will get a limited release. Starring practically all the people that were in Bridesmaids, Roadside Attractions is trying to capitalize on the raunchy adult comedy thing right now. Another film getting a small release is Salmon Fishing in the Yemen starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt, and written by the guy who did the screenplays for Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. I personally don't find anything that great-looking about this flick, but I have screening tickets to it on Wednesday and will review it here later, if you care.