April 13-15, 2012 Box Office Results

Weekend of April 13-15, 2012

The Cabin in the Woods – $14,500,000 estimate – My prediction: Over – $14,743,614 actual – Over
The Three Stooges – $13,500,000 estimate – My prediction: Over – $17,010,125 actual – Over
Lockout – $6,500,000 estimate – My prediction: Over – $6,231,836 actual – Under

The Hunger Games makes it four-in-a-row as The Three Stooges does better than expected. Jason and Dano were the only two to get all predictions correct.

The Hunger Games is the first movie to take the top spot for four weekends in a row since Avatar in January 2010. It currently ranks #22 domestically for all-time.

The Three Stooges proved that it is still relevant in our culture by coming in at #2 this weekend. Marketing really pushed the fact that it was directed by the Farrelly Brothers even though they haven't had a hit film in over a decade. I picked Over on this one because $13.5 mil seemed so low for a film with such popular characters and being in 3,477 theatres.

The Cabin in the Woods came in at #3 for the weekend in a rather disappointing showing considering that it's critically-acclaimed now. The film currently has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and 72/100 on Metacritic. Marketing also feels like it has been inescapable, but perhaps the generic characters being shown and typical setting through some people off. Movie buffs know that this isn't just your average horror/slasher flick and that there's a lot more to this film. Maybe the word of mouth will be good in coming weeks.

Lockout performed miserably at the box office over the weekend. Even though it was in about 500 less theatres than Cabin, it could only muster $6.2 million. A shallow storyline and lack of true star power ruined this one even though writer Luc Besson is fairly well-liked.

Placing first in per theatre average was the indie film Here. It was only in one theatre where it earned a $7,927 average. The documentary Hit So Hard placed #2. That's the one about Hole drummer Patty Schemel. It was only played in New York in one theatre. Released in limited screens was Woman Thou Art Loosed!: On the 7th Day, which came out in #3 for PTA. It's about a couple who have their 6-year-old kidnapped and was played in 102 theatres.

Friday will see Disney's Chimpanzee released; their fourth original film under the Disneynature brand. They haven't seen much success in the last few years, especially since 2007 and 2009 when Earth and Oceans made $109 and $83 million respectively. The Lucky One will be the eighth Nicholas Sparks book adapted to a film. Starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling, this movie is hoping to finally take some of the female audience away from The Hunger Games. The black romantic comedy Think Like a Man will also be out this weekend in 1,800 screens. This is the one based on Steve Harvey's best-selling book. For the smaller releases, the Bob Marley documentary Marley will be out in 45 theatres. Seeing 50 IMAX theatres will be Warner Bros' To The Arctic 3D, which will probably see a lot of school field trips. There are other limited films coming out, but that's all I'll mention for now.