The Easter box office weekend went mostly as expected, with G.I. Joe: Relation opening on top with a solid gross of $51 million, just above my $49.5M projection. The sequel to the 2009 film posted good numbers, even though it’s unlikely to match the $150 million domestic gross of its predecessor.
Dreamworks animated The Croods dropped from the top spot to second, as expected. It earned $26.7 million, slightly lower than my $29.3M estimate.
Opening in third, as predicted, was Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. The picture gave Perry his best non-Madea opening of all time, grossing an impressive $21.6 million, above my $19.2M projection. Apparently, unless the name of the movie is Alex Cross, Perry still has a lot of clout at the multiplex.
In fourth, Olympus Has Fallen grossed $14.1 million in its sophomore weekend. I incorrectly guessed the action thriller would not fall over 50% and predicted a $16.8 million weekend. The film dropped 53%. Still, Olympus is a hit, giving star Gerard Butler his first successful pic in quite some time.
The bad news of the weekend fell to The Host, based on Twilight author Stephanie Meyer’s book. I was actually pretty low on my prediction compared to other analysts, predicting a $15.7 million opening weekend gross. The Host bombed, managing a meager $10.6 million. With a discouraging “B-” Cinemascore grade, there’s no way for the studio to spin it: The Host is a dud. With that bad of an opening, the film only managed a sixth place debut (I predicted fifth) and Oz The Great and Powerful got the five spot with $11.7 million.
Be sure to check back this week on the blog for next weekend’s projections, when the horror remake The Evil Dead and the 20th anniversary re-release of Jurassic Park open. Stay tuned!
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