Box office report: ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ leads a dismal weekend; ‘Identity Thief’ becomes the first $100 million movie of 2013
Jack the Giant Slayer picked up significantly over the weekend, earning a $28 million opening on 3,525 screens. This is better than it was tracking on Friday, likely due to the fact that families waited until the weekend to see the film. Still, it’s nowhere near what the movie needed to take in on its opening weekend, and will likely not even come close to making up for its almost $200 million budget. To put a little perspective on this March weekend, the same timeframe last year had an animated opening and an R-rated party movie that fared much better than Jack and 21 and Over (in third place)–Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax opened at $70.2 million and Project X at $21.1 million.
As the first $100 million movie of 2013, Identity Thief made $9.7 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. Down 31% from last weekend, Universal’s Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy comedy picked up eight new theaters. If it wasn’t obvious that Identity Thief was a runaway success, the R-rated movie has already made three times its opening weekend. Paul Feig and company should be anxious to find out if the McCarthy/Sandra Bullock vehicle The Heat will boast similar profits when it opens in June.
21 and Over had a $9 million opening weekend in 2,771 locations, with a $3,248 per screen average. Directed by first time directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, Relativity’s $13 million party movie should be able to make back its budget, but it is surely disappointing that the film came in at less than half of Project X‘s opening weekend. Project X dropped off 47% in its second weekend, and, if 21 and Over follows that trend, it will at least slide past the $13 million mark.
Although The Last Exorcism Part II was tracking pretty similarly to 21 and Over on Friday, the poorly rated horror film lost a little steam over the weekend, bringing in only $8 million in 2,700 locations, with a $2,974 location average. The first Last Exorcism opened in late August 2010 at $20.4 million. Though it only ended up making twice that in its lifetime, with a $1.8 million budget, it’s no wonder CBS Films thought that they might be able to repeat Lionsgate’s success. So far, Part II has made up its $5 million production budget, and surpassed the $3 million that CBS Films spent acquiring it, but considering the poor reviews and similarly bleak CinemaScore, it’s very unlikely that it will hit the margins of the first film.
Rounding out the top five is Summit Entertainment’s Snitch. Down 41% in its second weekend, the $7.7 million weekend brings the Dwayne Johnson action flick to $24.4 million total.
1. Jack the Giant Slayer – $28 million
2. Identity Thief – $9.7 million
3. 21 and Over – $9 million
4. The Last Exorcism Part II – $8 million
5. Snitch – $7.7 million
Park Chan-wook’s R-rated thriller Stoker also opened in seven theaters for a $158,822 weekend, with a $22,698 location average. This is the first English language film for the South Korean director (Old Boy), and was co-produced by Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, and Michael Costigan. The movie stars Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska.