Four New Openers Fail to ‘Hop’ Into First Place at Box Office
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It was a disappointing weekend at the box office as the animated family film Hop held onto the crown in easy fashion. The comedies Arthur and Your Highness disappointed while the action film Hanna and Christian-themed ‘based on a true story’ Soul Surfer performed well given expectations and smaller budgets.
Hop collected another $21.7 million as it fell a reasonable 42% facing little competition in the targeted demographic. That will change with the release of Rio next week. Despite generally poor reviews Hop has already exceeded its budget by grossing $68 million in the first ten days.
The remake of Arthur starring Russell Brand opened to a flat response coming in second but with just $12.6 million made. The movie was panned in reviews and ads weren’t at all compelling. Brand can stake claim to being a part of the top two films however as he voices the main character in Hop.
As a bit of a surprise Hanna was mostly off the radar until screening at a recent convention where buzz started to build. With $12.3 million it would appear to be a modest success given the lack of marketing. Look for Hanna to hold up well over the coming weeks as reviews were generally positive and there is a strong presence being seen in social media channels.
Telling the true story of a teen surfer who lost her arm to a shark attack and returned to become a surfing champion Soul Surfer came in fourth with $11.1 million. Reviews were mixed but the religious crowd tends to be very supportive and show up in waves. The marketing was specifically targeted towards that demo.
As a stoner comedy Your Highness would seem mostly insulated from bad reviews but the word of mouth may have spread on it quickly. With a prominent cast that includes Oscar winner Natalie Portman, Oscar nominee James Franco, and the popular Danny McBride it was expected to be a winner. Instead it finished in sixth place with only $9.5 million.
Surprisingly the horror film Insidious fell only 26% from last weekend where it opened in second place. That is a stunningly low number for horror films which tend to see a sharp drop beyond the first weekend and often the first Friday. Its $9.7 million was good enough for fifth place. Filling out the top ten was Source Code in seventh with $9 million, followed by Limitless with $5.7 million, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 drawing another $4.9 million, and The Lincoln Lawyer collecting $4.6 million.