Ivan Reitman, Natalie Portman on the set of No Strings Attached
Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher’s romantic comedy No Strings Attached was once again the no. 1 movie at the North American box office on Wednesday, collecting $1.41m according to Box Office Mojo. That represented a 24.5% drop compared to the day before, the highest among the top-twelve movies on the chart.
Every top-twelve movie, in fact, was down on Wednesday, though several multiple-Oscar nominees fared better than the rest. For instance, up one spot at no. 2, Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter, took in $1.02m, down a mere 3%. The King’s Speech is up for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The King’s Speech may even top Thursday’s box office in case No Strings Attached suffers another sizable attendance tumble. (Thursday figures tend to be mixed; some movies down, others up. Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday figures are almost invariably down; Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday figures are almost invariably up across the board.)
Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, and Christoph Waltz, Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet, grossed $909k, down one spot at no. 3. The Green Hornet fell below the $1m-per-day mark for the first time on Day 13.
At no. 4, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s True Grit drew $717k (-6%). The Coen brothers’ Western stars Oscar nominees Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld, in addition to Matt Damon and Josh Brolin.
Up one spot at no. 5, Darren Aronofsky-Natalie Portman’s Black Swan brought in $551k. Among the top Oscar contenders, Black Swan fared the worst in terms of daily attendance variations; the psychological thriller was down 18%.
Next in line were Ron Howard’s The Dilemma, featuring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, down one spot at no. 6 with 543k and Mark Wahlberg-Christian Bale’s The Fighter with $400k (-14%) at no. 7.
Robert De Niro-Owen Wilson-Ben Stiller’s comedy Little Fockers earned $238km at no. 8.
Rounding out the top twelve were Jeff Bridges-Garrett Hedlund ’s TRON: Legacy with $224k, Dominic Sena-Nicolas Cage’s Season of the Witch with $170k, Gwyneth Paltrow-Tim McGraw-Garrett Hedlund’s Country Strong with $164k,Disney’s Tangled with $149k.
Among the top-twelve movies, The King’s Speech had the highest per-theater average, $609. Season of the Witch had the lowest, $74.
No Strings Attached posted the highest Tuesday-to-Wednesday drop-off rate, -24.5%. The King’s Speech posted the lowest, -3%.
Photo: No Strings Attached (Dale Robinette / Paramount Pictures)