Justin Bieber, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
Jaume Collet-Serra’s action-thriller Unknown was the no. 1 movie at the US/Canada box office over the four-day President’s Day weekend (Feb. 18-21), according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo.
But Monday’s success stories are those of the animated feature Gnomeo & Juliet — the day’s top picture — and the 3D Justin Bieber documentary Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, as both crossed the $50m mark today. If studio estimates hold, after 11 days Gnomeo & Juliet has scored $55.84m, while the $13m-budgeted Never Say Never’s total has reached $51.37m.
Back to the four-day President’s Day weekend:
Starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, and veteran Bruno Ganz, the $30m-budgeted Unknown collected $25.62m at 3,043 sites. For comparison’s sake: Neeson’s action-thriller hit Taken debuted at 3,183 sites on Jan. 30, 2009, grossing $24.71m (approx. $26.4m today) on its first (three-day) weekend.
Another sort of comparison: In four days, Unknown made more money than another $30m-budgeted movie that has been out for 18 days: executive producer James Cameron’s 3D adventure Sanctum, whose estimated total is $22.28m.
Up one spot at no. 2, Gnomeo & Juliet, which features songs by Elton John, and the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Matt Lucas, and Maggie Smith, earned $24.82m.
Down one spot at no. 3, the $60m-budgeted sci-fi-thriller I Am Number Four took in $22.6m at 3,154 locations. Directed by D. J. Caruso, I Am Number Four features Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, and Dianna Agron.
At no. 4, the Jennifer Aniston-Adam Sandler comedy Just Go with It pulled in $21.7m. It was followed by the lowbrow Martin Lawrence comedy Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son with a low-key $19m at 2,821 locations. Also in the Like Father Like Son cast: Brandon T. Jackson, Portia Doubleday, and Jessica Lucas.
At no. 6, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never brought in $16.5m.
Next in line were Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter, with $7.93m at no. 7 and the thriller The Roommate, featuring Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly, with $4.5m at no. 8.
Rounding out the top twelve were Kevin Macdonald-Channing Tatum’s The Eagle with $4.31m, Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher’s No Strings Attached with $3.72m, Jeff Bridges-Hailee Steinfeld’s True Grit with $2.85m, and Sanctum with $1.98m.
Among the top-twelve movies, Unknown had the highest per-theater average, an estimated $8,419. Sanctum had the lowest, $1,438.
Also among the aforementioned top twelve, Gnomeo & Juliet posted the lowest Sunday-to-Monday drop-off rate, -14.5%. Sanctum posted the highest, -45%. (Note: Following its steep drop, Sanctum was the no. 13 movie on Monday; The Green Hornet was no. 12.)
Photo: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (Paramount Pictures).