Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell in Justin Nussbaum’s Prom
Vin Diesel-Paul Walker-Dwayne Johnson’s FAST FIVE Box-Office: Biggest 2011 Opening
At no. 2 after Justin Lin’s Fast Five, Carlos Saldanha’s Rio, featuring the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, and George Lopez, collected $3.6m (down -66%) according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo.
Rio should be passing the $100m milestone on Sunday, or at the very latest on Monday.
At no. 3, Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, featuring Perry, Loretta Devine, Isaiah Mustafa, and Bow Wow, earned $3.1m, down a whopping -70.5% compared to last Friday.
Down two spots (from Thursday) at no. 4, Francis Lawrence’s Water for Elephants, starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz, drew $2.92m. The romantic period drama was down 58%.
The fact that holdovers such as Madea’s Big Happy Family and Rio were down sharply from a week ago isn’t a major surprise, partly because many schools were closed across the country last Friday. But since 70% of Water for Elephants‘ ticket buyers were reportedly over 25, the 58% Friday-to-Friday drop-off was surprisingly steep.
Obviously, the huge box-office take of one movie (Fast Five) didn’t do much good to the other films on the chart. If people were unable to get into a theater showing Fast Five, instead of hopping to Rio or joining Madea’s Big Happy Family, they apparently opted to go eat at a fast-food joint or some such.
Another highly disappointing 2011 debut: Disney’s Prom opened with only $1.85m at no. 5. Screening at 2,730 locations, Prom’s average was a dismal $678 per theater. Directed by Joe Nussbaum, Prom features Aimee Teegarden and Thomas McDonell.
And another: At no. 6, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil grossed a mere $1.1m, averaging a disastrous $439 per site at 2,505 locations. Directed by Mike Tisa, Hoodwinked Too features the voices of Glenn Close, Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Warburton, Joan Cusack, Martin Short, and others.
Next in line were AnnaSophia Robb’s Soul Surfer with $1.02m at no. 7 and Patrick Wilson-Rose Byrne’s Insidious with $1m at no. 8.
Rounding out the top twelve were Alastair Fothergill-Keith Scholey’s African Cats with $961k, Jake Gyllenhaal-Michelle Monaghan’s Source Code with $810k, Wes Craven’s Scream 4 with $800k, Cate Blanchett-Saoirse Ronan’s Hanna with $685k.
Gone from the top twelve on Friday were James Marsden-Russell Brand’s Hop, Russell Brand-Helen Mirren’s Arthur, Bradley Cooper-Abbie Cornish’s Limitless.
Among the top-twelve movies Fast Five had the highest per-theater average, $9,120. Scream 4 had the lowest, $360.
Also among the top twelve (barring newcomers Fast Five, Prom, and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil), Madea’s Big Happy Family posted the highest Thursday-to-Friday attendance increase, +199%; Hanna, after losing about 800 theaters, posted the lowest, +60%.
Photo: Prom (Walt Disney Pictures)