Hop Movie Box Office: Universal’s Critically Panned Fantasy Adventure Doing Strong Business

Hop movie with James Marsden: Despite generally negative reviews, Universal Pictures’ live-action/animation mix is a good (though not great) box office performer domestically.

Hop movie box office: Universal’s live-action/animation mix opens with solid numbers despite general critical derision

April 1–3 weekend box office: Directed by Tim Hill, Universal Pictures’ live-action/animated fantasy adventure Hop, featuring James Marsden and the Easter Bunny’s drum-playing teenage son, easily topped the North American (U.S. and Canada only) box office chart, grossing a solid $37.5 million from 3,579 theaters according to final studio figures found at boxofficemojo.com.

Reportedly budgeted at $63 million (as always, not including marketing and distribution expenses), Hop has a mere 25 percent approval rating among Rotten Tomatoes’ “top critics” – and that makes Mars Needs Moms’ dismal box office gross all the more puzzling. Parents/“guardians” will clearly take their kids to watch all kinds of tripe; so perhaps it’s all about how that tripe is packaged and sold.

Besides James Marsden, Hop features Elizabeth Perkins, Gary Cole, Kaley Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, and David Hasselhoff as himself, in addition to the voices of Russell Brand (as the Easter Bunny’s drum-playing son), Hugh Laurie, Hank Azaria, and Hugh Hefner.

Hop movie far stronger domestically

Update: Tim Hill’s Hop movie ultimately collected a good $108.1 million domestically and passable $75.9 million internationally. Worldwide total: $184 million.

A domestic rerelease in 2021 added another $413,000. Updated worldwide total: $184.4 million.

Hop’s top international markets were Australia ($12.4 million), the United Kingdom/Ireland ($12.2 million), Mexico ($7.3 million), France ($5.2 million), Spain ($5 million), Germany ($3.8 million), and Japan ($3.1 million).

Source Code movie with Jake Gyllenhaal: Despite generally positive reviews, Summit Entertainment’s sci-fi thriller is an undeniable box office disappointment domestically.

Source Code movie box office: Duncan Jones’ sci-fi thriller has underwhelming domestic debut despite positive reviews

Directed by Duncan Jones, whose Moon was the big winner at the 2009 British Independent Film Awards, and starring Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, 2005), Summit Entertainment’s Source Code – the weekend’s no. 2 title – earned a modest $14.8 million from 2,961 sites.

That’s a particularly disappointing figure when one takes into account the adult-oriented sci-fi mystery thriller’s mostly positive reviews – 85 percent approval rating among Rotten Tomatoes’ “top critics.”

Source Code vs. Hop

For comparison’s sake: The critically panned Hop averaged $10,490 per theater; the critically embraced Source Code averaged $5,002 per theater. And let’s not forget that, all things being equal, the lower the number of theaters (3,579 for Hop vs. 2,961 for Source Code), the higher the per-theater average should be.

Moral of the box office story: If you make them infantile, they’ll come and bring their kids and grandparents. If you make them intricate, they’ll choose to stay home playing video games or watching college football.

The Silver lining: Source Code cost a relatively modest $32 million. Besides, there’s always the possibility that foreign moviegoers out there will rise up and buy lotsa tickets.

In addition to Jake Gyllenhaal as an army pilot (or is he a teacher?) on a Chicago area commuter train about to be blown up (but is it all real?), the Source Code cast includes Michelle Monaghan as the disoriented hero’s friend and fellow commuter, Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, 2009) as an Air Force captain involved in some virtual-reality business, Michael Arden, Jeffrey Wright, and Scott Bakula.

International moviegoers to the rescue!

Update: The Duncan Jones-Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi thriller Source Code ultimately collected an okay $54.7 million domestically and a far better $92.6 million internationally. Worldwide total: In all likelihood a remarkably profitable $147.3 million.

Its top international markets were China ($10.1 million), the United Kingdom/Ireland ($9.9 million), South Korea ($9 million), France ($6.6 million), Australia ($6 million), Japan ($5.4 million), Russia/CIS ($5.1 million), Spain ($4.1 million), and Germany ($3.4 million).

”Hop Movie Box Office” endnotes

Also this past weekend, James Wan’s low-budget supernatural horror thriller Insidious debuted in third place. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star.

Unless otherwise noted, “Hop Movie Box Office: Universal’s Critically Panned Fantasy Adventure Doing Strong Business” box office information via Box Office Mojo. Budget info – which should be taken with a grain of salt – via BOM and/or other sources (e.g., the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline.com, etc.).

Comments about Hop, Source Code, and other titles being hits/profitable or flops/money-losers at the box office (see paragraph below) are based on the available data about their production budget, additional marketing and distribution expenses (as a general rule of thumb, around 50 percent of the production cost), and worldwide gross (as a general rule of thumb when it comes to the Hollywood studios, around 50–55 percent of the domestic gross and 40 percent of the international gross goes to the distributing/producing companies).

Bear in mind that data regarding rebates, domestic/international sales/pre-sales, and other credits and/or contractual details that help to alleviate/split production costs and apportion revenues are oftentimes unavailable, and that reported international grosses may be incomplete (i.e., not every territory is fully – or even partially – accounted for).

Also bear in mind that ancillary revenues (domestic/global television rights, home video sales, streaming, merchandising, etc.) can represent anywhere between 40–70 percent of a movie’s total take. However, these revenues and their apportionment are only infrequently made public.

James Marsden Hop movie image: Universal Pictures.

Jake Gyllenhaal Source Code movie image: Vendome Pictures | Summit Entertainment.

“Hop Movie Box Office: Universal’s Critically Panned Fantasy Adventure Doing Strong Business” last updated in January 2023.