Audiences collectively thumbed their noses at the new box office releases this past weekend, paving the way for a three week old release to top the box office. Gnomeo and Juliet only dropped 26% in its third week to nab the number one spot with a puny $14.1 million.
That brings its three week total to $75 million; not too shabby for a film featuring garden gnomes. The film was bolstered by a jump of 101% (yep, you read that right) from Friday to Saturday night. Families seem to be clamoring for something to take the kiddos to. That bodes very well for Rango, a film that will open next weekend and features the voice talent of Johnny Depp.
Hall Pass was widely predicted to be a slam dunk at the box office, but the newest film from the Farrelly brothers only made $13.4 million. That’s quite a bit short of their best opening weekend back in 2001, when Shallow Hal debuted to $22 million during its opening weekend. Many were hoping this would signal a rebirth of the duo at the box office. A less than stellar B- from cinemascore means this film won’t be in theaters long. Catch it while you can.
Liam Neeson’s Unknown dropped about 42%, and made $12.4 million on the weekend for number three. Just Go With It was number four, and I am Number Four took the fifth spot.
Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never had a bit of a surge thanks to a director’s cut, which helped the film make $9.2 million for a cumulative of $62.7 million over three weeks.
The week’s big story (or lack thereof) was the DOA performance of Drive Angry. Nicholas Cage and Amber Beard star in the revenge thriller that opened on almost 2,300 screens and earned dismal $5.1 million. Audiences didn’t seem to enjoy the flick, giving it a C+. The film was not screened for critics in time to make Friday morning deadlines.
Let’s hope for a better box office next weekend. Rango, The Adjustment Bureau, Take Me Home Tonight, and Beastly all open on Friday.