BOX OFFICE REPORT "” May 17-19, 2013(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)
TOP 5
1. Fast & Furious 6 ($98.5 million)2. The Hangover Part III ($42.4 million)3. Star Trek Into Darkness ($38.0 million)4. Epic ($34.2 million)5. Iron Man 3 ($19.4 million)
You can't stop The Rock, especially when he joins up with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. The latest in the never ending Fast & Furious franchise opened with the series' biggest weekend ever with nearly $100 million. That's even bigger than the last installment, which means this series will never die. You can decide for yourself if that's good news or not.
But the good news for all of us is that based on the first weekend for The Hangover, Part III, this franchise is dead and buried. It's only managed $54 million since opening late Wednesday, which is less than half of what its predecessor did in the same timeframe. Toxic word-of-mouth will only cause it to fall farther in the coming weeks as it will, at best, drag itself past $100 million.
The weekend's other new release, the family-friendly animated film Epic, opened on the lower side of other non-Pixar movies ($34.2 million), but it's unlikely to see a huge drop in the coming weeks (or until Monsters University opens in late June). It's a good little flick and parents won't want to claw their eyeballs out while watching it, which is more than I could say for the last Ice Age movie.
Finally, Iron Man 3 is now the fifth-highest grossing movie worldwide...ever, even though it hasn't even been out a month. $400 million domestic is still in sight, which is something only eight movies have done without the help of a re-releases (we are looking at you The Lion King).
Outside the top 5: - This weekend's Indie Champ: It was a good weekend for a lot of independent films, but nothing came close to touching Before Midnight's $54,800 average at its five screens. The third film in the ongoing saga of Jesse and Celine crushed the competition on what will likely be the best reviews of the year.
- The delightful Frances Ha expanded this weekend, bringing in $816,000 in its two weeks in release. Great reviews from critics and audiences could buoy it into becoming Noah Baumbach's highest grossing movie ever, but it's still got a way to go. Make it happen, people!
- Fill the Void, Israel's official Oscar entry last year, opened strong, averaging about $20,000 on only three screens.
Next week: We find out if Will Smith still has enough star power to carry an original vehicle, or if After Earth is the final nail in M. Night Shyamalan's coffin. Even though that viral video of him performing "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" on The Graham Norton Show is going to remind people of why they love him, I'm still betting conservatively and saying it only makes $40 million for second place. The big question mark is Now You See Me. It has a great cast and cool trailers, but movies about magic never do well, with the exception of The Prestige and The Illusionist (which both did better on home video than in theaters). I'll stick with my conservative estimates and say $30 million.
