Weekend Box Office Analysis: June 24-26

The weekend was very kind to both new releases as Cars 2 and Bad Teacher had very impressive debuts. The same can't be said for last weekend's holdover Green Lantern which decreased 66% from it's opening week total.

While the tracking for Disney/Pixar's "Cars 2" had the film only bringing in $50M this weekend, the toon actually exceeded expectations on its way to racking up $67M in it's first 3 days of release, easily making it the No.1 movie in the country! Its 4,115 theaters comprised of 2,508 3D locations, including 120 IMAX venues so that obviously had an affect on the family films weekend gross. Other studios however thought the Cars 2 would gross between $71.5M-$75M for the weekend, but Disney was right to stay conservative with its projections. Cars 2's debut is a big bump up from the original's $60.1M opening weekend despite far less favorable reviews. Audiences gave Cars 2 an 'A-' CinemaScore which was on par with the first Cars back in 2006. Critics however called the sequel Pixar's worst movie ever because of the espionage type story line and its over-use of Larry The Cable Guy. All in all this will go down as one of Pixar's most profitable films so they will consider this a win!

This weekend's other new release, the R-rated comedy "Bad Teacher" had an impressive weekend of it's own grossing $31M in it's first 3 days, coming in a No. 2! Welcome to the brave new movie-making world of Bad Girls and raunchy R-rated comedy's starring women because obviously they work! Sony had been expecting $20M+ for the weekend but the comedy wildly outperformed that figure. Exit polling showed the pic attracted 63% female and 37% male audiences, while 57% were over age 25 and 43% were under age 25. Even though audiences gave the comedy a 'C+' CinemaScore, it played equally well among both men and female demographics.With only a $20M budget, the Cameron Diaz-led film is on it's way to Bridesmaids like success which can be considered the breakout hit of the summer! Bad Teacher opened first in the UK where it has done very well, taking in nearly $4M in its first week of play there and holding onto a strong figure this weekend as well. Given the mega-success of Bridesmaids and now Bad Teacher, expect a lot of clones coming to the megaplex near you.

As for last weekend's holdover Green Lantern, the superhero flick fell apart its second weekend only grossing $18M to claim third place. That's down 66% from it's opening debut of $53M. The reviews have been poor but I thought throughout the week word of mouth would have increased the overall view of the film (which I thought was pretty good) but apparently not. But of course take into consideration the other two new released that hit theaters this weekend and may have appealed to more audiences than the superhero flick had. But if you are wondering if there will be a sequel to the DC Comic then I have good news for you. It was announced today that Warner Bros. is still planning a follow up to the Ryan Reynolds-led film despite the film’s soft performance at the box office. Sources say Warners still believes in the franchise, even if the studio is "somewhat disappointed" with Green Lantern’s result.

Regardless of any weak spots, domestic box office revenues were up an estimated 10% over last year. And with Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 getting ready to launch, the lingering year-over-year decline in revenues should continue to narrow.

Now a quick rundown of the rest of the Top 10:

Paramount Pictures' Super 8 added $12.1M to it's third weekend total to take fourth place and pushed its domestic cume $95.2M. The J.J. Abrams film cost about $50M to make so you can mark this down as a win as well for Paramount!

Mr. Popper's Penguins rounded out the top five with $10.3M. The Jim Carrey-led family comedy, released by Fox, has earned $39.4M with a reported budget of $55M.

Fox's X-Men: First Class took sixth with $6.6M and has earned $132.8M domestically after four weeks. The comic book adaptation cost $160M to produce.

In seventh place, The Hangover Part II added $5.9M for a total of $243.9M after five weeks.,

Bridesmaids received another $5.4M to take its seven-week total to $147M.

In the ninth spot, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides brought in $4.7M and has earned $229.1M after six weeks.

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris was in tenth place with $4.5M from 951 theaters. The romantic comedy is up to $28.6M after six weeks in theaters.

Weekend Box Office Totals:


1. Cars 2 3D (Pixar/Disney) NEW [4,115 Theaters]
Friday $25.7M, Saturday $23.3M, Weekend $68M

2. Bad Teacher (Sony) NEW [3,049 Theaters]
Friday $12.1M, Saturday $10.9M, Weekend $31M

3. Green Lantern 3D (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,816 Theaters]
Friday $6M, Saturday $7.1M, Weekend $18M (-66%), Cume $89M

4. Super 8 (Paramount) Week 3 [3,424 Theaters]
Friday $3.7M, Saturday $4.7M, Weekend $12.1M, Cume $95.1M

5. Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Fox) Week 2 [3,342 Theaters]
Friday $3.6M, Saturday $3.7M, Weekend $10.3M (-41%), Cume $39.4M

6. X-Men: First Class (Fox) Week 4 [2,633 Theaters]
Friday $2M, Saturday $2.6M, Weekend $6.6M, Cume $132.8M

7. The Hangover Part II (Legendary/Warner Bros) Week 5 [2,755 Theaters]
Friday $1.9M, Saturday $2.5M, Weekend $5.8M, Cume $244M

8. Bridesmaids (Universal) Week 7 [2,031 Theaters]
Friday $1.8M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.5M, Cume $146.8M

9. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 3D (Disney) Week 6 [2,244 Theaters]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.7M, Cume $229M

10. Midnight In Paris (Sony Classics) Week 6 [1,038 Theaters]
Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1.7M, Weekend $4.2M, Cume $28.3M

Next Weekend's only new release will be that of "Transformers: Dark of The Moon which will surely make a splash at the box office. Until next weekend...