Dropping a moderate 46.5% from last weekend's huge $110 million opening, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" hauled a very sizeable $59 million from 4,028 screens for a new ten-day total of approximately $226.5 million. The film posted great numbers during the week, roughly $56 million from the 4-day Monday through Thursday period. The strong word-of-mouth has been as beneficial as the higher 3-D and IMAX ticket prices have been in contributing to the film's massive grosses. Audience support should help the Pixar smash in the long run as a percentage of the IMAX and 3-D screens currently occupied by the film are soon to be taken over to the likes of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and "The Last Airbender" this upcoming week.
Following the disaster that was last summer's "Funny People", Adam Sandler finds himself back in familiar territory with "Grown Ups", which kidded around for an excellent $41 million estimated debut from 3,534 screens. The $75 million comedy, which costars Sandler's buddies Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider and David Spade, may have been derided by critics (a 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Ouch!) but ticket buyers know better than to listen to them when it comes to a screwball Adam Sandler comedy. The opening is in line with Sandler's other recent crowd-pleasers like "Click" ($40.6 million), "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" ($38.5 million) and his remake of "the Longest Yard" ($47.6 million). All went on to gross $100 million or more at the box office, and this one should be no exception.
While it was expected that "Toy Story 3" would have another huge weekend and that "Grown Ups" would bring out the Sandler faithful, no one really knew what "Knight and Day" would ultimately do this weekend. The ad campaign was all over the map, which tried to sell the comedy without emphasizing the action, the action without emphasizing the comedy and even as a romance flick. The production has had a less-than-stellar production history, and tracking on the film was down there right alongside "Jonah Hex". Add to that the fact that neither Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz are the box office draws they once were, and you have a recipe for box office failure, something that Twentieth Century Fox really doesn't need following the disappointing results for "The A-Team" and "Marmaduke".
So, what was the end result after all the reshoots, various ad campaigns and moving the release date up two days to get a jumpstart on the weekend? A mediocre $20.5 million debut weekend estimate and $27.7 million for the film's first five days, neither number was what Fox was hoping for. While it's not an outright dud financially, the five-day debut for the reported $140 million production is definitely a step down for the once white-hot Cruise, especially in light of the openings for his other action films, namely the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. Reviews were mixed at best, so Fox will have to rely on the old standbys of audience word-of-mouth and (more importantly) foreign box office in the hopes of turning this film into a hit.
In fourth place was Sony's high-kicking family hit "The Karate Kid", which added an estimated $15.4 to its coffers for a new total of roughly $135.6 million to date. Despite "Toy Story 3"s domination at the box office over the past ten days, families have continued to support the 2010 remake of the 1984 drama. The film is looking to finish in the $185-190 million range domestically.
Fox's other big-budget action comedy in the top ten, "The A-Team", dropped by 59% from last weekend to add an estimated $6 million, which was good enough for fifth place and a new to-date gross of $62.8 million to date. In sixth place was Universal's "Get Him to the Greek" off 50% to add $3 million to its gross, which now stands near the $55 million mark. The mid-range hit should finish slightly ahead of the $60 million generated by the previous effort from "Greek" director Nicholas Stoller, 2008's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall".
Seventh place went to Dreamworks' "Shrek Forever After", which landed $2.8 million in ticket sales this weekend to bring its domestic total to the $229.3 million mark. Shrek and Donkey have pulled in an impressive $85 million in limited release from overseas market, most of which is waiting to release the film until after the World Cup concludes. Displaying some surprising staying power in eighth place is Disney's Memorial Day release "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", adding $2.9 million to its domestic total, which now stands at $86.1 million. The $213 million tallied from overseas has been a saving grace for the fantasy epic, which opened below expectations at the end of May but has managed to hold its ground.
Rounding out the top ten was Lionsgate's "Killers" in ninth place with an estimated $2 million from 2,271 screens. Off 60%, the film's new total stands at $44 million. Warner's colossal misfire "Jonah Hex" landed in tenth with $1.6 million for a pathetic ten-day total of $9.1 million. Dropping a scary 70% from last weekend, the DC Comics inspired action flick kept its 2,825 screens for a second weekend, but it didn't help matters any. The film should limp across the finish line with a dire $12 million box office gross.
With the arrival of "Eclipse" on Wednesday on over 4,000 screens and "The Last Airbender" on Friday in over 3,000 screens and the sure-to-be continued popularity of "Toy Story 3", "Grown Ups" and "The Karate Kid", the July 4th weekend could shape up to be one of the best the film industry has seen in quite some time.
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