US/CAN Box Office Milestones - 15 February 2010
Posted by Team Screenline on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in (0) Comments • Permalink •
Finally, moviegoers were just that into 2010 releases as this President’s Day weekend was the biggest on record. The box office rang up $204.6M from Friday-Sunday, and $239.5M over four days. This holiday weekend out-grossed last year's four-day weekend and even holiday heavy hitter Memorial Day weekend 2009 by 10%.
For the first time, three movies debuted to $30M+ in one weekend. The Wolfman won the three-day weekend over Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief, $31.5M vs. $31.3M, but Percy pulled out a victory over four days with its $38.7M trumping Wolfman’s $35.6M. Neither could come close to Valentine’s Day’s $56.2M/$63.1M earnings. So which of these movies will cross $100M? Valentine’s Day is guaranteed to become the first movie of the decade to hit that milestone. Percy Jackson has a decent shot of bolting past the nine-digit barrier if it can broaden its appeal beyond fans of the books. The Wolfman’s lukewarm reviews and the nature of its genre point to falling short.
Dear John won’t be making it to $100M. It got pummeled by Valentine’s Day, down 47% from last weekend, but it's on track to surpass The Exorcism of Emily Rose to become the highest-grossing film in Screen Gems history.
The Tooth Fairy has been benefiting from the lack of kids movies in the marketplace. It held up very well against its studio stablemate Percy Jackson, showing that Percy skewed older than its PG rating suggests. Tooth Fairy hasn’t dropped more than 35% in a single weekend. It’s earned more than three times its opening thus far, and with no kidpics getting released until Alice in Wonderland, The Rock has that demographic all to himself for the rest of the month. In fact, the next two weekends will see only R-rated wide releases. Tooth Fairy’s run is reminiscent of his hit The Game Plan. That comedy opened in September 2007 and took advantage of being the only family film released the entire fall season. Fox has cornered the family market this year as Percy Jackson is its third consecutive PG-rated release. It keeps the streak going with Diary of a Wimpy Kid opening March 19.
--Philip Siegel