Weekend US box office report: Robin Hood is no match for Iron Man
Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott's Robin Hood can't dislodge Iron Man 2 from the top of the US box office...
While his suit is iron, the movie has turned out to be solid gold. Box office gold, that is. For the second weekend in a row, Iron Man 2 tops the US box office. The film added another $53 million to its haul this weekend, blazed past $212 million in the US since release, and internationally? Well, let's just say that Stark Industries stock is through the roof.
Debuting in a strong second place is the first of three new releases this weekend. Actually, all three new releases fall one below the other. The strongest contender of the three is Robin Hood. Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott's reunion in the big historical epic genre wasn't enough to dethrone Iron Man, but $37.1 million is nothing to sneeze at.
Falling below Robin and company is a pair of romantic flicks. Amanda Seyfried, a closet Den Of Geek favorite, lands in third place with her romantic drama Letters To Juliet. The flick picked up a very good $13.8 million in its opening weekend. Falling in behind Juliet is Just Wright. The story of star-crossed lovers, a physical therapist played by Queen Latifah and a basketball player played by Common, managed $8.5 million, which isn't bad considering the competition in the same subgenre.
Rounding out the top five this weekend is How To Train Your Dragon. While the film has started to limp a bit at the box office, the flick picked up another $5.12 million this weekend and, as important, crossed the $200 million threshold with $208 million in the US. Call it a success for DreamWorks (and it's still got the upcoming Shrek Forever After waiting in the wings).
A Nightmare On Elm Street finds itself in sixth place this weekend. The flick brought in another $4.7 million this weekend, and has picked up an impressive $56.1 million so far in the US. It's the most successful solo venture for Freddy Krueger, surpassing A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master's $49 million way back in 1988. It won't get anywhere near Freddy Vs. Jason's $118 million in the US, but it'll probably greenlight a few other Nightmare sequels.
Date Night's finally showing signs of giving up its box office momentum. The film has finally dropped out of the top five, and its weekend grosses fell to $4 million in the States. It's pushed north of $85 million, but it might not make the $100 million I thought it might.
The Back-up Plan, thanks to lots of competition in its romantic sector, dropped even more this weekend. It falls to eighth, picking up $2.49 million. Still, with $34 million, it's far surpassed the disaster that is Furry Vengeance. Brendan Fraser's animal comedy picked up $2.3 million this weekend, but has only managed $15.1 million in its box office run (and it'll be gone soon).
Rounding out the top 10 is Clash Of The Titans. While it managed only $1.25 million this weekend, it crossed $160 million domestic and has proven to be a big success for Louis Leterrier and yet another huge success for Sam Worthington, the luckiest man in Hollywood. Somehow this guy has just managed to fall into success having come from pretty much nowhere.
Onto next weekend, shall we? For one thing, Shrek is back (again) and hoping to shake off the doldrums of the mediocre third chapter. Squaring off against the big green machine is the unfortunate MacGruber. Not that MacGruber looks bad (it actually looks entertaining), but Shrek is... yeah, it's going to be gigantic. Even a mediocre Shrek outing will make several hundred million dollars without blinking. Amazing that MacGruber managed to beat MacGyver to the big screen, isn't it?
