Back in 2004, Shrek 2 debuted at the US box office pulling in a staggering 108M in its opening weekend. In Shrek 2, we were introduced to a new supporting cast of reimagined fairytale characters – most notably Antonio Banderas’ Puss in Boots. I’m pretty sure everyone who saw this movie thought the same thing, “Yeah – Puss in Boots is getting his own movie.”
A mere seven years later and here we are – Halloween weekend 2011 Box Office Champ… Puss in Boots. Given its pedigree, $34M is a bit less than you’d expect. To put things in perspective, Shrek debuted at 42M, Shrek 2 debuted at 108M, and Shrek 3 opened at 121M. This follows a strange trend in 2011 of heavy favorites doing “okay” and a handful of “holy crap” performances coming out of nowhere. Kung Fu Panda 2 did 165M without topping the box office once. Fast 5 did 209M. Don’t get me wrong – we L-O-V-E-S The Rock… but holy crap, dude – what did Fast 5 have that the first four didn’t?
Dropping to second place in its second week of release is Paranormal Activity 3 with 18.5M. Just like the first two installments, this movie is proved to be profitable instantly – it only cost Paramount $5M to make and has made over $80M so far. Paranormal Activity 4 is all but guaranteed so get used to it; this franchise is going nowhere.
In third place Justin Timberlake’s high concept thriller, In Time, debuted at $12M. Futuristic movies dealing with time manipulation had a rough year – Jake Gyll…Jill… Gylel… Donnie Darko’s movie, Source Code, and Matt Damon’s The Adjustment Bureau both performed with similar numbers. They debuted a bit higher, but that can be attributed to their box office status being a bit more reliable and each being well identified as movie stars. JT can dance, he can sing, and he’s a hell of a supporting character, but he’s just not quite there yet as a leading man. I’m 99% sure he’s going to be considered the Sinatra of the iTunes generation, so I don’t think he’s sweating it.
Rounding out the top five are Footloose in its second week on the dance floor and The Rum Diary – Johnny Depp’s second voyage with Hunter S. Thompson.
| Box Office Report October 28th – October 30th | |||
| Title | Opening Weekend | Total | Change |
| Puss In Boots | $34,000,000.00 | $3,400,000.00 | |
| Paranormal Activity 3 | $18,530,000.00 | $81,305,000.00 | -64% |
| In Time | $12,000,000.00 | $12,000,000.00 | |
| Footloose | $5,400,000.00 | $38,443,000.00 | -47% |
| The Rum Diary | $5,010,631.00 | $5,010,631.00 | |
| Real Steel | $4,702,000.00 | $73,860,000.00 | -56% |
| Three Musketeers | $3,500,000.00 | $14,839,878.00 | -59% |
| Ides of March | $2,700,000.00 | $33,496,000.00 | -44% |
| Moneyball | $2,400,000.00 | $674,421,000.00 | -39% |
| Courageous | $1,800,000.00 | $27,644,000.00 | -27% |
Next week, the holiday movies get started. The Ben Stiller ensemble, Tower Heist, goes head to head with A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas in 3D.
BOLD PREDICTIONS: I’m going with Tower Heist to take the box office next weekend at 35M, Puss in Boots at #2 with 27M, a Very Harold and Kumar Christmas with 22M and Paranormal Activity 3 at 12M.
Credit: www.the-numbers.com; www.collider.com; www.ign.com
