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Posted March 11, 2013 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Box Office Weekend: Oz Truly is the Great and Powerful with a Solid #1 at the Box Office

Oz the Great and PowerfulIf there was to be any film to slay the mediocre Jack the Giant Slayer, it would be Oz the Great and Powerful, and the Sam Raimi-directed prequel did not disappoint; while it still has a long ways to go to make up its $215 million budget, it made a much better head start than the Bryan Singer-directed megaflop. Oz the Great and Powerful made an estimated $80.3 million, well ahead of any contender, and worldwide has made a grand total of $150.2 million; to add insult to injury, its foreign box office overshadows Jack the Giant Slayer’s entire worldwide gross, as the film enters its second week with a tepid $10 million estimate. Identity Thief, though third, made an estimated $6.3 million; but with a haul of $116.5 million in domestic ticket sales, the comedy is making a lot of bigger budgeted films look silly by comparison.

Besides Oz the Great and Powerful, hopes were high for the next film from director Niels Arden Oplev, who previously directed the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But his latest, Dead Man Down starring Colin Farrell in a neo-noir mystery-thriller, has not received the greatest of reviews, nor much in the way of box office…its $5.4 million estimate falls well short of its $30 million budget and most expectations. Snitch nearly made that much at an estimated $5.1 million, and that is at its third week in the box office and only with slightly better reviews. Even 21 and Over managed an estimated $5.1 million as well, though having passed its $13 million production costs in two weeks, is the most successful (and worst reviewed) of the three films.

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Safe Haven retained a mild following in its fourth week with an estimated $3.8 million, and a decent $62.9 million in overall domestic revenue, while Best Actress Oscar winner Silver Linings Playbook made an estimated $3.7 million, with its $120.7 million domestic earnings only surpassed by its longevity at the box office (twelve of its seventeen weeks in the top ten). At the bottom, Escape from Planet Earth and The Last Exorcism Part II jockeyed for last with $3.2 million and $3.1 million, though both have proven mild successes financially, if not critically.

Weekend Box Office (March 8th – March 10th)

  1. Oz the Great and Powerful…$80.3 million
  2. Jack the Giant Slayer…$10 million
  3. Identity Thief…$6.3 million
  4. Dead Man Down…$5.4 million
  5. Snitch…$5.1 million
  6. 21 and Over…$5.1 million
  7. Safe Haven…$3.8 million
  8. Silver Linings Playbook…$3.7 million
  9. Escape from Planet Earth…$3.2 million
  10. The Last Exorcism Part II…$3.1 million
Seth Paul

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."