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Posted May 10, 2011 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Weekend Box-Office: Thor Hammers the Top Spot

If I said Hobo with a Shotgun was the #1 box-office winner this weekend, would you believe me? Well, sometimes it’s good to be skeptical; it was actually the big-budget super hero flick Thor that topped the box office with $66 million in its opening weekend, and making nearly three times that much overseas so far. Fast Five dropped off quickly from its brilliant opening last weekend, pulling in only $32.5 million this week, but in just two weeks has made over $300 million worldwide, $140 million of that here at home. Two other debuts weren’t quite as impressive in comparison, but compared to their budgets (and overall reviews), they did fairly well against the competition. The $6.6 million-budgeted wedding comedy Jumping the Broom made $13.7 million, while Kate Hudson’s similarly wedding-themed Something Borrowed made $13.1 million…which, at a budget of $30 million, still has a ways to go.

No others in the crowd made much in the way of waves…Rio, happily one of two movies on the list to break $100 million domestically, continues to taper off with a decent $8.2 million, and Water for Elephants showed a profit by adding $5.6 million, but Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family took another catastrophic plunge of over 60%, earning only $3.9 million. No word on if those drops have hurt Perry’s wallet too much (still no budget info has been released), but so far the comedy/drama has managed to stay ahead of Water for Elephants in terms of domestic profit, though not worldwide gross.

Prom enters week two with $2.4 million…unlike Jumping the Broom, even with a miniscule budget ($8 million) it still hasn’t proved a moneymaker. Soul Surfer, already a decent performer, suffered only a minor slide down to $2.1 million for the weekend, while Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil lands squarely at the bottom, earning $1.9 million. Hoodwinked had a budget a fifth of the size of mega-bomb Mars Needs Moms, but even with 3D ticket prices it is likely to suffer a major loss, with only $6.8 million in total compared to the $30 million needed to bring it to the screen.

Weekend Box-Office ( May 6 – May 8 )

  1. Thor…$66 million
  2. Fast Five…$32.5 million
  3. Jumping the Broom…$13.7 million
  4. Something Borrowed…$13.1 million
  5. Rio…$8.2 million
  6. Water for Elephants…$5.6 million
  7. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family…$3.9 million
  8. Prom…$2.4 million
  9. Soul Surfer…$2.1 million
  10. Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil…$1.9 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."