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Posted May 24, 2011 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Weekend Box-Office: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Sails into First; Bridesmaids Still Second In Line

Despite the dismal reviews and less revenue in its first weekend than its predecessors (that’s including the added markup of 3-D), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides still showed very strong over the weekend, earning $90.1 million and taking the top spot at the box office. Even so, Johnny Depp and company have helmed a steady ship overseas; the $250 million budget has been covered in the overseas market alone. While perhaps not shattering box office records, Bridesmaids held second place for a another week with $21.1 million, the highly-rated comedy dropping less than 20% of last week’s revenue. Thor finally drops from #1 to #3 with $15.5 million. Compared to other Marvel ventures (though it hasn’t fared quite as well as the better-known heroes such as Iron Man, X-Men or Spider-Man), Thor has done better than Blade or the Hulk franchise (and much better than bombs like Howard the Duck and Punisher: War Zone).

Fast Five slid to fourth place with $10.6 million, and not only has it made impressive numbers here and abroad (over $500 million in worldwide take), but it is also the highest grosser of the entire Fast and the Furious franchise to date. Below it is another big winner, Rio, holding the fifth spot yet again, though far below Fast Five in terms of take ($4.7 million). Below it, Priest took the sixth place spot, losing nearly 70% of last week’s take for a mere $4.6 million. The film is taking a hit thanks to poor reviews, though with worldwide revenue has actually shown a minor profit, and has avoided the pitfall of bombing out completely.

Though nowhere near the Bridesmaids moneymaker, Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed landed in the 7th and 8th spots, with $3.7 million and $3.4 million respectively. Although Borrowed is ahead in total revenue compared to Broom, Borrowed has yet to break even (and that includes the overseas market). However, Broom has shown bigger bang for its buck, having made all of its money domestically as well as making over 4 times its initial budget. Water for Elephants fell one place to ninth with $2.2 million, healthily increasing its bottom line and getting lots of help in the foreign market (making nearly $100 million overall). Finally, Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family took in $990k to stay in contention for the Top Ten. Big Happy Family currently rests fifth overall in terms of gross for Perry’s franchise, which bodes well for more stage-to-screen adaptations.

Weekend Box-Office (May 20 – May 22)

  1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides…$90.1 million
  2. Bridesmaids…$21.1 million
  3. Thor…$15.5 million
  4. Fast Five…$10.6 million
  5. Rio…$4.7 million
  6. Priest…$4.6 million
  7. Jumping the Broom…$3.7 million
  8. Something Borrowed…$3.4 million
  9. Water for Elephants…$2.2 million
  10. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family…$990k
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."