CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: Puss in Boots Leads the Pack Once Again

Seth Paul

Be it luck, word of mouth, or that those trapped in the eastern seaboard snowstorms last week finally got out to the theater, Puss in Boots was the big draw once again. Losing only a little over 3% in revenue since its debut, the film hauled in an estimated $33 million. While compared to the Shrek franchise it hasn’t exactly stood out (it has had the lowest opening weekend and currently the lowest earnings), its consistency and $75.5 million in two weeks is still nothing to sneeze at. Its competition could only hope for those kinds of numbers; the new Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy-led ensemble comedy Tower Heist made a healthy debut with an estimated $25.1 million, while A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and its gimmicky 3D were only good enough to land an estimated $13.1 million. Also stunning is the fact that the top three are sitting well with critics; perhaps not praised from the rooftops, but considering the critical response to Eddie Murphy’s most recent non-Shrek roles (and even a few of those), Tower Heist’s relative popularity can be seen as a very, very good thing.

Paranormal Activity 3 may have a lost a little steam, dropping to fourth and an estimated $8.5 million, but the juggernaut scarefest isn’t done yet, showing very strongly with $95.3 million in total domestic revenue and over $77.1 million in overseas revenue. In Time, however, stands in fifth place with an estimated $7.7 million and only $24.2 million in domestic revenue, its overseas earnings keeping it only slightly above water. Real Steel also has much to be thankful for in the foreign market, as its seventh place finish and estimated $3.4 million for the week adds to a somewhat tepid $78.7 million domestic gross for a film like this, though it has grossed $127.2 million outside of the U.S. On the opposite side, Footloose only made an estimated $4.6 million this week, but the musical remake of the Kevin Bacon classic has its domestic tallies to thank for its success, the $24 million budgeted film making $44.8 million here and only $10 million in foreign box office.

The Rum Diary made an estimated $3 million, but with $10.4 million domestically (and a total of $13.2 million, including its $2.8 million overseas ticket sales), it’s a disappointment both as a clear money loss (from a $45 million budget) and for Johnny Depp as one of his lowest earning films to date. It’s not his worst (that would be 1995’s Arizona Dream) but it is certainly far from his flagship Pirates of the Caribbean series. Strangely, it is currently in the same boat as his previous Hunter S. Thompson film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (which was about as well-received critically at the time) but that film cost less than half than The Rum Diary did, showing that sometimes when it comes to budget, less can certainly be more. The Ides of March and Moneyball round out the bottom of the list with estimates of $2 million and $1.9 million respectively, but while they could be considered successes (Moneyball is far and away a success with $70.3 million in domestic, The Ides of March with unreleased budget info and $36.8 million domestic earnings), it’s an eighth-place finisher that’s the “Disappointment of the List.”

Weekend Box-Office (November 4 – November 6)

  1. Puss in Boots…$33 million
  2. Tower Heist…$25.1 million
  3. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas…$13.1 million
  4. Paranormal Activity 3…$8.5 million
  5. In Time…$7.7 million
  6. Footloose…$4.6 million
  7. Real Steel…$3.4 million
  8. The Rum Diary…$3 million
  9. The Ides of March…$2 million
  10. Moneyball…$1.9 million

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."
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