JamesG
05-02-2010, 05:23 PM
Nightmare Wakes Up in Top Spot
by Brandon Gray
May 2, 2010
Burning through one of the most front-loaded opening weekends on record, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) boiled atop the box office with an estimated $32.2 million on approximately 4,700 screens at 3,332 sites.
Beneath Freddy's latest resurrection, Furry Vengeance got razed in its debut, but the holdovers couldn't pick up enough slack for an up weekend: overall business was down around 11 percent from the late April weekend last year.
The Nightmare on Elm Street remake saw greater initial attendance than Halloween (2007), and it was a personal best for Freddy Krueger in a solo outing.
It even out-grossed the entire runs of the first, second, fifth and seventh Nightmare movies (albeit not in terms of tickets sold). The debut was also a new horror high for either April or May, surpassing The Amityville Horror (2005), and it ranked seventh overall for the month of April.
The new Nightmare, though, delivered a lower opening body count than Friday the 13th (2009), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Freddy Vs. Jason.
The Friday the 13th remake, which was from the same producer as Nightmare (Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes banner), nabbed $40.6 million on its first weekend and rapidly bled out to a $65 million final.
Below par for a family critter comedy, Furry Vengeance sheared a measly estimated $6.5 million at 2,997 locations, marking yet another kids movie disappointment for lead actor Brendan Fraser.
Mr. Fraser has had only one hit in the genre, George of the Jungle, and perhaps Furry's intent was to recreate that success with him getting beat up again, like in George.
But George's lumps were from clumsiness, whereas Fraser gets viciously attacked by animals in Furry after being set up as a nice guy. It was just cruel, and who wants to see that?
Last weekend's top-grossing picture, How to Train Your Dragon posted another strong showing. Down 29 percent, the animated adventure generated an estimated $10.8 million, lifting its total to $192.4 million in 38 days.
It now trails Kung Fu Panda by about $10 million through the same point and continues to gain ground in its race to become DreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing non-Shrek movie.
USA Weekend Box-Office Summary
week of 30 April 2010
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street $32,205,000
2. How to Train Your Dragon $10,825,000 / $192,385,000
3. Date Night $7,600,000 / $73,627,000
4. The Back-up Plan $7,240,000 / $22,950,000
5. Furry Vengeance $6,500,000
6. The Losers $6,000,000 / $18,125,000
7. Clash of the Titans $5,980,000 / $154,036,000
8. Kick-Ass $4,450,000 / $42,160,000
9. Death at a Funeral $4,000,000 / $34,777,000
10. Oceans $2,600,000 / $13,500,000
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2751&p=.htm
by Brandon Gray
May 2, 2010
Burning through one of the most front-loaded opening weekends on record, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) boiled atop the box office with an estimated $32.2 million on approximately 4,700 screens at 3,332 sites.
Beneath Freddy's latest resurrection, Furry Vengeance got razed in its debut, but the holdovers couldn't pick up enough slack for an up weekend: overall business was down around 11 percent from the late April weekend last year.
The Nightmare on Elm Street remake saw greater initial attendance than Halloween (2007), and it was a personal best for Freddy Krueger in a solo outing.
It even out-grossed the entire runs of the first, second, fifth and seventh Nightmare movies (albeit not in terms of tickets sold). The debut was also a new horror high for either April or May, surpassing The Amityville Horror (2005), and it ranked seventh overall for the month of April.
The new Nightmare, though, delivered a lower opening body count than Friday the 13th (2009), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Freddy Vs. Jason.
The Friday the 13th remake, which was from the same producer as Nightmare (Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes banner), nabbed $40.6 million on its first weekend and rapidly bled out to a $65 million final.
Below par for a family critter comedy, Furry Vengeance sheared a measly estimated $6.5 million at 2,997 locations, marking yet another kids movie disappointment for lead actor Brendan Fraser.
Mr. Fraser has had only one hit in the genre, George of the Jungle, and perhaps Furry's intent was to recreate that success with him getting beat up again, like in George.
But George's lumps were from clumsiness, whereas Fraser gets viciously attacked by animals in Furry after being set up as a nice guy. It was just cruel, and who wants to see that?
Last weekend's top-grossing picture, How to Train Your Dragon posted another strong showing. Down 29 percent, the animated adventure generated an estimated $10.8 million, lifting its total to $192.4 million in 38 days.
It now trails Kung Fu Panda by about $10 million through the same point and continues to gain ground in its race to become DreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing non-Shrek movie.
USA Weekend Box-Office Summary
week of 30 April 2010
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street $32,205,000
2. How to Train Your Dragon $10,825,000 / $192,385,000
3. Date Night $7,600,000 / $73,627,000
4. The Back-up Plan $7,240,000 / $22,950,000
5. Furry Vengeance $6,500,000
6. The Losers $6,000,000 / $18,125,000
7. Clash of the Titans $5,980,000 / $154,036,000
8. Kick-Ass $4,450,000 / $42,160,000
9. Death at a Funeral $4,000,000 / $34,777,000
10. Oceans $2,600,000 / $13,500,000
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2751&p=.htm