"The Hunger Games" Continues Its Winning Streak w/ 4th Consecutive Week on Top

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Four-in-a-Row for The Hunger Games
by Ray Subers
April 15, 2012


Male moviegoers were split between the three new releases this weekend, which allowed the female-skewing Hunger Games to take the top spot at the box office for the fourth-consecutive frame.

Among the new movies, The Three Stooges fared best, though The Cabin in the Woods also had a decent showing.

Lockout, on the other hand, didn't even reach the modest levels of other recent Luc Besson productions.

Without any breakout opener, the Top 12's estimated $107.7 million gross was off eight percent from the same weekend last year.








The Hunger Games eased 35 percent to an estimated $21.5 million, which is its best hold so far. It's the first movie to take the top spot for four weekends in a row since Avatar achieved this feat in January 2010.

The Hunger Games currently ranks 22nd on the all-time domestic chart with $337.1 million, and it should have no problem ending its run with over $370 million.








The Three Stooges took second place with an estimated $17.1 million. That's off from most major TV adaptations, including 60s adaptations Get Smart ($38.7 million) and Bewitched ($20.1 million).

It did open three times higher than The Honeymooners, though, and it wasn't far behind big-budget disappointment Land of the Lost ($18.8 million).

It was also The Farrelly Brothers' best debut in over a decade, and third-highest ever behind Me, Myself and Irene ($24.2 million) and Shallow Hal ($22.5 million).







The Cabin in the Woods opened in third place with an estimated $14.9 million.

That pales in comparison to some of distributor Lionsgate's non-supernatural horror movies (most of the SAW series, My Bloody Valentine 3-D, and the first Hostel movie), though in general it isn't a terrible start.

In fact, among horror comedies, The Cabin in the Woods's debut ranks seventh all time behind the four Scary Movie flicks, Ghostbusters II and Zombieland.







Titanic 3D took fourth place with an estimated $11.6 million, which is a light 33 percent decline from last weekend. That's a better hold than that of all recent 3D re-releases except The Lion King (27 percent drop).

Through 12 days in theaters, Titanic 3D has earned $44.4 million to bring the movie's overall total to $645.2 million.







American Reunion rounded out the Top Five with $10.7 million.

Its 50 percent drop was slightly better than that of American Pie 2 (53 percent) and American Wedding (54 percent), though its $39.9 million total is way off from the $87.3 million and $65.2 million, respectively, that those movies had earned through the same point.

It's now a foregone conclusion that American Reunion will be the first American Pie movie to fall short of $100 million at the domestic box office.







All the way down in ninth place, Lockout opened to an estimated $6.25 million.

That's off from all recent Luc Besson productions including Colombiana ($10.4 million), From Paris with Love ($8.2 million) and Transporter 3 ($12.1 million).

The audience was overwhelmingly male (65 percent), and it was split evenly between those older and younger than 25.







The Raid: Redemption expanded nationwide to 881 locations but only managed to gross just over $1 million.

That translates to a terrible per-theater average of $1,138, indicating that the movie might not remain at the nationwide level for very long.

So far, the Indonesian action thriller has grossed $2.57 million.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3420&p=.htm









April 13-15, 2012 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Hunger Games $21,500,000 / $337,070,000
2. The Three Stooges $17,100,000
3. The Cabin in the Woods $14,850,000
4. Titanic 3D $11,625,000 / $44,419,000
5. American Reunion $10,700,000 / $39,900,000
6. Mirror Mirror $7,000,000 / $49,468,000
7. Wrath of the Titans $6,905,000 / $71,251,000
8. 21 Jump Street $6,800,000 / $120,565,000
9. Lockout $6,250,000
10. The Lorax $3,020,000 / $204,483,000