Anime News

'Hop' Sets April Kidpic Record 'Source Code' Lures Older Viewers
Date: 4/4/2011
Universal scored the biggest opening ever for a children?s film in April, as Hop earned an estimated $38.1 million, while two other new films, the science fiction adventure saga Source Code and the horror film Insidious finished second and third respectively. Still the total of the top ten films was down 33% from last year when Clash of the Titans opened with $61.2 million and off 24% from 2009, when Fast & Furious bowed with $71 million.

Hop exceeded expectations. If its estimate holds up, it will tie with Rango for the best opening of 2011 so far, and its performance indicates that the family film market is strong. Hop should have relatively clear sailing until Fox?s Rio opens on April 15th. Audiences gave Hop an ?A-? CinemaScore, though critics handed the Easter-themed (though completely unreligious) Hop a real pummeling with only a 24% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): April 1 - 3, 2011

Film
Weekend Gross
Screens
Avg./
Screen
Total Gross
Wk#
1
Hop
$38,118,000
3,579
$10,650
$38,118,000
1
2
Source Code
$15,053,000
2,961
$5,084
$15,053,000
1
3
Insidious
$13,496,000
2,408
$5,605
$13,496,000
1
4
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
$10,200,000
3,169
$3,219
$38,355,000
2
5
Limitless
$9,402,000
2,838
$3,313
$55,604,000
3
6
The Lincoln Lawyer
$7,050,000
2,707
$2,604
$39,637,000
3
7
Sucker Punch
$6,085,000
3,033
$2,006
$29,876,000
2
8
Rango
$4,560,000
3,134
$1,455
$113,783,000
5
9
Paul
$4,335,000
2,550
$1,700
$31,934,000
3
10
Battle: Los Angeles
$3,500,000
2,263
$1,547
$78,466,000
4

In contrast Source Code managed a stellar 89% positive score from the critics, but the film?s mediocre ?B? CinemaScore from openng weekend moviegoers could mean there?s trouble ahead for the time-traveling adventure saga. Source Code played to an older (64% over 30) male (54%) audience.

Insidious took advantage of a lack of horror film competition and outperformed expectations. Its 60% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes is quite good for a horror film, and Insidious actually showed a 12% bump from Friday to Saturday, which indicates good word of mouth.

Last week?s winner, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules felt the competition from Hop. The Wimpy Kid sequel tumbled 57% in its second frame. It now appears that it won?t have a chance to match its predecessor?s $64 million domestic take, but since it cost only $20 million to produce, more sequels are likely.

Faring a bit better was Limitless, which dropped just 38% and which has earned nearly $56 million in 17 days. Limitless and The Lincoln Lawyer, which fell just 34%, are clearly benefiting from solid word of mouth.

But the same can?t be said of Zack Snyder?s Sucker Punch, which plummeted 68% in its second weekend. So far Sucker Punch has earned just shy of $30 million, and will be lucky to reach $40 million domestically. Foreign prospects for Sucker Punch don?t look much better. The film, which cost $75 million to produce, has earned a mere $6 million overseas so far. Snyder?s 300 wass one of the most financially successful comic book-based so far, but the director, who is now preparing a Superman reboot, hasn?t been able to hit paydirt since.

The final two spots in the top ten went to the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost sci-fi comedy Paul, which fell 44.8% in third weekend, and Sony?s science fiction action film Battle: Los Angeles, which slipped 53.8% in its fourth frame.
Source: ICv2