Despite the Oscars being held last night, we had the least-attended late February box office weekend in 16 years. GNOMEO AND JULIET claimed #1 spot and HALL PASS opened at #2. The only new genre flick, Patrick Lussier’s DRIVE ANGRY, came in at #9 with a paltry $5.131 million. That’s the lowest opening for a major 3D release since the trend has resurfaced.
So why weren’t asses in the seats for this balls-to-the-wall action flick? Seeing Amber Heard in this short shorts was worth the price of admission alone. Sounds like the GRINDHOUSE effect: some movies are apparently just too badass for theaters. Nicolas Cage even fared better with greatly inferior SEASON OF THE WITCH in January. Pretty sad.
Last week’s box office topper, Jaume Collet-Serra’s UNKNOWN, moved to #3. DJ Caruso’s I AM NUMBER FOUR, which opened in second last weekend, fell down to #5. Both flicks experienced a loss of about 43%. Christian E. Christiansen’s THE ROOMMATE is clinging on at #10.
Darren Aronofsky’s BLACK SWAN, for which Natalie Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress last night, remained at #15. Mikael Håfström’s THE RITE and Alister Grierson’s SANCTUM came in at #21 and #22, respectively.
Next weekend, we have a couple of cool limited releases: Kim Jee-woon’s I SAW THE DEVIL and Stevan Mena’s BEREAVEMENT, a prequel to MALEVOLENCE. For wide releases, we’ll see how Matt Damon will fare in THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU up against the awful-looking BEASTLY, the Johnny Depp-starring animated feature RANGO and the romantic comedy TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
| 1. Gnomeo and Juliet | $ 14.2 Million | $ 75.1 Million |
| 2. Hall Pass | $ 13.4 Million | NEW |
| 3. Unknown | $ 12.4 Million | $ 42.8 Million |
| 4. Just Go With It | $ 11.1 Million | $ 79.4 Million |
| 5. I Am Number Four | $ 11.0 Million | $ 37.7 Million |
| 6. Just Biber: Never Say Never | $ 9.2 Million | $ 62.8 Million |
| 7. The King’s Speech | $ 7.7 Million | $ 115 Million |
| 8. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son | $ 7.6 Million | $ 28.6 Million |
| 9. Drive Angry | $ 5.1 Million | NEW |
| 10. The Roommate | $ 2.0 Million | $ 36.0 Million |