Weekend Box-Office: February 25-27, 2011

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The
Gnomes rule the charts…

Even though the "big
story" this weekend could be the fact that last weekend’s #3
movie, GNOMEO & JULIET, moved up into the #1 spot this
weekend or the fact that THE KING’S SPEECH actually gained
17% more money than last weekend (extremely rare for any film, but
even moreso, a film that was released over 3 months ago), it was
the major tanking of DRIVE ANGRY that amazed me the most,
in fact…I was flabbergasted! (I just wanted to use that word) It
might be the first time in a loooooong time that I was so
surprised by a film’s opening, in fact, it seems as though many of
you are in the same boat, as 33% of you believed that it would be
#1 this weekend, according to last
weekend’s POLL. Instead, it opened in 9th place with about
$5M.

This week’s POLL
actually attempts to figure out what happened with DRIVE ANGRY,
according to you guys, but I’m sure that cinematic pundits will
massage this one for weeks to come. Very strange as 3D is still
pretty hot, Cage is usually a pretty good box-office draw and Amber
Heard…well, is dang hot! The last time a Nic Cage-starring
wide release opened this weakly, was back in 2005 and WEATHER MAN
— and before that, it was 1993’s AMON AND ANDREW!! And yeah, that
means that crap like SEASON OF THE WITCH and THE WICKER MAN opened
better than DRIVE ANGRY! Wow. 

As for the gnomes, it seems as
though audiences are really enjoying this film, as it lost only
25% of its audience from last weekend, and has already grossed
over $75M in just three weeks. The release of the JUSTIN BIEBER
film as a "Fan Cut" this past weekend (sigh) also gave
it some legs, as it lost only 30% of its audience from last
weekend, and has now surpassed the $60M mark (it cost only $13M to
make).

The other "new film"
of the week, HALL PASS, opened with decent numbers in 2nd place
with about $13M, but it’ll be interesting to see how/if it holds
up over the next few weeks. The two films to get knocked out of
the top 10 this week were THE EAGLE ($18M) and NO STRINGS ATTACHED
($69M).

Next week is a major weekend
for new releases, as 4 new flicks all fight to dethrone GNOMEO
& JULIET for the #1 spot including a "sci-fi
romance" starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt called THE
ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (I believe DARK CITY was already taken),
Johnny Depp continuing his great work as a chameleon actor playing
an animated chameleon in the Western RANGO,
Topher Grace continuing to "pretend" to be younger than
he is in real life (he’s now 32 years old) alongside the lovely
Anna Faris in TAKE
ME HOME TONIGHT, as well as Disney’s BEASTLY
featuring the very cute Vanessa
Hudgens. But more importantly…WTF happened with DRIVE ANGRY? VOTE
NOW!! PS: Note our live
red carpet Oscars on MovieHotties around 7pm tonight, and a
live Twitter updates on JoBlo.com during the Oscars…