Sunday, May 08, 2011

Thunder Claps

The Mighty Thor Indeed! It's official--The comic book superhero has taken over the world's box office with a pounding of the competition. Fast 5 takes second place here in the States First overseas

Meantime before getting into the numbers...You can read my review of Thor as well as TLR Contributor Julian Stark's take on the film via his own blog  Movies and Other Things...





Pamela McClintock  of THR:

Successfully introducing a new superhero character to the big screen, Paramount and Marvel Studios’ 3D tentpole Thor opened to a strong $66 million from 3,955 theaters at the domestic box office.

Overseas, where the movie bowed first, Thor has earned an impressive $176 million in only 11 days -- better than the lifetime international gross of fellow Marvel properties X-Men ($139 million) and Fantastic Four ($175.9 million). Thor’s worldwide total is $242 million.

When you look at the Marvel brand, to be at this level of success on a global level is certainly a great story,” Paramount vice chair Rob Moore said. “It was also a great move on Marvel’s part to go with Kenneth Branagh and Chris Hemsworth.”

Thor cost $150 million to produce. All along, Paramount said the film would open better than X-Men and Fantastic Four, which debuted to roughly $56 million domestically, but not reach the heights of Spider-Man or Iron Man, which cleared $100 million.

Fanboys over the age of 25 fueled Thor, which received a B+ CinemaScore. A full 72% of the audience was over the age of 25, while 63% were males. Teens and younger adults have been noticeably missing from the multiplex, a trend that continued with Thor.

Universal’s box office hit Fast Five continued to make headlines as well. Overseas, Fast Five beat Thor for the weekend as it expanded into 58 territories, grossing an estimated $86.6 million for a new international total of $184.8 million.

Fast Five was expected to win the overseas race because of its expansion. Thor, grossing $46 million for the weekend, has already opened in most of those markets.

Domestically, Fast Five fell 62% in its second weekend to $32.5 million for a domestic cume of $139.9 million and worldwide total of $324.7 million.

Fast Five placed No. 2 for the weekend at the domestic box office, followed by Screen Gems’ African-American comedy Jumping the Broom, which overperformed in grossing an estimated $13.7 million from 2,035 locations.

Jumping the Broom’s ensemble cast includes Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Mike Epps. The film received an A CinemaScore across all demos and categories, a rarity.

Salim Akil directed the comedy, which centers around two families from two very different environments who gather on Martha’s Vineyard for a wedding.

The third new wide release of the weekend was femme-driven comedy Something Borrowed, which met expectations in grossing $13.2 million from 2,904 locations.

The movie, distributed by Warner Bros., was fully financed by Alcon Entertainment (The Blind Side).

Something Borrowed stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, John Krasinski and Colin Egglesfield. Hilary Swank also is a producer on the film, which is based on the book by Emily Giffin. Pic received a B CinemaScore, although females -- who made up the majority of the audience -- gave it a B+.

Both Something Borrowed and Jumping the Broom are expected to benefit from Mother’s Day...


John Young of EW:

Superhero wins weekend with estimated $66M, a solid total but behind Marvel kin ''Wolverine,'' ''Iron Man''

Coming Up: Paul Bettany's Priest goes up against Karl Urban's Black Hat in  Scott Charles Stewart's  post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller; Meet The Bridesmaids--Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy in this Hangover-style comedy but with chicks

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