Original Blog Entry: 'Toy Story' breaks records at box office

NBey6 — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:10:28 GMT

'Toy Story' breaks records at box office

By Nicole Sperling, EW

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Toy Story 3 grossed an estimated $109 million, Pixar's highest open ever Other release Jonah Hex grossed paltry $5 million for eighth place finish The A-Team held very well, dropping only 46 percent

RELATED TOPICS

Movies Entertainment Hollywood

(EW.com) -- It may not have reached infinity and beyond, but Toy Story 3 has broken records with its Father's Day weekend debut.

The G-rated movie starring everyone's favorite Pixar characters Buzz Lightyear and Cowboy Woody grossed an estimated $109 million, earning the status of Pixar's highest-grossing opening weekend ever.

It helped that Toy Story 3 bowed in more than 2,000 3-D locations, a number that accounted more than 50 percent of its gross. Its IMAX numbers were also solid: The film earned 8 percent of its total from the 180 large-screen theaters. The movie generated a 99 percent positive rating from review collector site Rotten Tomatoes and an A from exit pollster CinemaScore.

The animated flick also helped boost the box office more than 30 percent over this weekend last year, when The Proposal debuted to $33 million.

The story is far different for the only other new wide release, Jonah Hex. In fact, the PG-13 western actioner starring Josh Brolin was wholeheartedly rejected by audiences, grossing a paltry $5 million for an eighth place finish at the box office.

It will likely go down as the biggest disappointment of the summer, one that's surely not going to help the careers of either Brolin or costar Megan Fox. Audiences gave it a C+ as indicated by CinemaScore.

Second place for the weekend went to The Karate Kid, which held up pretty well considering the competition for family audiences from Toy Story 3. The PG-rated remake earned an estimated $29 million for the three days, bringing its 10-day total to $106 million.

The film fell off 48 percent from its opening weekend, but that's likely to be the well-playing movie's biggest drop for a while, since no other movie is likely to pose as big a threat as Toy Story in the coming weeks.

The other second weekend holdover, The A-Team, also held very well, dropping only 46 percent to earn an additional $13.7 million. The PG-13 rated movie has now earned close to $50 million for its 10 days in release. The $100 million-budgeted film has a ways to go to break even, but if it can keep its drops in the 40 percent range, it may end up okay.

Get Him to the Greek took fourth place for the weekend. The Forgetting Sarah Marshall off-shoot grossed another $6 million, representing a 38 percent drop from last weekend. The $40 million-budget film has now earned almost $48 million since it debuted three weekends ago.

Shrek Forever After took the fifth place in the derby, earning another $5.5 million, raising its cume to almost $223 million. The film fell off over 65 percent for the weekend, an expected drop considering the direct effect of Toy Story 3.

Prince of Persia held in surprisingly well its fourth weekend in theaters. The PG-rated actioner starring Jake Gyllenhaal earned an estimated $5.2 million, dropping only 19 percent from its session last weekend. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced flick has now earned $80.5 million.

Spot seven went to Killers, which slipped only 36 percent in its third weekend. The PG-13 rated flick starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl grossed $5.1 million for the weekend, putting its total at $34 million. Iron Man 2 and Marmaduke rounded out the top 10.

Iron Man 2 holds the title of highest-grossing film of the summer, earning an additional $2.7 million to put its cume at $304 million. Wonder how long it will take for Toy Story 3 to surpass it?

The PG-rated Marmaduke lost 56 percent of its value, not surprising considering all the competition for the family audience. The movie has grossed a weak $28 million since it opened three weekends ago.

In limited release, Cyrus and I Am Love had solid openings. Cyrus, starring John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill, earned a huge per-screen average of $45,000 on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, for a total of $180,000 in its first weekend in release. I Am Love, a Milan-set love story starring Tilda Swinton, opened on eight screens for a per-screen average of $15,000 for a $125,300 total.

Check back in next weekend when Tom Cruise's Knight and Day goes up against Adam Sandler's Grown Ups. My early prediction: Toy Story lands in the No. 1 slot again.

... [ More ]