No surprise that the Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots was No.1 this weekend. Arguably the most popular character from those films, it was bound to have a genuine appeal to filmmgoers. Can you imagine a film about Donkey? Right, see my point? You wouldn’t want to see it either.
Paranormal Activity 3, despite dropping over 60%, did well enough to come in at No.2, and it’s over $80 million to date, a huge return on the film’s very modest $5 million budget. All this means is that Paranormal Activity 20 is coming up sometime in the not-too-distant future.
The lackluster opening for the sci-fi movie In Time with Justin Timberlake once again proves that no matter how many lead roles they give him, trying to shove him down out throats, Justin is no movie star. A funny Saturday Night Live guest host and a promising supporting actor, but he lacks the presence and the weight to carry a film. (Aside from also still looking like he’s a high school junior)
The disastrous opening for The Rum Diary also proves that audiences are not interested in Johnny Depp unless he’s a mascara-wearing pirate. Also the title and the marketing campaign were probably a turn off, implying that the film was about some drunk, aimlessly running around trashing rooms, which it basically is.
It’s also the second film starring Depp based on a novel written by his idol – the alcoholic, drugged out, nutcase writer Hunter S. Thompson – the first being Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which also tanked the box office. Maybe Depp should just stay away from anything involving Thompson.
1. Puss In Boots 3D (Dreamworks Animation/Paramount) Weekend $33M
2. Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount) Weekend $1, Cume $81.5M
3. In Time (Fox) Weekend $12M
4. Footloose (Paramount) Weekend $5.5M, Cume $38.5M
5. The Rum Diary (FilmDistrict) Weekend $5M
6. Real Steel (DreamWorks/Disney) Weekend $4.9M, Cume $74.1M
7. Three Musketeers 3D (Summit) Weekend $3.5M, Cume $14.8M
8. Ides Of March (Sony) Weekend $2.7M, Cume $33.5M
9. Moneyball (Sony) Weekend $2.4M, Cume $67.4M
10. Courageous (Sony) Weekend $1.8M, Cume $27.6M
