Weekend Estimates: Hop Hits

April 3, 2011

Universal have a shot at posting the biggest opening of 2011, thanks to a stronger than expected opening for Hop, which is currently estimated to open with $38.118 million. If that number holds up, it would just beat the $38.079 million opening enjoyed by Rango at the beginning of March. Encouraging as that performance is, it also highlights the overall weakness of the market in 2011, as four movies had opened over $40 million by this time last year, and Clash of the Titans debuted with $61 million the first weekend of April, making for another tough year-to-year comparison. The weekend as a whole will likely be down around 27% from last year, continuing the industry's losing streak into the second quarter.

FilmDistrict will be celebrating a better-than-expected first weekend for their first release, as Insidious is heading towards a $13.5 million weekend, give or take. That's well ahead of general expectations, and should ensure the studio gets a profitable release straight out the gate -- a rare achievement. Source Code, meanwhile, had a less inspiring weekend for Summit, earning $15 million in spite of generally very good reviews.

The Lincoln Lawyer had the best hold in the top ten, although it was down 34% from last weekend. Sucker Punch fell 68% in its second weekend to just $6 million and will be an expensive flop for Warner Bros., barring a surprisingly strong home market performance.

In limited release, Foreign Language Best Picture Oscar winner In a Better World (Haevnen) opened in four theaters to a worthy, though not spectacular, $35,000 in four theaters. That will probably be enough for it to top the Per Theater chart this week, although the more impressive art-house performances are coming from a couple of movies playing in much wider release. Win Win earned an estimated $1.176 million this weekend in 149 theaters, and Jane Eyre scored $1.2 million in 180 venues. Both movies are now lurking just outside the top ten, and could yet make it into that list as they continue their expansions in the weeks to come.

- Weekend Estimates
- Friday Estimates
- Saturday Estimates
- Sunday Projections

Bruce Nash (

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Win Win, Insidious, Jane Eyre, The Lincoln Lawyer, Source Code, Haevnen, Hop