Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of June 11th-13th

After a series of films underperformed at the box office throughout the past month, shockingly it was “The Karate Kid” that shattered all expectations by taking in $56 million at the domestic box office this weekend. While global numbers were unavailable at this time, “The Karate Kid” had a $40 million production budget, and is looking at a profit margin that could be far higher than any other film released this summer. Even Sony who released “The Karate Kid” had predicted an opening of about half this scale, and to possibly be neck-and-neck for the top spot with the re-make of “The A-Team”. Ultimately, with kids getting out of school for the summer and families wanting to return to the movies, “The Karate Kid” filled a need in the marketplace that was open as many families had already seen “Shrek Forever After” in the last three weeks.

If “The Karate Kid” signaled a shift at the box office to better summer seasons gone by, “The A-Team”, fit right in to this summer’s series of opening weekends that fall somewhere in between disappointing and tragic. Although it may be more the former than the latter, “The A-Team” opened in second place with $26 million domestically and $41 million worldwide, only a fraction of its $110 million budget. While many have been quick to point fingers at “Hollywood” for rehashing ideas for sequels, video game adaptations, and re-imaginings that people didn’t want to see, it’s hard to place blame on the studio system for lack of original ideas leading to a weak marketplace the same weekend when a series re-boot took the top spot. While everyone underestimated the power of the branding of “The Karate Kid” (and it’s Justin Bieber tie-in which was likely game-changing), the brand recognition/loyalty for “The A-Team” didn’t seem to be in the marketplace in the way Fox may have expected or hoped.

As far as “Shrek Forever After” goes, the song remains the same with that film as it took third place at the box office this weekend making another $15 million, bringing its domestic total to $210 million and its worldwide total to $277. Again, while the numbers on the film remain profitable for Dreamworks (the film reportedly cost $165 million), it continues to fall short of the previous sequels in the franchise. This would continue to prove the “rule” that many filmgoers and bloggers have suggested , that audiences are growing weary of paying for expensive tickets to see franchise films that may have overstayed their welcome, and are growing even more weary of paying even more to see them in 3-D.

“Get Him to the Greek” took fourth place this week, adding another $10 million to its total to bring its domestic total to $36 million. This puts the film ahead of the two week gross of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and guarantees that the film should turn a profit in the coming days.

Though many films have underperformed at the box office this summer, the season has produced very few bona fide flops. Still, one of those flops could end up being “Killers”, which took in another $8 million this weekend to come in at fifth place. With the worldwide total being $31 million and production budget being reported as having been $75 million, its hard to say if the film will turn a profit in its theatrical run, but at this point it seems unlikely.

Three films opened this weekend in limited release, and they just so happen to be the three films with the highest per-screen averages. The top spot in this race went to the Sundance breakout hit “Winter’s Bone” which opened with $85,400, or $21,350 per-screen. With the film’s low-budget, positive reviews, and awards buzz, the film should easily turn a nice profit in the coming weeks and months.

“The Lottery”, the documentary on the education system in America, opened on one screen with $17,200, a success for a documentary with such little publicity.

“Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky” had it’s American debut in three theaters where it make $48,800, or $16,267 per-screen. Though no budget for the film was available, the film has made over $3.5 million worldwide.

As always, we at the Awards Circuit are intrigued to find out what you saw this weekend and what you make of this rollercoaster summer at the box office. Is the multiplex offering to few original ideas for your taste? Are the sequels not entertaining enough? Have you been shunning them for indie fare? Or have ticket prices kept you out of the theaters all together? As always, all of us at the Awards Circuit would love to hear what awards potential you saw (if any) and wish you a wonderful summer at the movies.

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of June 4th-6th

Following a disappointing May at the Box Office, June got off to a slow start as the total weekend was down about 19% from last year, and several new releases fell short of their expectations. “Shrek Forever After” took the top spot for the third week in a row, taking in another $25 million. This brings its domestic total to $183 million and its global total to $251 million. As the production budget is reported as having been $165 million, the film has still proven profitable for Dreamworks, but has grossed far less than either of the last two films in the franchise at this point in their respective runs.

“Get Him to the Greek” came in second, with a respectable opening weekend of $17 million, an almost identical figure to the opening weekend of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” in the spring of 2008. The rock n’ roll themed comedy cost Universal $40 million to produce, and should easily turn a profit in the coming weeks.

“Killers” had a terrible opening weekend, taking in $16 million, a four-year-low for a film starring either Katherine Heigl or Ashton Kutcher. Lionsgate produced the film for $75 million. Depending on the drop-off in the coming week and the worldwide grosses (which are unavailable at this time) the film may have to wait until its DVD release to turn a profit, but as of now it’s hard to see the film ultimately not making money.

“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” fell over 53% in its second week, taking in another $13 million to bring its domestic total to $59 million. Though the film has continued to under-perform stateside, its worldwide gross currently sits at $215 million, a figure slightly higher than its $200 million budget.

The biggest nose-dive at the Box Office this weekend was “Sex and the City 2”, which fell almost 60%, taking in another $12 million to bring its domestic total to $73 million. This is another film that has made up for a less-than-stellar domestic showing by creating a higher profit margin overseas. The worldwide total currently sits at $163 million, and as the budget was $100 million, the film could not make another dime theatrically and still be considered a banner success.

In other opening weekend news, the greatest failure of the week may have been “Marmaduke” which opened in seventh place with $11 million domestically, and a worldwide total of $16 million. With a production budget of $50 million, its currently easy to see the film not turning a profit during its theatrical run, yet it should do well on DVD, making it very likely a good investment for FOX.

“Splice” opened in eight place with $7 million, with worldwide figures unavailable at this time. As the film reportedly cost $30 million to produce, it would be easy to consider the opening weekend a failure. Still, the film was independently financed with no original intention of a wide release, so Warner Brothers which distributed the film will likely be happy with the opening weekend to a certain degree, and the film could easily recoup its budget on the worldwide scale and on DVD.

“Raajneeti” opened in a limited release but took eleventh place with $917,000. Although no production budget or worldwide gross was available at this time, the film appeared to have a successful weekend due to a large Indian-American audience creating one of the weekend’s higher per-theater-average.

The only other film opening this weekend was the horror/documentary “Cropsey” which took in $6,500 on one screen.

The film that took in the highest per-theater-average this weekend was “Agora”, written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar (“The Sea Inside”) and starring Academy Award-winner Rachel Weisz (“The Constant Gardener”). The film took in $43,500 on four screens for a $10,875 per-screen-average and a $97,500 domestic total.

What drew you to the theater this weekend? Whether you were catching up with this summer’s blockbusters or this weekend’s genre fare, as always, we at the Awards Circuit would love to hear what you saw, and as always, and awards potential you see. On behalf of all of us at the Circuit, thank you so much for reading and we hope you’re enjoying your summer at the movies.

Will the summer movie season be a wasteland for sequels?

It's a possibility, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Hollywood still hopes to shake off early symptoms, but there is spreading concern that the summer boxoffice will be plagued by a nasty case of sequelitis.

Conditions are ripe: Studios have planted 11 sequels or franchise reboots in the fertile May-August span, up from nine last summer and seven from the 2008 season. But those opened so far have underwhelmed, with seasonal boxoffice off by a double-digit margin and studio executives beginning to feel woozy.

Most recently, Warner Bros.' "Sex and the City 2" was expected to outpace its 2008 predecessor and top the Memorial Day weekend. Instead, it lagged the original's bow dramatically and debuted with a tarnished bronze medal, trailing even Disney's disappointing "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time." (A would-be franchise starter, "Persia" will need outsized international contributions to reach profitability.)

DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek Forever After" finished first in the frame. But that was of limited relief, as the Paramount-distributed four-quel missed consensus forecasts for its opening by a nauseating $30 million.

Reaction to the latest disappointments came swiftly.

"There very well could be some burnout with moviegoers, who are looking for something new and fresh," a top studio exec lamented Tuesday.

Not everything has been doom and gloom.

Summer's first tentpole release, Paramount's "Iron Man 2," soon should top $300 million after initially disappointing those hoping the Robert Downey Jr. starrer would kick-start the all-important season with a record bow.

But the desultory outings of "Shrek Forever" and "Sex 2" have many seeing signs of franchise fatigue.

"Watching the decline of 'Sex and the City 2' every day has really surprised us," another top industyite said.

The New Line-produced dramedy fetched $14.2 million in its first day of release Thursday but at least $2 million less each day since.

Still, it's possible to explain each pic's disappointment individually.

Expectations of a summer-launching record opening by the "Iron Man" sequel probably were unrealistic, and the second-week traction by "Shrek Forever" suggests a run as leggy as most family pics. As for "Sex 2," the TV series leading to the big-screen franchise ended a distant six years ago.

Film-specific explanations for boxoffice wobbles have some predicting smoother sailing through the balance of the sequel-filled summer. But it's too soon to tell if Hollywood can quell its boxoffice maladies before contagion spreads.

The next sequel set to hit multi¬plexes is Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3," which nobody expects to have any difficulty generating impressive boxoffice when it opens June 18.

"The interest is immense," Disney distribution topper Chuck Viane said.

Remakes such as Sony's June 11 opener "The Karate Kid" also will be watched carefully. But pre¬release interest in the reimagined "Kid" appears high, and its comparisons with decades-old boxoffice figures won't be difficult.

So it's possible the best test of moviegoers' attitudes won't come until June 30, when Summit Entertainment sends out the "Twilight" threequel "Eclipse."

All signs point to enormous interest among the fanged franchise's young fan base. But perception is often reality with boxoffice success, so could the vampire romance open well but still be deemed a failure?

Not bloody likely, said a distribution topper at a rival studio citing tracking data.

"Expectations can get out of hand, but I would put the 'Twlight' picture down for a $125 million opening right now," the industryite said. "That's huge."

Just not as huge as the opening posted by the franchise's first sequel: "New Moon" bowed with $142.8 million in November.

Rentrak data show summer boxoffice is off 21% so far at $813 million. The season starts on the first Friday of May and got a one-weekend head start May 1 last year.

Adding in one weekend from the end of spring cuts industry underperformance to 12%. But ticket-price inflation since last summer means admissions are off more significantly.

-How do you think these sequels will end up doing?

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of May 28th - 30th

My apologies for the absence last week, but I decided to celebrate Memorial Day a week early so that I would be here with you today to analyze the Box Office numbers from this all important holiday weekend.

As far as the three day weekend numbers are concerned, it turns out neither Carrie and the girls nor something that looks like “Clash of the Titans” but stars Jake Gyllenhaal could defeat the second weekend of America’s favorite ogre. “Shrek Forever After” took in $43 million this weekend, to take the top spot and raise its domestic total to $133 million. As its worldwide gross currently sits at $158 million and its production budget was $165, even though the film has fallen behind the grosses of the last two in the franchise, it will still make hundreds of millions for Dreamworks, once the global theatrical run had ended. Still two things remain to be seen: First, will this be another “Dreamworks sleeper” a la “How to Train Your Dragon” which maintained incredible momentum for weeks despite a slow start and second, is Dreamworks sensing a fatigue to this franchise that may cause them to make good on calling this film “The Final Chapter”. Only time and stock prices will tell…

“Sex and the City 2” took in $32 million this weekend, bringing its domestic total (including Thursday’s grosses) to $46 million and its worldwide total to $73 million. Even though the latest film in the multi-media franchise may need all five days of the holiday weekend to compete with the three-day opening of the first film, the film will easily make its $100 million budget back in the coming days, and will prove a financial success for Warner Brothers any way you slice it. The latest film could easily out-gross it predecessor, though the real test of the film will be in the coming weeks. Regardless, it should be profitable enough that you should mark your calendars to spend Memorial Day weekend 2012 at the movies with the girls seeing “Sex and the City 3”.

Though it may not be in “flop” territory yet, the numbers almost call to mind Jane Lynch’s famous line on “Glee”: “That’s the smell of failure and it’s stinking up my office.” Buena Vista put $200 million into “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” hoping there would be a brand-name from the video game in the marketplace that simply wasn’t there (the video game debuted in 1989). What they couldn’t have planned for, was that the disappointing “Clash of the Titans” and “Robin Hood” created a sword-and-sandals fatigue that kept filmgoers away from theaters on opening weekend. Adding insult to injury, while Jake Gyllenhaal is easily one of the best actors working today, early on in the marketing campaign for the film, audiences seemed uncomfortable accepting him in a summer blockbuster. Ironically, his critical and commercial success in “”Jarhead”, Brokeback Mountain”, “Zodiac”, and “Brothers”, were likely what made it impossible to be taken seriously by audiences in another summer blockbuster despite the commercial success of “The Day After Tomorrow” in 2004. This weekend, “The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” grossed $30 million domestically and $58 million worldwide. The coming weeks will define whether the film is a “flop” or not, though at this rate there is a great chance of it not making its money back.

In fourth place is the fourth weekend of “Iron Man 2”, which took in another $16 million to bring its domestic total to $274 million and its worldwide total to $550 million, all from a $200 million investment from Paramount. Look for “Iron Man 3” to kick off the summer movie season on Friday, May 4 2012.

Rounding out the top five was the third week of “Robin Hood” which is actually turning a profit on a global scale despite underwhelming stateside. The film made $10 million this weekend to bring its domestic total to $83 million, yet its worldwide total currently sits at $154 million, making Universal’s $200 million investment look like a solid gamble.

The only other film to open this weekend (and also the film with the highest per-screen average) was “Micmacs”, the latest film from the Oscar-nominated writer/director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the man behind “Amelie” and “A Very Long Engagement”. The film made $48,700 on four screens, bringing its average to $12,175 per-screen.

What drew you to the theater this holiday weekend? Did you see a new summer blockbuster, or catch up on one from the past several weeks? Or, did you go straight to the arthouse and opt for quieter fair with fewer big names and no CGI budget? Either way, we at the Awards Circuit would love to hear what you saw, what you thought about it, and always, any awards potential you see. Thanks for commenting, and from the bottom of our hearts we wish you a great summer at the movies.

'Shrek Forever After' wins the Box Office battle...

...but how did it actually do? Well, since Jackson is indisposed currently, I'm going to simply link to the weekend estimates by Box Office Mojo here, as well as give you the story from Box Office Guru:

The fourth film in the Shrek series took the box office crown in the fourth weekend of the 2010 summer movie season, but with a much smaller gross than anticipated. Meanwhile, the SNL curse continued as Universal's MacGruber crashed and burned on impact. Shrek Forever After took charge of the box office this weekend, debuting to $71.3M from 4,359 locations (which includes 194 IMAX and 2373 3D screens) for a per screen average of $16,345. The opening, while extremely good for most movies, is a big let down for the franchise.

Each film in the Shrek series had a higher opening weekend gross than the previous one (taking into account that Shrek 2 opened on a Wednesday). While Shrek Forever After wasn't expected to meet the heights of Shrek the Third, with the 3D and IMAX surcharges added in to a huge theater count, the $72M has to be seen as disappointing. As you can also see, the opening weekend percentage of the final total has been going up as well, as the grosses become more and more front loaded. With less-than-stellar reviews it is distinctly possible that Shrek Forever After may not make as much money as stablemate How To Train Your Dragon, which is currently at $211M and counting.

After two weeks in the top spot, Robert Downey, Jr. and Iron Man 2 took a step back into the second spot this weekend, falling 49% to an estimated $26.6M, bringing its cume to $251.3M. By comparison, the original Iron Man had grossed $223.1M by the end of its third weekend back in 2008. Third place belonged to fellow hero Robin Hood which fell 48% from last weekend to an estimated $18.7M, bringing its total to $66.1M. Look for a final gross in the $115-120M range.

We're now at fourth place with still no sighting of MacGruber... Taking up residence in the fourth spot was Summit Entertainment's Letters to Juliet, which took in an estimated $9.1M this weekend, a drop of only 33% from last weekend's opening. Its cume now stands at $27.4M and it looks to end its run in the $55-60M range. Fifth place finds fellow sophomore Just Wright which fell 49% from last weekend to an estimated $4.2M, bringing its total to $14.6M. Look for a final gross in the $25-30M range.

Who is that I see trying to defuse a bomb with only seconds remaining? It's MacGruber! Oh no, he didn't make it! Crashing into sixth place this weekend, the Saturday Night Live sketch-turned-movie bombed at the box office, pulling in only $4.1M, according to estimates, from 2,551 screens for a per screen average of $1,607. The $4.1M opening is one of the worst openings of all time from a film with at least 2,500 screens. How bad was this opening? 1999's Chill Factor, starring that dynamic duo of Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Skeet Ulrich opened to $4.5M from 2,558 theaters.

Seventh place belonged to the film that just wouldn't quit, Date Night, which had the best hold in the top 10, dropping a slim 26% to an estimated $2.8M. Its total now stands at $90.6M. In eighth place was the horror remake A Nightmare on Elm Street which fell 51% to an estimated $2.3M, bringing its cume to $59.9M. It looks to end its run with a total nearly identical to 2009's remake du jour, Friday the 13th which finished with $65M.

DreamWorks Animation's second film in the top 10 ended up in 9th place this weekend as How to Train Your Dragon fell sharply with the latest animation offering taking most of its business. The dragon tale took in $1.85M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its cume to a robust $210.9M.

Rounding out the top 10 was another new title to the charts, the Bollywood film Kites. Distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures, the crossover hit opened with $1M from 208 playdates, for a per screen average of $4,976.

The top ten films grossed $141.9M which was down 15.7% from last year when Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian opened in the top spot with $54.2M; and down 14.8% from 2008 when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened at number one with $100.8M. However in both previous years, this weekend was part of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

-Did you see anything this weekend?

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of May 14th - 16th

For those of you who were film-going during 2009, did something about the year seem incomplete to you? As if 2009’s cinematic landscape was missing something that had been a constant at the multiplex for the last four years in a row? I felt that way throughout the year, and realized that what was missing was a new offering from Ridley Scott, likely starring Russell Crowe, getting a wide release across the nation to be almost ignored completely and unjustly by the Academy and/or the public (see “Kingdom of Heaven”, “A Good Year”, “Body of Lies” and to a lesser extent “American Gangster” for examples of the former, and all but “American Gangster” and to a lesser extent “Kingdom of Heaven” for examples of the latter). Still, the films tend to be good enough and profitable enough that Scott always lives to make another. In 2010, Universal has given Scott and Crowe a $200 million production and prime May release date (albeit a week after “Iron Man 2”, but still early enough to help kick off the summer film-going season and play well into the coming months) in hopes of reclaiming the critical success of “Gladiator”. How has the attempt faired thus far? The prequel of sorts to the legend of “Robin Hood” seems to have all but failed on the critical front with a 44% on rottentomatoes.com, and while the film’s $37 million opening weekend was higher than that of “Gladiator” ten years ago, that statistic takes a punch-to-the-gut considering how much the average ticket price has increased since then ($2.56 to be exact). The film fared better on a global scale where its total is now $111 million, with $74 million of that being made outside of North America. While the film is currently number one globally, domestically it fell short of the second weekend of “Iron Man 2” to come in at second place.

“Iron Man 2” stayed at the top spot for the second week, despite a 58% drop-off in at the box office in its second week. Still, the film has been a smash-hit on all fronts, including out-grossing the first two weeks of its predecessor’s run, turning a profit for Paramount (having made $212 million domestically from a $200 million budget), and currently sitting as the second highest-grossing film of the year behind “Alice in Wonderland”.

In another attempt to corner the market on teenage girls and their feelings, Summit Entertainment released “Letters to Juliet” this weekend, which like many of their non-vampire openings, will turn a profit for Summit in the coming days despite a modest domestic opening. The Amanda Seyfried vehicle had a $13 million weekend, less than half the opening weekend box office of “Dear John” earlier this year (which was likely propelled by the combination of Seyfried and Channing Tatum, and the branding of being based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks). Although “Letters to Juliet” reportedly cost Summit $30 million to produce, after selling the foreign distribution rights Summit’s remaining investment is around $15 million, a figure the film will easily reach in the coming days.

The romantic comedy “Just Wright” starring Queen Latifah and Common opened in fourth place, taking in $8.5 million. Fox Searchlight produced the film for $12.5, so not only could the film easily turn a profit in the coming days, it will only by propelled by the 2^nd round of the playoffs, giving Fox plenty of opportunities to market the NBA-themed film to its target audience.

Rounding out the top five was the eighth week of “How to Train Your Dragon”, taking in another $5 million to bring its domestic total to $207 million. Not only is the film set to out-gross “Kung Fu Panda” on the domestic front in the coming days, but its also continuing to strengthen its profit margin, having grossed $415 million worldwide on a $165 budget.

Opening in limited release this weekend was “Princess Kaiulani” starring Q’orianka Kilcher (Pocahontas in “The New World”) in the title role of a Hawaiian princess trying to save her island from American colonization. The film opened on 33 screens and earned $185,000, or $5,606 per-screen (less than “Iron Man 2” or “Robin Hood”, but more than “Letters to Juliet” or “Just Wright”).

The dark comedy “The Living Wake” starring comedian Mike O’Connell, Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland”), and comedian Jim Gaffigan took in $4,800 on one screen.

As always, we at the Awards Circuit are curious to hear what drew you to the theater this weekend. Did you take in a summer blockbuster, some rom-com counter programming, or one of the independent films opening in limited release? Please let us know what you saw, what you thought about it, and as always, any awards potential you see. Thanks again from all of us at the Awards Circuit, and we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of May 7th - 9th

It’s a mad, mad, mad world when a film can enjoy a $133 million opening weekend (the fifth highest of all time), have a worldwide total of $327 million (after it cost $200 to make), and provide an outstanding start to the summer film-going season and still be considered to have performed below expectations. Yet that’s exactly what happened with “Iron Man 2”, which fell short of the $155-$160 million opening weekend projected by Paramount as well as rival studios, box-office prognosticators, and fans. While it will be interesting to see how “Iron Man 2” plays in the coming weeks as other new releases hit theaters including “Prince of Persia”, “Robin Hood”, and “Sex and the City 2”, “Iron Man 2” should have the staying power to carry it through the summer to continue to out-gross the first film in the franchise to become the highest grossing film of the year.

Most hold-overs did little business this weekend in the wake of the “Iron Man 2” opening, yet many added to already successful runs. The second weekend of the remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” took in $9 million to come in at second place. While the drop-off was from last weekend was steep at 72%, the film’s profit margin ($48 million domestically from a $35 million budget) has been enough to keep it squarely seen as a success. The film’s drop-off was also less than last year’s “Friday the 13^th” remake and conventional wisdom is that Freddy will win against Jason in this latest round at the box office, and as a result Freddy’s sequel is still in the works whereas Jason’s has stalled.

“How to Train Your Dragon” suffered the most due to “Iron Man 2” opening, as it lost many of its IMAX screens to that film. Although the film saw its biggest decline yet in its seventh week, said decline was still a modest 36%, as the it took in another $6 million. That brings its domestic total to $201 million, thus out-grossing “Monsters vs. Aliens” and nearing the take of bona-fide hit “Kung Fu Panda” on both the domestic and worldwide fronts.

In fourth place was the fifth weekend of “Date Night” which took in another $5 million, bringing its domestic total to an $80 million return on a $55 million budget. “Date Night” is turning out to be quite the impressive showing for Tina Fey (by this time next week it could be her highest-grossing film to date) and is a respectable box office take for Steve Carell.

In fifth place is the increasingly less dreadful looking “The Back-Up Plan” which took in another $4 million in its third week to bring its domestic total to $29 million. Although it’s hard to say at what point in the film’s life it might turn a profit (in the coming weeks domestically vs. when/if worldwide numbers come in vs. DVD), it appears that the film will yet turn a profit for CBS Films from its $35 million budget.

Three films opened in limited release this weekend, the most impressive being “Mother and Child” starring Naomi Watts, Annette Benning and Samuel L. Jackson. The film opened on four screens, taking in $44,400, or an impressive $11,100 per-screen, second only to “Iron Man 2” in the all-important race of the highest per-theater-average. With the critics (86% on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest of any film opening this weekend) and the all-important branding of Sony Pictures Classics on its side, the film could easily play well upon expanding its release in the coming weeks, and especially with worldwide grosses added, the movie should easily make back its independently raised $7 million budget.

The heavily promoted documentary “Babies” was released by Focus Features this weekend (trying to capitalize on Mother’s Day, though in a much less subtle way than “Mother and Child”), taking in $1.575 million on 534 screens, or an impressive $2,949 per-theater. While the budget for the film was not available, its likely very-low budget may already have seen a profit and $1.5 million is certainly a blockbuster opening in the documentary genre.

The independent relationship drama “Multiple Sarcasms” took in $17,800 this weekend in fifteen screens, or $1,187 per-theater. There was no budget for the film available, but it’s a decent showing for a film relying heavily on word-of-mouth. The film features a quirky cast including Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton. Stockard Channing, Mira Sorvino, and Mario Van Pebbles.

As always, we at the Awards Circuit would love to hear what drew you to the movies this weekend. Was it Samuel L. Jackson in the latest summer blockbuster or Samuel L. Jackson in the latest independent film to have won over critics? Please let us know what you saw, what you thought of it, and of course, any awards potential you see. Thanks again for spending a part of your Sunday here with us, and from all of us at the Awards Circuit, we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Jack-In-the-Box Office for the weekend of April 30th-May 2nd

After a slow weekend last week, the Box Office rebounded this weekend, mainly due to Warner Brothers calling on Freddy Kruger, one of the most profitable figures in horror film history. This weekend saw Freddy’s highest-grossing opening weekend ever (not counting his successful 2003 paring with Jason) with $32 million. While this is seen as a banner week in Freddy’s terms (and for most horror films in general), the weekend fell behind $40 million opening for the remake of “Friday the 13^th”. Still, the film was propelled by opening on a Friday the 13^th and on Valentine’s Day weekend, and as it suffered an 80% drop-off in its second week, Freddy’s new nightmare could easily eclipse its $65 million domestic total. Either way, Warner Brothers is happy enough with the opening weekend of the “Nightmare” remake that a sequel is in the works, this one apparently in 3-D (remember how well that worked the last time the franchise went in that direction?).

It was also a good week for a handful of holdovers, including “How to Train Your Dragon” which came in at second place by adding another $10 million to its now $192 million domestic total. Although the film got off to a slow start, the animated feature had proven profitable enough that Dreamworks has announced that a sequel is in the early stages.

“Date Night” took another $7.6 million to come in at third place, bringing its domestic total to $73 million. Not only has the film proven to be profitable (with a $108 worldwide total from a $55 million budget), but the film has out-grossed “Baby Mama” and in the coming days could easily out-gross “Mean Girls” to become Tina Fey’s highest grossing film to date.

After “Extraordinary Measures” bombed at the Box Office earlier this year, if CBS Films thought that “The Back-Up Plan” was their back-up plan, they were sorely mistaken, as the film fell 40% in its second week, taking in another $7.24 million to bring its domestic total to $22 million. Although worldwide figures were not available at this time, if the film continues to nose-dive on the domestic front, it likely won’t make back its $35 million budget.

Speaking of nose-dives and failures, Brendan Fraser was once a name associated with Box Office greatness, and Summit Entertainment still is, their politically-correct family-oriented nature-comedy “Furry Vengeance” bombed out of the gate taking in only $6.5 million on its opening weekend. Although the folks at Summit likely won’t have the time to take notice as they prime the next “Twilight” film for its upcoming release, they can blame the cold reception to the film on the continued success of “How to Train Your Dragon” and the fact that the trailer reeked of stupid. (I wonder if the film’s message will allow them to get some sort of tax write-off?).

It was also a good weekend for two new films opening in limited release, as the per-theater-average race was won by “Please Give”, the latest film from writer/director Nicole Holofcener took in $128,000 on five screens for an average of $25,600 per screen.

“Harry Brown” starring Michael Caine (look at it as “Clockwork Orange” meets “Gran Torino”) took in $180,000 on 19 screens for a per-screen-average of $9,474 per screen.

As always, whether it was a early screening at your favorite film festival, or a remake of your favorite ‘80’s horror fare, we at the Awards Circuit would love to hear what you saw this weekend, what you thought if it, and any awards potential you might see (Can Michael Caine get a Best Actor nomination for “Harry Brown”?, is “How to Train Your Dragon” in the Best Picture race?). Whatever you’re seeing, all of us wish you a wonderful Sunday, and as always, we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Not that anyone will be surprised, but 'Iron Man 2' is raking it in overseas...

...which means it could be on track for possibly 150 million next weekend here in the States. Here's the story from Deadline:

It doesn't matter if this sequel is any good. (Some early reviews are saying it disappoints although it has a 70+% positive on Rotten Tomatoes.) It doesn't matter that it's not in 3D. (Some fanboys are griping that it's only in 2D but ticket prices will be cheaper.) Because this Marvel comic book caper distributed by Paramount is still gonna make a mint even without lifting an armored finger. Maybe $135 million domestic its first 3-day weekend, or so rival studios predict. The original IM made $98.6M. Only some expect IM2 to break The Dark Knight's 3-day record of 158.4M.

Iron Man 2 opened internationally Wednesday early so as not to get in the way of the monthlong World Cup begininng in South Africa on June 11th.) The pic immediately jumped to the top of the box office in 6 markets for a total $2.2 million. In France, the Jon Favreau-directed campfest ran 11% ahead of 2008's Iron Man bow there. On Thursday, Paramount continued its international rollout in 21 total countries (+17 markets) for a cume already of $10 million). Australia and Korea came in at $1.7 million (Down Under just ahead of where Spider-Man 3 opened in May 2007, and Russia $1.3 million, or 14% ahead of the Spidey threequel. Paramount rolls Iron Man 2 into 32 more territories today, or 6,450 theaters across 53 markets, which is 80% of international. China, Japan, Germany, Turkey, and India open over the next 4 weeks. The original Iron Man grossed $265 million internationally and $318.3 million domestically.

The online ticketseller Fandango reported Iron Man 2, which opens May 7th in North America, is a "Must See" by a 32% margin.

-I don't know if anyone is actually "griping" that it's not in 3D (I know I'm not), but one thing is certain...this is going to be a big hit at the Box Office next week. Thoughts?

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of April 23rd -25th

In another disappointing weekend at the Box-Office, three new films failed to impress while many hold-overs had steep drop-offs. In its fifth week of release “How to Train Your Dragon” made its way back to the top of the Box-Office, and had the lowest-grossing weekend for a film in the number one spot in 2010 thus far. While the film is still far behind the grosses of “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda”, it has continued to pay off nicely for Dreamworks, as the domestic and worldwide totals now sit at $178 and $355 million respectively, a handsome profit margin from a $165 budget.

In second place was the embarrassing opening weekend for “The Back-Up Plan”, making this the second flop in a row for CBS films (which has only released two films so far, this and “Extraordinary Measures”). While their pervious film was a theatrical flop by every possible measure, “The Back-Up Plan” may or may not follow suit. The Jennifer Lopez-vehicle cost $35 million and has a domestic opening weekend gross of $12 million. While it’s easy to see most films making a worldwide profit with these numbers, the ludicrous plot and the fact that the film stars J. Lo will likely prevent it from doing much better than the previous CBS Films venture.

“Date Night” faired better in its third week, taking in another $10 million to come in at third place. The film cost Fox $55 million and has now made $63 million domestically and $90 million worldwide. While these are still not banner figures for Steve Carell (and to lesser extents Tina Fey and director Shawn Levy), the film’s profit margin has it being hailed as a success.

“The Losers” came in at fourth place with a disappointing $9,6 million. The film suffered from lackluster marketing and comparisons to “Kick-Ass” and the up-coming “The A-Team”. As the film was made by Warner Brothers for $25 million, it could easily make a profit, depending on worldwide gross and how the word-or-mouth plays out next weekend before the market becomes dominated by “Iron Man 2”.

It was a mixed weekend for “Kick-Ass”, as although it suffered a major drop-off to take in $9.5 million, its domestic total of $34 million and its worldwide total if $56 million have already created an impressive profit margin from its $30 million budget.

In other opening weekend news, “Oceans” fell below the opening of last year’s “Earth” to take in $6 million and come in at eight place. The worldwide total is now at $62 million, which is still below the budget of $80 million, but could also easily expect to cross the $100 million mark domestically, as “Earth” did last year.

Winning the per-theater-average race this weekend was the comedy/documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which took in $149,000 on 11 screens for an average of $13,545 per-screen and a two-week total of $391,000. The Oscar-winning “The Secret in Their Eyes” came in second by taking in $372,000 on 33 screens for an average of $11,273 and a domestic total of $605,000 and a worldwide total of $20 million.

What did you see at the movies this weekend? Whether it was the studio fare, an earth documentary, or one of the many independent films currently gracing screens (hopefully) near you, please let us know what you saw this weekend and what awards potential you see, if any. On behalf of everyone at the Awards Circuit, we hope you had a wonderful weekend at the movies, and we hope to see you back there soon.

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of April 16th -18th

For the second weekend in a row, the headline for today is “Too Close to Call”, with only $250,000 separating the films in first and second place. The weekend was up from the same weekend last year by about $13 million, yet most of the films had showings that were mediocre at best.

In first place at the moment is DreamWorks’ “How To Train Your Dragon” with $20 million, bringing its domestic total to $158 million and the worldwide total to $320 million. After having spent two weeks on third place, the lack of competing family films and the onslaught of other films performing in a less-than-stellar fashion has allowed “How to Train Your Dragon” to find its way back to the top spot. Although its still not a hit of “Shrek” or “Kung Fu Panda” proportions, it has made almost twice its budget back on a worldwide scale, which should give DreamWorks plenty to celebrate.

As of this writing, the R-rated super-hero film “Kick-Ass” is at second place with $19,750,000. Although this is a disappointment of sorts (the opening weekend estimate was around $30 million), the film has already posted a worldwide take of $37 million on a $30 million dollar budget. The word-of-mouth for the film was extremely strong, so it should play strongly in the coming weeks and ultimately post an even more impressive profit. One good sign going into next week is that a large chunk of its audience may have been at Coachella this weekend and may show up in the coming days. The downside is that the film may only have a week or two to have much of an impact before the market is dominated by “Iron Man 2”.

“Date Night” came in at third place with a respectable second weekend-take of $17.3 million. Fox spent $55 million on the film, which has already grossed $49 million domestically and $66 million worldwide. Although the film is on track to out-gross “Baby Mama” and “Mean Girls”, and even a make a respectable total for a Steve Carell film, it will be interesting to see where the mixed word-of-mouth takes the film in the coming weeks. Although another decent week or two is very likely, the film will likely not survive long once the summer blockbuster season takes off.

The opening weekend of the “Death at a Funeral” remake featuring an almost completely African-American cast was another disappointment. The film took in $17 million (at least several million less than expected) to come in at fourth place. Still, with a $21 million budget, the film should easily post a profit for Sony in the coming days.

Rounding out the top five was the third weekend of “Clash of the Titans” which took in another $15 million to raise its domestic total to $132 million and its worldwide take to $321. Like “How To Train Your Dragon”, while the film may not have been the hit the studio had hoped for, its profit margin from its $125 million budget leaves nothing to sneeze at.

In another weekend of a large number of independent films opening in a microscopic number of theaters, “The City of Your Final Destination” starring Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney won the per-theater-average race by taking in $22,000 on one screen,

In second place, was the much-buzzed documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop” which took in $166,000 on eight screens for a per-screen-average of $20,750.

In third place was the opening weekend of the Oscar-winning “The Secret in their Eyes” which took in $176,000 on ten screens for an average of $17,600 per-screen.

Also opening this week was “Handsome Harry” starring Steve Buscemi and Aidan Quinn which grossed $13,500 on four screens for a respectable $3,375 per-screen.

The suburban satire “The Joneses” starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore took in $554,000 on 193 screens for a mediocre $2,870 per-screen.

The documentary about American public schools, “The Cartel”, took in $4,100 this week for a per-screen-average of $2,050.

“The Perfect Game” starring Clifton Collins Jr. (SAG ensemble nominee for “Capote”) took in $494,000 on 417 screens for a per-screen-average of $1,185.

As always, we at the Awards Circuit would love to know what you saw this weekend, what you thought, and what you think its awards potential might be. Please let us know in the comments section below, and once again, we’ll see you at the movies.

Will people soon be able to bet on a movie's box office?

Well, that appears to be the case, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

U.S. regulators have approved the creation of a market for movie industry participants and speculators to trade on predicted box office receipts, despite its denouncement by Hollywood studios as "legalized gambling."

But the decision announced Friday by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission doesn't mean people can start trading right away on the Trend Exchange. The commission is still reviewing the kinds of contracts -- essentially presales of a share of future box office receipts -- that could be traded there.

It is also reviewing a proposal to create a second market called Cantor Exchange. That one would have lower investment requirements than Trend Exchange, making it more likely for movie fans and other amateurs to participate.

A ruling on the Cantor proposal, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald LP, is expected next week, while the commission has until June 7 to decide on the specific contracts for the Trend Exchange, which is backed by venture capitalist Veriana Ventures.

The two online trading forums would be similar to futures markets common for commodities such as corn and pork bellies. Although goods are rarely exchanged directly through such markets, they let buyers and sellers reduce risks by locking in prices months ahead of time.
Backers of the box-office exchanges say those markets would help Hollywood manage risk in a notoriously hit-or-miss business.

Investors would be able to hedge against potential flops by preselling a share of future box office receipts. The exchanges could even guard against likely hits such as the upcoming "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" sequels falling short of projections. If a movie doesn't do as well as expected, investors would at least be guaranteed revenue from those presales, known as futures contracts.

One member of the futures commission, Bart Chilton, said he "reluctantly" approved the Trend Exchange because it fulfilled the requirements of the law, and a deadline for approval had arrived. However, he said he still had "significant concerns" about whether such markets could effectively help offset risk and avoid manipulation.

"At this point in time, I have not heard any arguments to persuade me that 'movie futures' generally can overcome some fundamental design flaws," Chilton said in a statement.

A House subcommittee on farm commodities and risk management has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the movie futures contracts.

Veriana CEO Robert Swagger applauded the market approval and predicted opposition would ease over time.

"Historically, initial product skeptics have eventually become the greatest adopters through a process of time, education and communication," he said in a statement.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the major Hollywood studios, had no immediate comment.

-Thoughts?

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of April 9th-11th

Although it’s typical for the grosses of films to be adjusted within a certain margin of error once final numbers come in on Monday, this Sunday sees not two but three films in such a tight race that to rank them is simply too close to call. This brings to mind some of the tight weekend races of the past decade (“Lilo and Stich” vs. “Minority Report”, “Big Fish” opening wide vs. the fourth week of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”, and the opening of “The Hangover” vs. the second week of “Up”).

Currently, “Date Night” is in first place with $27,100,000. While the film enjoyed the top spot on Friday (likely boosted by couples out on, well…date nights) on Saturday the film appears to have fallen marginally behind the second weekend of “Clash of the Titans”. The question going into Sunday is how much of a boost can the film get from Tina Fey’s generally hilarious appearance hosting “Saturday Night Live” last night? Regardless, “Date Night” is Fey’s biggest opening weekend to date (beating out both “Mean Girls” and “Baby Mama”), though it came in at second place for Steve Carell (behind the $38 million opening weekend of “Get Smart” in the summer of 2008). Fox spent $55 million on “Date Night” and as the film has already grossed $34 million worldwide, Fox should easily see a profit in the coming weeks.

“Clash of the Titans” currently sits at a close second in its second weekend at $23,875,000. The film’s 56% drop-off has been blamed on the numbers from last week having been boosted by Thursday night showings and raised attendance on Good Friday, yet the main cause being pointed to is bad word-of-mouth. The film’s domestic total has now reached $110 million and sits at $155 worldwide. The film has finally turned a profit on its $125 million budget, but is still falling short of “300” (the reason the film was greenlit) and (needless to say) “Avatar” (the reason the film was hastily put into 3-D).

“How to Train Your Dragon” is currently in third place in its third weekend with $25,350,000. Though the film experienced the smallest drop-off (12.6%) of any holdover in the top ten, its domestic total (now $133 million) is still less than that of “Shrek” or “Kung Fu Panda” at this point in their respective runs. The film’s worldwide total now stands at $256 million, so Paramount/Dreamworks has now turned a sizeable profit on their $165 million investment.

“Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?” suffered the biggest drop-off of 62.4%, taking in another $11 million to come in at fourth place. This is still a typical second weekend for Perry’s films, and with a domestic total of $48 million of a $20 million budget, this counts as another banner success for Perry.

“The Last Song” also fell 37.5%, taking in another $10 million and landing in fifth place. As far as profit margins go, like Perry’s films, the Miley Cyrus film may as well be “Avatar” as it has also made a major domestic profit (like Perry’s film, worldwide numbers are not available at this time) with a total of $42 million on a $20 million budget.

In other opening weekend news, “Letters to God” enjoyed a strong weekend of $1.25 million in 897 theaters to come in at tenth place. This is impressive for any film with no name actors, and the film could easily expand in the coming weeks with good word-of-mouth from the church-going crowd. The independent horror film “The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond” took in $250,000 on 619 theaters to open in twenty-third place.

“La Mission” starring Benjamin Bratt, took in $49,000 on 15 screens for a respectable opening weekend.

The German film “Everyone Else” won the per-theater-average race for the weekend, taking in $11,400 on one screen. The Australian thriller “The Square” came in at second place taking in $16,500 on two screens. In third place was the documentary about The Doors “When You’re Strange” which took in $65,300 on eight screens, for a per-screen-average of $8,163.

Whether it was one of the blockbusters, one of the foreign films, or another piece of genre fair in limited release, all of us at the Awards Circuit would love to hear about what you saw this weekend, and what you think of its awards potential. Also, what are your thoughts on how the top three films may play out once the final tallies come in? Whatever drew you to the theater this weekend, we hoped you enjoyed it, and as always, we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Will 'Iron Man 2' have a record breaking opening weekend?

Well, this article in the Los Angeles Times certainly thinks it's possible:

Exactly one month from Wednesday, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and the other personalities of "Iron Man" will return to make witty mayhem in the superhero sequel.

And exactly three days after that, we could have a new domestic box-office record.

Stark himself, never lacking in suave self-confidence, probably wouldn't make such a bold boast. But it's entirely feasible.

According to just-released tracking surveys, director Jon Favreau's second installment in the Marvel franchise is showing astonishing levels of interest and awareness well ahead of its three-day opening next month. There are enough statistical indications to think that the first-weekend gross could top the $158.4-million haul for "Dark Knight", the current record-holder for the biggest (non inflation-adjusted) opening weekend and the gold standard for movie debuts.

Christopher Nolan's Batman sequel grossed that amount when it opened over a three-day weekend in July 2008. The same spring/summer period brought the release of "Iron Man." The character was new to mainstream audiences, star Robert Downey Jr. had yet to engineer his Hollywood comeback and Favreau was riding a cold streak ("Zathura: A Space Adventure," anyone?). The movie still opened to an impressive $98 million, and went on to gross more than $318 million domestically. This year's sequel opening on May 7 should pulverize that $98 million figure. Thanks in part to Downey, the Paramount-distributed film is drawing as much (strong) interest among women over 30 as it is among women in their 20s, the tracking surveys show. Males in their teens and 20s are so keen on the film they may as well be dressing up in an iron suit. About the only people who aren't fully sold are teen girls, but there are signs of robustness there too.

All this doesn't even count the intangibles. The movie generated a titanic reception at last summer's Comic-Con International in San Diego, the kind that happens only once every few years, if that. The "Iron Man 2" trailers have practically shut down YouTube. And according to one rival studio, "Iron Man" is now among the most-liked franchises in Hollywood, right up there with "Spider-Man." (It also doesn't hurt that ticket prices have inched upward in the past two years, although the 2-D "Iron Man 2" likely won't touch the domestic record of $742.5 million set by last year's 3-D "Avatar.")

Of course, shattering a box-office record isn't the same as making a creative breakthrough. "Dark Knight" was a singular cultural phenomenon, adored by critics, loved by the public and regarded in the fan universe as the great example of superhero movies, the Giselle Bündchen of the form. Whether "Iron Man 2" will be similarly embraced remains to be seen. From the advance material, we're expecting more humor than we got in the Batman follow-up but not necessarily the same level of grit or complexity.

Still, a combination of pop-culture awareness, hugely appealing (and promotion-minded) actors and a smartly waged marketing campaign could send "Iron Man 2" on the path to a record. That is, for now -- "Batman 3," after all, is currently in development. And given the tendency of superhero sequels to expand audiences as they go, that movie could eventually land with even more box-office force. Your move, Nolan.

-Will Iron Man 2 open to more than The Dark Knight made?

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of April 2nd-4th

This Easter weekend proved to be successful, if not phenomenal, for most of the opening weekend films and holdovers at the Box Office. As expected “Clash of the Titans” (which took over many of the 3-D screens from “Alice in Wonderland” and to a lesser extent “How to Train Your Dragon”) came in first place with $61 million. This number is a mixed-bag, because although “Clash of the Titans” enjoyed the highest Easter-weekend opening of all time, and the second highest April opening of all time (behind last year’s “Fast and Furious”), “Clash of the Titans” should have easily been able to cross the $70 million mark hit by “Fast and Furious” and “300” on their opening weekends. This comparison makes “Clash of the Titans” look worse considering the higher 3-D ticket prices it demanded which was not the case for “300” or “Fast and Furious” when their films opened. The near-miss opening for the film has been attributed to a combination of higher 3-D ticket prices, an overcrowded market place, less-than-stellar word-of-mouth, and the fact that the film didn’t play on IMAX screens (which were contractually obligated to play “How to Train Your Dragon” for another week due to a 2-year-old agreement with Paramount/Dreamworks). Despite the film falling below expectations domestically, its $125 million budget will easily be made back in the coming days, and with considering overseas grosses should ultimately make a handsome profit.

Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married Too?” opened at second place with $30 million, surpassing the opening weekend of its predecessor and every other Tyler Perry movie, except “Madea Goes to Jail”. Though many of his films experience drop-offs around 60% in the second weekend, his latest has already made a such an impressive profit off its $20 budget that the film will be remembered as another in a long line of Perry Box Office hits.

Speaking of holdovers, “How to Train Your Dragon” fell only 33% in its second week by taking in another $29 million. The holdover would seem more impressive if its opening hadn’t come in so far below expectations. As it stands now, the domestic total for the film is $92 million and the worldwide total is at $134 million. By this time next week, the film should have posted a worldwide figure above its $165 million production budget, so it should easily turn a profit for Dreamworks. Still, in comparison to the success of “Kung Fu Panda” and the “Shrek” franchise, “How to Train Your Dragon” will ultimately be a modest success at best.

“The Last Song” starring Miley Cyrus opened on Wednesday and came in fourth place over the weekend, taking in $16 million and $25 million for its five-day total. The film has already made a profit on its $20 million budget, so although her films tend to also experience large drop-offs in their second weeks, this film is already a bona fide Box Office success story,

Rounding out the top five is “Alice in Wonderland” adding another $8 million in its fifth week, bringing its domestic total to $309 million and its worldwide total to over $672 million. Although this weekend was the biggest drop-off the film has seen , it currently sits as the highest grossing and one of the most profitable films of 2010 so far.

In other opening-weekend news, the quirky romance “Breaking Upwards” starring Olivia Thirlby (“Juno”) played on one screen in New York and made $15,300, just over its $15,000 budget.

In the per-screen-average race, “Clash of the Titans”, “Breaking Upwards”, and “Why Did I Get Married Too” were the top three, taking in $16,256, $15,300, and $13,991 per screen respectively.

What drew you to the theater this weekend? Please let us know what you saw and what Oscar potential you feel it may have (if any). Thanks from all of us here at the Awards Circuit, and as always we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of March 26-28

With controversies about ticket prices and theater counts dominating the conversation within the industry and echoed throughout theaters across the country this weekend, once again analysts look to the Box Office to find….nothing terribly shocking.

“How to Train Your Dragon” opened with $43 million this weekend, after Paramount went to war against the rest of the world to wrestle 3-D and Imax screens from “Alice in Wonderland” and “Avatar”, and then went on the defensive to lower expectations of the film’s potential Box Office as to make this number as appear as impressive as possible.

Although the film should ultimately turn a profit on its $165 million budget after all is said and done, with “How to Train Your Dragon” out this week and “Clash of the Titans” out next week, the industry will likely continue to feel the crunch of too many 3-D and Imax movies released too quickly at ticket prices that are becoming less affordable. While the premium ticket prices for Imax and 3-D showings used to drive up the Box Office numbers for films showing in those mediums, it appears the higher ticket prices (ranging generally from two to five dollars) across the country this weekend may have slayed “How to Train Your Dragon”, though good word-of-mouth keeps its hopes for the coming weeks alive, with the impact that loosing 3-D and Imax screens to “Clash of the Titans” could have remains the question pivotal to its success.

“Alice in Wonderland” played well in it fourth weekend, despite its loss of 3-D and Imax screens, and likely stole some business from “How to Train Your Dragon”. Tim Burton’s film made another $17 million to bring its domestic total to $293 million, and its worldwide total to $656 million. As the film has a $200 million budget, it may be the most profitable film of the year so far.

In third place was the opening weekend of the ribald sci-fi comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine” starring John Cusack. Though the film opened with $13 million, much like other films with lukewarm openings in recent weeks, the film could easily turn a profit on its $36 million budget in the coming weeks, especially when foreign grosses come in.

An example of this is “The Bounty Hunter” which opened below expectations last weekend but has now turned a profit in the worldwide market. The film came in fourth place this weekend with $12 million, bringing its domestic total to $38 million. Though so far it had made little abroad ($7 million) that brings the film’s total to $46 million worldwide, ahead of its $40 million dollar budget.

Rounding out the top five is “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” which took in another $10 million. While others have been quick to point to its drop in the Box Office from last weekend (due to losing screens and splitting the audience with “How to Train Your Dragon), the film had a $15 million budget and low expectations due to not having any name actors. The film’s $35 million domestic total is already more than impressive to those who released it at Fox and to those who follow the Box Office.

In other opening weekend news, Atom Egoyan’s sexually-charged thriller “Chloe” took in an impressive-but-not-outstanding $1 million this weekend in limited release. Its worldwide total is now over $3 million, but what makes this most impressive is that the film’s entire $15 million budget was made back by selling the foreign distribution rights, so any money the film makes from now on is pure profit.

Also opening strongly, with $33,100 on five screens is “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” the documentary about the transitional period in the Disney organization that lead to films such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”. In addition to strong word of mouth, the success of this film in limited release suggests bigger success in the weeks to come.

The film that won the per-theater-average race this weekend was “Lbs.” which made $10,900 on one screen.

What did you see this weekend? How do you feel about the state of Imax and 3-D technology at the movies? Have the higher ticket prices affected your filmgoing?

We at the Awards Circuit always love to hear from you, and as always, we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Jack-in-the-Box Office for the weekend of March 19-21

Film-goers went back to Wonderland this weekend as “Alice in Wonderland” grossed another $34.5 million dollars to take the top spot for the third weekend in a row. Not only has the film already made a sizable profit with a $565 million worldwide total, but the film has grossed $265 million domestically, overtaking “Batman” as Tim Burton’s highest-grossing film to date.

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” debuted at second place with $21.8 million. Not only did this surpass the expectations Fox or anyone else had for the film, but now the movie which has no A-list stars attached has already turned a profit on its $15 million budget.

“The Bounty Hunter” came in below expectations at third place with $21 million. Though this was a disappointing opening for a romantic comedy starring Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston (“The Ugly Truth” and “The Break-Up” opened with $27 and $39 million respectively), the film should easily make a profit on its $40 million budget in the coming weeks once foreign grosses are factored in, to say nothing of DVD sales.

The $6 million opening of “Repo Men” was disappointing by any standard, including those that factor in the sci-fi genre (which frequently struggles at the Box Office) and star Jude Law (who sometimes struggles at the Box Office, depending on the movie). Yet unlike Law’s biggest flop “Alfie,” Repo Men still stands to be able to make a profit on its $32 million budget, once foreign grosses come in and DVD sales are tallied.

Rounding out the top, five “She’s Out of My League” took in another $6 million, so with the domestic total of $19.945 million dollars, the film is on the cusp of breaking even on its $20 million budget. Look for the film to turn a profit in the coming days.

In other opening news, while Robert Pattinson proved last week that he’s no Box-Office draw outside of the “Twilight” series, Kristen Stewart is making a similar statement this weekend as “The Runaways” opened with a respectable but not stellar gross of $803,000 in 244 theaters (that’s $3,291 per theater, finishing sixth in the per-theater average race). Stewart’s film will likely be like Pattinson’s, which will fail to dazzle at the Box Office upon wide release, but should still be able to turn a profit on its $10 million budget.

Two other films making their debuts won the per-screen-average race this week, with “City Island” taking the top spot. The family dramady starring Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, and Alan Arkin took in $35,000 on two screens. For an independent film of this sort, the most important form of marketing is word-of-mouth. Based on the resoundingly enthusiastic reception the film received during advance screenings and the opening run at the Landmark in LA this weekend, “City Island” should very easily be able to make a profit on its $6 million budget as it expands.

In second place, the new IMAX 3-D documentary “Hubble 3D” grossed $453,000 on 39 screens, for a per-screen-average of $11,615.

In a rollercoaster week at the Box-Office, what were you most surprised to see succeed or fail? Please let us know, along with mentioning what and saw this weekend (and as always, its Oscar potential) and on behalf of all of us at the Awards Circuit we look forward to seeing you at the movies.

Jack-in-the-Box Office OSCAR EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Though two new films were at the top of the Box Office this weekend (“Alice in Wonderland” took in $116 million to become the highest grossing film of 2010 so far, followed by a decent $13.5 million opening for “Brooklyn’s Finest”), it seemed more pertinent to today’s happenings to look at the affect Oscar weekend had on some of the films nominated for today’s awards.

The highest Oscar nominee at the Box Office this weekend was “Avatar” in fifth place. “Avatar” had the steepest decline so far in it’s run due to losing 3D and IMAX screens to “Alice in Wonderland”. Despite the 43.6% decline, the film earned $7.7 million dollars to bring it’s domestic total to over $720 million dollars.

In ninth place, “Crazy Heart” had its best weekend at the Box Office yet, grossing $3.35 million dollars. In addition to grossing 36% more than last weekend, the film has now earned $29.56 million in domestic Box Office, substantially more than its $7 million production budget.

In a weekend when Sandra Bullock could make history by being the first actress to win an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year, her film enjoyed a Box Office bump (which can likely be attributed to the film opening in more second run theaters) and made another $1.27 million landing it in fourteenth place. This was a 2.5% increase from last week, and more notably, brought the film’s domestic total to over $250 million dollars.

In fifteenth place, “The Last Station” added two theaters (to now play in 354) and despite a small decline in gross (13.7%) the film earned another $837,000, to bring its domestic total to $4.6 million and its worldwide total to $6.2 million. While this may be only a fraction of it’s $18 million dollar budget, much of the money from the film came from donations from the governments of Russia and Germany and needn’t be paid back.

The honor for the highest per-screen-average this weekend went to “The Secret of Kells” which opened in one theater in New York where it grossed $40,000 dollars. After months of accolades, positive buzz, and precursor nominations, the film is finally enjoying some box office glory. This will hopefully translate into the film’s expansion into a wider release in the coming weeks.

Other Oscar nominees to enjoy an “Oscar Bump” this week included “A Single Man,” “The Hurt Locker,” “An Education,” “A Prophet,” and “The Lovely Bones”.

Did you catch up with any of these nominees this weekend? Did other nominees entice you to the theater for a first or second viewing? Or, did you try and get a head start on next year’s race with “Alice in Wonderland”? Please let us know in the comments section, and enjoy the show today!

UPDATE: I was e-mailed by some readers who asked me to mention the continued success of Kevin Smith’s latest film “Cop Out” in its second weekend and try and rectify some negative perceptions of its Box Office. I could break down numbers further, but all that needs to be said is that it has already made $32.3 million domestically on a $30 million dollar budget. Although it’s not known how much was spent on publicity and advertising, and of course a percentage of the gross of course goes to the theaters, the domestic gross can be as little as one-sixth of what a film makes after foreign, DVD, and other grosses are taken into account. Smith’s films always do well on DVD, so anyway you slice it in addition to “Cop Out” already being Smith’s highest grossing film, it stands to become one of his most profitable films. This should bode well for his future as a director, in addition to being a catalyst for more films from Tracy Morgan.