Weekend Box Office: May 21-23
Sun, May 23, 2010 
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. Shrek Forever After - $71.2 million
2. Iron Man 2 - $26.6 million
3. Robin Hood - $18.7 million
4. Letters to Juliet - $9.1 million
5. Just Wright - $4.2 million
6. MacGruber - $4.1 million
7. Date Night - $2.8 million
8. A Nightmare on Elm Street - $2.2 million
9. How to Train Your Dragon - $1.8 million
10. Kites - $1 million
As predicted, the fourth and final installment of Shrek ruled the box office this weekend, although it fell far short of Shrek the Third's $121 opening in 2007. Tickets sold for IMAX/3D showings accounted for about 7% of the total weekend ticket sales...although news stories circulating on Friday about a supposed "error" that had AMC theaters raising ticket prices to $20 at the IMAX showings in New York (it was later corrected) probably didn't help get families to the IMAX shows this weekend.
There is some good news for Shrek: it's one of the only family-friendly movies in theaters now, and it did get an excellent "A" Cinemascore rating from theatergoers (up from just a "B+" from the previous film), so it should have a few strong weekends until Toy Story 3 arrives next month. While it won't be released overseas in most territories until after the World Cup, it did break box office records in Russia, where it opened to $20 million.
Iron Man 2 dropped by almost half from last weekend, although it continues to do well, with another $26 million to bring its domestic take to $251 million in just over two weeks. Its worldwide gross now stands at $506 million
After a lackluster first weekend, Robin Hood dropped by 48% this weekend, bringing its domestic total to $66.1 million. It's still performing much better overseas, where it has grossed $125 million. However, with an estimated budget of $200 million, it's unlikely we'll get the sequel that looked quite promising at the end of this film.
The romantic drama Letters to Juliet held up well, finishing the weekend with $9.1 million. The comedy Just Wright rounded out the top five with another $4.2 million.
This weekend's other new wide release, MacGruber, looks likely to have a box office life shorter than the Saturday Night Live skit that it was based on. Coming in with a barely noticable $4.1 million, it is the worst opening weekend for a film based on an SNL sketch, and the lowest wide-release for a movie this year. Ouch.
Date Night and A Nightmare on Elm Street continue to perform well enough to remain in the top 10, and How to Train Your Dragon seems to finally be fading now that Shrek has taken over most of the 3D theaters.
The limited-release Bollywood film Kites debuted in 10th place, earning just over $1 million at only 208 theaters.
Check back with Mitch once the actual numbers come in tomorrow!
Reader Comments (2)
I'm shocked at Shrek's poor opening, I had it figured at over 90mill. MacGruber bombing wasn't a huge shock though.
I knew Shrek would come in low, but wow...that's not good. Should hold up well for the next few weeks though, it's the only kid movie until Toy Story.
I can't believe they even bothered making a MacGruber movie.