Let’s just say that it wasn’t quite the brutal beating that Hit Girl and Big Daddy would have liked. Matthew Vaughn’s hyperviolent “Kick-Ass” drew blood from fellow opener “Death at a Funeral” and holdover “Date Night,” but it wasn’t enough to hold back the barely PG-rated “How to Train Your Dragon.” The DreamWorks animated film is now in its fourth week, but that didn’t stop it from bringing in another $20 million, taking its total to $159 million. Its domestic total still falls short of its $165 million production budget, but never fear, fans of quality animation: its foreign total now stands at $162 million, bringing its worldwide gross to $321 million. This massive haul doesn’t put it quite on the level of DreamWorks’ box-office behemoths like “Monsters Vs. Aliens” ($198 million), “Kung-Fu Panda” ($215 million), or the “Shrek” films ($441 million for “Shrek 2”), but it’s within firing range for non-“Shrek” releases if it keeps up this speed.
“Kick-Ass” came in just behind “How to Train Your Dragon” with $19.8 million, so the first two positions may switch once final numbers are released over the next few days (but we won’t hold our breaths). Keep in mind that “Kick-Ass” is only playing on 3,065 screens (versus the 3,825 of “Dragon”), and it reportedly only cost $30 million to make. Still, it’s less about the money and more about the prestige of the top spot, and we imagine that Lionsgate would have liked to have seen bigger numbers for the anticipated, much-plugged movie, despite the limits of its hard R-rating (especially since they paid $25 million for the rights to the film). The adults-only superhero film (unsurprisingly) leaves things wide open for a sequel, so we’ll have to wait and see if the numbers are impressive enough for a greenlight to be given to “Kick-Ass 2.” The misbehaving kid in us wonders how many like-minded tweens and teens bought tickets for “Dragon” or another age-appropriate film, but sneaked into “Kick-Ass” instead. Not that we ever did that.
Meanwhile, “Date Night” awkwardly passed “Death at a Funeral” for third place honors in the preliminary numbers with $17.3 million, just $300,000 more than the latter’s opening weekend take. For those of you keeping track at home, the original British version of the dark comedy only took in $8.6 million in its entire run. We’re not (too) bitter, but we reserve the right to be really angry if this results in more unnecessary remakes of recent films. With just a $21 million budget, the rehashing is sure to be profitable, though we imagine there will be a big drop-off in the coming weeks.
“Clash of the Titans” continues to capitalize on the weak-minded with $15.7 million to round out the top five. There’s a big drop between the Louis Letterier exercise in emptiness and the sixth-place film, “The Last Song,” which brought in $5.8 million. The Miley Cyrus movie isn’t our ideal intersection of music and movies, but the film’s domestic totals just reached $50 million, which is especially impressive for its $20 million budget.
In the land of limited releases, Oscar-winning Argentinean film “The Secret in Their Eyes” did solid business, earning $176,000 on 10 screens. The solidly acted thriller should keep audiences engaged (and distributor Sony Pictures Classics happy) as it expands over the coming weeks and months. The Banksy documentary (and Playlist pick) “Exit Through the Gift Shop” did equally impressive business with $166,000 on eight screens, which is even more of an impressive feat when considering that it’s distributed by newcomer Producer’s Distribution Agency (for the full story and more indie numbers, check out indiewire‘s more detailed take).
However, the top per-screen average belongs to the James Ivory film “The City of Your Final Destination.” The Anthony Hopkins-starring drama earned $22,000 on a single screen, which has to be a coup for tiny distributor Screen Media Films. Another upstart distribution company, Roadside Attractions,” did fine business with their little-hyped comedy “The Joneses.” Starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore, the film made $554,000 on 193 screens.
1. How to Train Your Dragon – $20 million ($159 mil.)
2. Kick-Ass – $19.8 million ($19.8 mil.)
3. Date Night – $17.3 million ($49.2 mil.)
4. Death at a Funeral – $17 million ($17 mil.)
5. Clash of the Titans – $15.8 million ($133 mil.)
6. The Last Song – $5.8 million ($50 mil.)
7. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? – $4.2 million ($54.9 mil.)
8. Hot Tub Time Machine – $3.55 million ($42. 5 mil.)
9. Alice in Wonderland – $3.5 million ($324 mil.)
10. The Bounty Hunter – $3.2 million ($60.4 mil.)
