Weekend Box Office: ‘Toy Story 3’ Rides High; Sandler Vehicle Fart Jokes Its Way Past Cruise Vehicle For 2nd Place

“Toy Story 3” is still, as expected, the number one movie in America, pulling in $59m during its second weekend ($2m more than the first “Toy Story” did in its opening weekend) to bring its current domestic total to over $226.5m. Since its reported budget is in the $200m ballpark, this means everything it makes from here on in is gravy (and we really should be talking about this film being the second of the year to cross the billion dollar mark eventually – if “Alice in Wonderland” can do it, come on). It also boasts the highest per-screen average with $14,647 at each of its 4,000+screens, and the smallest drop-off of any top 10 film.

So much for the number one spot, where all is as it should be and all’s right with the world: the moments when the most successful movie out is also probably the best, are few and far between. Let’s take a breath and cherish this unfamiliar joy.

And, exhale. So the battle this week was really only ever going to be for second place. But who would have predicted this outcome? Similar to the much-fancied (mostly by themselves) English side going down 4-1 to arch nemeses Germany in the World Cup (yes, that’s a football analogy on The Playlist — it must be the end of days), Tom Cruise vehicle “Knight and Day” lost out to Adam Sandler’s “Grown Ups”, with the spy flick starring The World’s Biggest Movie StarTM drawing about half of “Grown Ups” surprisingly respectable $41m total. It appears about twice as many people want to see Sandler reprise his old goofin’-off-with-my buddies’-schtick as want to see Tom Cruise be all action-y again.

The Wednesday release ’strategy’ for “Knight & Day” added but a measly $7.3m to its weekend, which really doesn’t do a lot to take the bare look off its $27.8m total gross (especially considering its reported $112m budget). Commenters who complained we were too quick to condemn the film’s box office chances following those poor Wednesday totals, feel free to apologize in the comments section here, because whatever way you cut the numbers “Knight and Day” underperformed; true, it had 500 fewer screens than “Grown Ups”, but that doesn’t account for its per-screen average being in and around half that of the Sandler vehicle. So humble pie for you guys (you know who you are) but the fact that a film we roundly hated has beaten out a film we were mildly entertained by means we’re not as triumphalist as we could be.

The next few entries in the box office top ten have retained the order they were in last week, just sliding down two places to accommodate the two new releases. “The Karate Kid” gained 77 screens and adds $15.4m to its total, bringing it up to $135.6 in total – a genuine, bona fide, 24-carat hit. “The A Team” adds $6m to bring its lackluster total to $62m – still some way off its $110m budget after three weeks of release. In sixth, “Get Him To The Greek” adds $3m to its total, meaning the film has made a profit of about $15m to date on its $40m budget. “Shrek Forever After” hemorrhaged screens, presumably to “Toy Story 3,” whose total after two weeks “Shrek” has just barely surpassed after 6 – and still we call it a hit.

In 8th, poor old “Prince of Persia” limps toward the $90m mark, a shocking way off its $200m budget. This writer saw this movie last week and — at least I think I did. Wait – what year is it? Who’s the president? The film is such a black hole of forgetability it seems to have obliterated all of last week and most of my childhood.

“Killers” barely clings to life in 9th with an $881 per screen average (ouch). Time to euthanize, we think. But the most excoriating words must be reserved for the unmitigated disaster that is “Jonah Hex.” In its second week it has dropped 3 places to number 10, with a per screen average of just $566 and the largest drop-off (-70.3%) from last week of any film in the top 20 (and probably beyond). Calculating how it is even possible to lose 70% of a total audience of ‘fuck-all’ is presumably some kind of mathematical holy grail like Fermat’s last theorem, but “Jonah Hex” managed it.

So from the sublime and successful “Toy Story 3” to the rightly vilified catastrophe “Jonah Hex,” this weekend’s box office round up has scaled the heights and trawled the depths of the human filmic experience. Have a nice week.

1. Toy Story 3 – $59m ($226.5m)
2. Grown Ups – $41m
3. Knight & Day -$20.5m
4. The Karate Kid – $15.4m ($135.6m)
5. The A-Team – $6m ($62.8m)
6. Get Him to the Greek – $3m ($54m)
7. Shrek Forever After – $2.8m ($229.3m)
8. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – $2.8m ($86.2)
9. Killers – $2m ($44m)
10. Jonah Hex – $1.6m ($9.1m)