Jack in the Box Office!
Sometimes fairy tales do come true, at least when it comes to winning the weekend at the box office — JACK THE GIANT SLAYER opened at #1 with $28 million.
That said, it’s probably best that director Bryan Singer is heading back behind the camera for the X-MEN movie series, because it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be getting a franchise out of JACK. The PG-13 3D version of the old folktale, delayed from its initial planned release last summer, cost around $200 million to make and would need to find a whole lot of magic beans (particularly from 3D-loving international audiences) just to climb back to its budget.
For recent “re-imagined” fairy tales, JACK THE GIANT SLAYER had a better opening than January’s HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS’ $19.6 million (it went on to $181M worldwide), but nowhere near last year’s SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, which started with $56.2 million and went on to nearly $400M globally.
The weekend’s other new releases couldn’t overcome the resilient IDENTITY THIEF, which took second place with another $9.7 million and a four-week total of $107.4M (making it the first 2013 release to cross the $100 million mark). But the R-rated drunken stupor 21 AND OVER wasn’t far behind, coming in third with $9 million (that new comedy from the writers of THE HANGOVER only cost around $13 million).
In fourth place was the title-defying sequel THE LAST EXORCISM: PART II with $8 million (the horror cheapie came with just a $5 million budget). The Devil had enough punch to defeat The Rock, holding off his latest actioner SNITCH to fifth (after a #2 debut last week) with $7.7 million.
After that, it’s tight between the romance SAFE HAVEN, the CG-animated ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH (which, other than JACK THE GIANT SLAYER, is still the only real family option on the list) and the shockingly durable SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, celebrating its Best Actress trophy for Jennifer Lawrence at last Sunday’s Oscars.
Down in ninth was A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD with $4.5 million over its third weekend in the Top 10 — which itself is a rare feat for action stars lately. Still, while it seems that North Amercian audiences have grown tired of Det. John MacClane, the fifth DIE HARD movie has hit a $221 million total worldwide. Bruce Willis also still packed enough ammo to keep the alien frightener DARK SKIES to the tenth spot.
Outside the chart, WARM BODIES shuffled out of sight so that star Nicholas Hoult could make room for himself at #1, and Steven Soderbergh’s SIDE EFFECTS and the failed young-adult franchise attempt BEAUTIFUL CREATURES also disappeared. OLDBOY director Park Chan-wook’s thriller STOKER had a strong $22k per-screen average for its limited release opening, while the new Ed Harris/David Duchovny submarine thriller PHANTOM surfaced on over 1000 screens but got torpedoed with only around half a million bucks.
Next weekend brings the Noomi Rapace/Colin Farrell thriller DEAD MAN DOWN and Sam Raimi’s vibrant prequel OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, plus limited releases of the war drama EMPEROR, the horror anthology THE ABCs OF DEATH, and the documentary about the resuscitation of 80s radio rockers DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY.
Are you planning to check out OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL next weekend? VOTE HERE!
| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack the Giant Slayer | $28 M | NEW |
| 2 | Identity Thief | $9.7 M | $107.4 M |
| 3 | 21 and Over | $9 M | NEW |
| 4 | The Last Exorcism: Part II | $8 M | NEW |
| 5 | Snitch | $7.7 M | $24.4 M |
| 6 | Escape from Planet Earth | $6.2 M | $43.2 M |
| 7 | Safe Haven | $6.3 M | $57 M |
| 8 | Silver Linings Playbook | $5.9 M | $115.5 M |
| 9 | A Good Day to Die Hard | $4.5 M | $59.6 M |
| 10 | Dark Skies | $3.5 M | $13.4 M |