Image Credit: DreamWorks AnimationDreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon is on track to handily win the weekend, though its numbers won’t be anywhere near last year’s Monsters vs. Aliens. Its Friday gross is estimated at $11 million, tracking for a three-day take that’s likely to hit $40 million. The reason the well-reviewed kid flick can’t match Monsters‘ gross has nothing to do with the film’s playability and everything to do with the staying power of Alice in Wonderland. The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp fantastical extravaganza lost a good chunk of its 3-D screens this frame, yet it’s still on track to finish the weekend in second place at the box office, with a likely total of $16 million. Its Friday number is estimated at $5 million.
In a surprise, the poorly reviewed Bounty Hunter is holding rather well its second weekend in theaters. The Jennifer Aniston/Gerard Butler-starrer is looking like it’s only going to fall around 48% for the weekend. The film’s Friday number is estimated at $4 million, with a likely three-day take of $13 million, good enough for third place this weekend. That would put it ahead of MGM’s low-budget newcomer, Hot Tub Time Machine, which earned an estimated $4.5 million for Friday. That likely will translate into a $12 million weekend, matching what tracking suggested for the film, though far less than the $20 million I had predicted. Turns out my ’80s nostalgia may be greater than most moviegoers. (MGM had warned me that my number was high, and now I admit they were right all along.)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid looks like the frame’s fifth place finisher. Unfortunately for the well-reviewed kid flick, it ran into the Dragon. Kid‘s Friday number is estimated at just under $3 million, suggesting a weekend gross of $10 million. That translates to a steep 62% drop — a fate that doesn’t reflect how well the adaptation of the uber-popular adaptation of the Jeff Kinney novel has been received by audiences. Check back tomorrow for a full report on the weekend numbers.
I think the Bounty Hunter is doing so well because Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler are so obviously in love in real life, and it carries over to the silver screen. They’re so cute together! They have great chemistry, because it’s real. SOOO happy for them! Jen deserves it!
You’re what’s wrong with America.
Ditto
amen! this tv starlet who keeps doing romcoms past 40 must retire!
You guys are just jealous! Gerard and Jen are talented, beautiful people who found love in world full of people like you! Just give them their privacy and let them be HAPPY. Go Jennifer Aniston!
WTF??? So people don’t fall in love after 40? Where’s the law that says that actresses aren’t supposed to do rom-coms after 40? SHould I remind you that before THE BLIND SIDE came out, THE PROPOSAL was Sandra Bullock’s biggest hit? That was a romcom, and she was 45.
And should I remind you that Meryl Streep, 60, just had a 115 million dollar-grossing hit with a romantic comedy called It’s Complicated???
Ditto!
Keil Shults, I think I LOVE YOU!! I’m laughing so hard I can barely type! LMAO!!!!!!!!
David is another part of what’s wrong with America. :-/
I’m sick of her ‘I’m waiting for Mr. Right’ image and of course the ‘boo hoo Brad’ dumped her sympathy from 40-60 y/o nerdy women who buy all the tabloids each week.
Jen will not be able to play a woman ‘waiting to have kids someday’ much longer. 40′s fly by like lightning. And of course she will be spending $$$ on plastic surgery to keep her ‘Rachel’ look going. But by 50 it will be extremely tiresome!!!!
Meryl Streep is a great actress, and had kids when she was able to. Also, she plays DIFFERENT LOOKING charcaters. Not the water bottle swilling ‘look at me I still look like 30′ stuck up b$%@#$!@#.
I agree, a family friendly movie that is great for laughs
@Molly:
Are you a 12 year-old girl from a very small town?
I’m just happy to see that Jen has found love after so much heartbreak. Knowing that they fell in love while making the movie made the film that much more enjoyable. I just wish the paparazzi would leave them alone, and that all the haters would stop acting so jealous!
“Bennifer” was coined when Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck fell in love on the set of Gigli. Then they broke up right before it released. Good thing for the studio that they didn’t break up too early.
At least Gerard wasn’t already married when he and Jen got together, unlike Brad and Angie on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith when he was married to Jen.
At least they waited until right before the movie premiered to reveal they’re a couple or Bounty Hunter could’ve ended up been another Gigli. Oh wait…
going to time machine tomorrow .im right with you on the 80s nostalgia
Bounty Hunter fans are the same ones who watch reruns of Friends all day/decade and think it’s entertainment..empty entertainment!
As opposed to what? Whats wrong with watching good comedies and having a laugh?
The movie never pretended to be Oscar bait, so everybody who watched it, went to laugh and have fun, but that according to someone like you is a crime
Pay no heed to what he says , Lala. He is the kind of self-enamored movie snob who in public claims to hate rom coms, raunchy comedies, and any film that he reads has a bad rating at Rotten Tomatoes, but who probably loves his Porky’s, Dumb And Dumbers and Pretty Womans. It’s all about not wanting to look like a “commoner. I enjoy whatever film touches me, whether it’s a German expressionistic film, an Oscar-winning epic, or a silly Adam Sandler laughfest. It’s only movies, no need to make it an existential pursuit.
Hey! Whenever a FRIENDS re-run is on, I usually watch it, but I do not like Jennifer Aniston at all and I die a little on the inside whenever someone shows interest in watching one of her movies.
HEY! Friends was a darn good TV show!
Well actually I own the whole Friends series on DVD, but I don’t repeatedly watch the series over and over. And never in my life would I watch the garbage that is the Bounty Hunter.
‘Friends’ was a good show, but too many took it as ‘the Bible’ for life. They were really self centered characters. Rachel was a b$#$!# most of the time. And Ross, gawd what a whiner!! If they left the show, it would still be on!
What does Jen deserve? I think she’s a had a good bite at what life has to offer. If it screws up, well that’s just what happens to millions every day. Her film’s shit and not doing ‘so well’.
Bounty Hunter seems to be holding well because it seems to be the only movie of its kind out right now. And with Hot Tub Time Machine, in addition to the 80s nostalgia, I don’t think people were that interested about a time machine that was a hot tub.
John Cusack back in the 80′s where he belongs? I am so there. If anything, all the actors should have been 80′s icons.
terrible for dragon after reports 3-d ticket prices went up 20% this weekend
See my comment. Many of us don’t want to see movies in 3D….this is going to set a precedent…Hollyweird is going to produce every 2nd movie in 3D and we’ll be forced to pay $5 more…or sit at home and watch on-demand.
All of these 3D movies are available to watch at regular prices in 2D.
Raising 3D ticket prices THAT much in one shot was a bad move. People are going to be much much more critical at the actual quality of the movie. But more importantly, with a 3D ticket now the cost of a blu-ray on Amazon.com (and the DVD window shrinking), people will be waiting for the DVD. The cost of a netflix movie rental is around $1.50 (and on a 50 inch plasma, it looks as good as most theatrical projection). Why would I now pay $19 to see Shrek 4?
David, I am right there with you. I really enjoyed DRAGON in Imax 3-D, lots of fun and good use of the 3-D, but for the $19.00 a ticket I paid to see it, I am going to be very careful about what I see.
Going back to the days of The Edge and early seasons of Friends, I truly enjoyed Aniston as a comedienne. I wish she would take quirky comedy roles (Little Miss Sunshine, Sunshine Cleaning, Royal Tennenbaums etc.) and stop making (what seems to me to be) the same romantic comedy over and over again. Her and some guy are exes or dislike each other but are forced to spend time together until they fall in/back in love. Got it. NEXT!!
Its not the same one over and over again, if you actually watched her movies, you’d see the only similarity is that they are all funny – other than that they are all quite different
HOT TUB played to sold-out theaters last night (we had to keep shifting times to find one that hasn’t sold out) and got huge laughs throughout. This one is going to have legs.
My theater hardly laughed at all, and I thought it was among the worst movies I’ve ever seen. And no, I’m not one of those raunchy-cmomedy-hating people.
Pixar films are cinematic gold. dreamworks movies and ice age sequels are pure pop trash!!
I’m huge a huge Pixar fan and I agree most of Dreamwork’s movies are garbage but don’t knock HtTyD if you haven’t seen it. One of Dreamwork’s best and I didn’t see a single pop culture reference in it.
I agree Pixar tops Dreamworks. However take note of the co-directors of How to Train Your Dragon: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois’ last film was Lilo & Stitch. They worked for Disney and had many friends in Pixar whome they took council from. And to back up what Lynn said, there weren’t any trashy pop-culture references that I saw. It was a well-made animation that far out exceeds the studios last installment; ‘Kung Fu Panda’ in both quality and enjoyability.
Yes, Pixar does make great movies, but I just got back from How to Train Your Dragon and it is really good. It is probably the best animated movie Dreamworks has made. Much better that Ice Age.
I agree! DRAGON was a very nice surprise and certainly one of Dreamworks best. Too bad the 9:30 IMAX show tonight was only half full the $19.00 ticket is going to keep people away.
ergo… Dreamworks still owe it’s better-than-the-rest reviewed film from Disney/Pixar alumni!! They can’t make a decent movie without pirating from Pixar/Disney. For shame!!
God, I hope all the movie houses don’t go 3D and IMax. This is terrible….every other movie will be in 3D and then we’ll be forced to buy 3D Tvs and go to 3D movies…this is terrible. STOP the 3d MOVIES! Please.
I’ve been saying that for months.
Better yet, someone explain to my six year old that he can’t see almost all of the kid’s movies coming out this year. He can’t see 3D, just like many other children. The movie studios need to gauge their audiences not just their pocket books. I have no opinion on 3D since I can’t see it either. I just wish they would make 2D options of the same movies for those of us who can’t/won’t see a 3D picture.
Don’t despair; every 3D movie is also released for 2D because most movie theaters are only capable of 2D. Converting from 3D to 2D is foolproof and flawless, unlike 2D to 3D (see “Alice”, “Clash”, etc.)
I’m with you, I don’t understand why 3D is so popular, it is over price and often times tries to cover up for a bad plotline
Now we’ll see how the well the utterly disappointing Alice is with some actual competition to go against.
noo wimpy kid thats a big drop. =( figures that tired aniston and bloated butler would be able to hang on..i don’t know why but people seem to eat up whatever junk she puts out.
Does this mean that the people who jumped on me last week when I said that Bounty Hunter was actually doing well for a Rom Com have earned an “I told you so” from me?
This isn’t even cute. Sorry!