Who knew the appetite for Shrek would abate so significantly in just three years? Whereas Shrek the Third bowed to over $121 million back in summer 2007, Shrek Forever After, which boasted a slew of expensive 3-D screens, opened this weekend to just $71.2 million. (IMAX screens accounted for 7 percent of the total.) The PG-rated animated flick from Dreamworks Animation generated a solid A Cinemascore from audiences, which bodes well for the movie’s staying power, but the opening is still far beneath what the third and even second installment in the uber-successful franchise opened to. In fact, the only Shrek movie that opened weaker than Shrek Forever After was the original in 2001, a completely unique concept at the time that opened to $42 million.
The other new wide release of the frame was the Relativity Media financed R-rated comedy MacGruber. Unfortunately for this property, based on the Saturday Night Live skit, the concept was widely rejected by moviegoers. Earning only $4.1 million for the weekend and a C- from Cinemascore, MacGruber may find it challenging to earn back the meager $10 million it cost to make the film. From producer Lorne Michaels, and starring SNL castmates Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, MacGruber opened in sixth place.
The majority of the remaining top 10 films were holdovers, with both Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood dropping less than 50 percent for the weekend. Iron Man nabbed the second slot for its third weekend in theaters. The Robert Downey Jr. starrer grossed an additional $26.6 million to put its total cume at $251.2 million. Robin Hood fell 48 percent its second weekend in theaters. From director Ridley Scott, the PG-13 rated epic tale starring Russell Crowe grossed $18.7 million for a total two-week gross of $66.1 million. As expected, the film has outperformed internationally, where the total gross stands at $125 million.
Letters to Juliet had the best hold of the weekend among the top 10. The Amanda Seyfried-starring, Tuscan-set romance dropped only 33 percent its second weekend for an additional $9 million. The film, well-liked by audiences, has now earned $27.4 million. Spot five went to the Queen Latifah-starring romantic comedy Just Wright, which in its second weekend of release lost 47 percent of its value. Adding $4.2 million to its gross, the film’s cume stands at $14.6 million.
Date Night took the seventh spot, earning $2.8 million to put its total seven-week gross at $90 million. Nightmare on Elm Street held on to spot eight, earning another $2.2 million to put its four-week cume at close to $60 million. And How to Train Your Dragon grabbed the ninth slot. The other animated flick from Paramount and Dreamworks Animation grossed $1.8 million its ninth weekend in release, for a total cume that stands at $210 million. Spot 10 went to the new Indian film Kites. Opening in only 208 theaters, the Bollywood film from Reliance Big Pictures grossed $1 million, pushing both The Back-Up Plan and the Babies documentary out of the top 10.
The box office as a whole was down compared to last year at this time, which was the Memorial Day holiday frame. That should all change next weekend when Sex and the City 2 opens on Thursday and Disney bows its Jerry Bruckheimer adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Prince of Persia, over the holiday weekend. Stay tuned.
MacGruber is one of the worst movies of the year. it should get at least a razzie for something, worst.
McGruger is the all time repulsive movie of the century! How it ever got made is a mystery. We, along with two other couples, walked out. There were a total of about 4 people in the entire theatre when we left.
I’m not being sarcastic or anything, but did the commercial make it look good to you? I mean, I can’t imagine what you must’ve been expecting it to be.
We walked out too! And we even saw it for free! The worst thing I’ve seen in at least the last 10 years.
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I find it hard to believe that MacGruber is worse than Meet the Spartans or Disaster Movie.
MacGruber shall be a cult classic and I guarantee it. You “dignified” Lost lovers that search for meaning in everything you devour need to seriously lighten up.
Pretty sure it’s the same person responding to himself over and over.
A “cult classic”? Like “Stuart Saves Everyone,” “Superstar,” and “It’s Pat”?
You don’t get out of the basement much, do you…..
MacGruber will be me and your mom’s personal cult classic that we put on while cuddling after “the deed.”
“just” 71 million? you are vile. movies are only about opening weekend anymore, and if every movie doesn’t break some record, it’s a colossal failure.
where did the art of movie criticism go? it’s been replaced by wannabe bean counter cheerleaders.
Your point would really be better made if you were defending an actual GOOD movie that didnt make much money at the box office, as opposed to some beyond-tired POS Mike Myers money grab like Shrek IV
Shrek is one if not THE most popular animated film franchise in the world, so breaking a record was actually some what expected, or at least wouldn’t have been surprising.
If you take out 3D, Shrek’s opening weekend would be closer to 55-60 million, the previous one opened to over 121 million, and if you account for inflation, it would be more than 130 million. 55 million vs. 130 million. It wasn’t fully expected that this film’s opening would be as big as the last one, but opening to less than half is a disopointment.
So to answer your question, yes *just* 71 million.
To paraphrase the late Sydney Pollock:”movie audiences now a days are being trained to obsses over box office numbers, not the quality of the picture. As if the studios are saying, if it makes a lot of money, it must be good, let’s keep making more of that”
You are asking “where did the art of movie criticism go?”. But this is not a review this is a box office gross report, as such it is completely appropriate to talk about if the movie made money or not. The Sydney Pollock quote does not make sense. Tt says that movie audiences care about the gross of a picture and then switches completely to talking about the studios as if they are one in the same. Obviously the studios care about the gross for a movie but that doesn’t prove that the audience does.
I should rip your throat out for saying that.
That’s pretty bold talk for a fat asses baement dweller whose mommy still makes his bed.
Ya actually wasted money on seeing this movie? what is wrong with yall?
Moviegoers are getting smart. Why pay $15.00 for a movie ticket when you can buy the DVD in a few months. Ticket prices are extremely high.
Go ahead and stay at home. I enjoy the movies better without you there whining about ticket and concession prices.
hehe…in my country (malaysia)a non-imax-non-3d movie ticket is around rm10 = around 3.20 dollars….haha
Shrek was pushing it with the 2nd movie and by the third it was stale. I think everyone’s tired of the rehash of the same joke. It’s too bad because the first film is a classic.
What’s the saying about too much of a good thing?
I think the 3rd movie turned everyone off so badly that few were excited about the 4th.
This is what I think. The third one was just tired and no fun. That combined with that we all know the movie will be on DVD for Christmas – what is the point of spending $15 for 3-D. We know what to expect, and people decided they can wait for the fall.
Hell, everything Mike Myers does is stale. That clown’s been a has-been since Wayne’s World.
you shut your butt..
i’m going to go see Shrek 4 in a few hours…but not in 3D, so there.
Just got, back waaayyy better than the last one, 3D totally not worth it.
Shrek 4 sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes it sure does, those jokes and characters are so tired.
I am a fan of the SNL MacGruber spots. But because the writers/producers insisted on R-rated humor, I won’t take my teen sons. Good writers/producers can make something funny and still stay PG or PG 13. Their loss…
MacGruber was actually pretty crowded. Unfortunately, it was all 15 yr old boys that bought tickets for Iron Man and snuck in to the theater. i bet MacGruber would have at least doubled their take if it was a true ticket count. So much for the R Rating. It was doomed from the start.
very good point, also going by Kickass’ take, I’m starting to think the directors should start leaving the R-Rated material for the Blu-Ray release.
@nathan: right, let’s sacrifice story telling and a director’s vision just so we can get that desirable pg-13… sigh, some people…
I don’t want to see it, but I know how the studios think and it’s all about that opening weekend and the bottom line.
LOL how old are your kids? So what, they are like 15 years old or so and you wont take them so see MacGruber, of all things? Are you Amish? Mormon? You had best not investigate this new invention called the internet, you would be shocked at what kids can see on there nowadays.
That’s exactly what’s wrong with kids these days,the parents don’t raise them with any rules or morals.
Actually is is good to keep kids from seeing badly written movies.
Your crazy BArtG! Let your teen sons live. You will turn them into serial killers with your crazy rules and stupid religious ideals. Its 2010… get with the times.
I agree with ‘Kendis’, in this tough economy, even shelling out $13. (NY) is a bit pricey nowadays, and that’s before popcorn & soda, etc.
I only go see horror movies in theatres I really like, and was disappointed with the new Friday the 13th and how they just trashed Freddy by “keeping up with the times” instead of making him a child killer, they made him a pedophile and a child “abuser”. Sad to see a horror icon get trashed just to cash in and the man who replaced Englund, Jackie Earle Haley, is a great actor, but when your given a weak script…
Also he said the makeup took hours each day, what the F were they thinking with that makeup?!!
They just went for a burn victim look, where Freddy looked more imposing and less like a victim and more sinister. The “new” Freddy actually looked like a creature out of ‘The Descent’. Wasted $12.25 on that P.O.S.!!
question, you said you didn’t like Friday the 13th, and hated nightmare on elm street. Now, if the same people that made this 2 movies re-made NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, would you see it? Knowing that they already screwed up two remakes already. Or would you ignore it, knowing that it most likely be a waste of time?
shrek 4 should have been called ShrekGruber
Shrek 4 should never have been made.
Has anyone noticed how these people that write about movies sure love to say “bow” “bows” and “bowed” as much as humanly possible?
I bow to your observation.
I certainly hope this is the end of SNL movies. It’s insulting to humanity to put out this crap and try to convince people to see it when they don’t even watch it for free on Saturday nights.
obviously not because it is filled with ridiculous humor that SNL could never show on the televisions. you need to lighten up beyatch!
Judging by how you construct your sentences and by how your general attitude seems to be, I don’t doubt that you would love Macgruber.
the friday the 13th and nightmare on elm street remakes were awesome. only snobby moviegoers and “true” fans would trash it without giving it a chance.
No, the people who trashed them gave them a chance… they were still horrible, horrible movies.
Here’s a good test. Imagine that the original Nightmare, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween never existed. Imagine only the remakes exist.
Do you honestly believe any of those characters would have become horror movie icons based off the new movies?
Case closed.
I actually saw the Friday the 13th remake for the first time last night and it really was pretty bad. About as suspenseful as a Colts/Lions game.
Just came back from seeing Shrek 4. The reason it’s not making as much as 3 was 3 was highly anticipated and failed to deliver. But Forever After is way way WAY better and very much worth seeing. A good ending for the series.
In all fairness, many people do seem to enjoy the new Shrek movie.
It’s just that the 3rd one was so bad it understandably scared off audiences, myself included.
Because 3 was so incredibly bad, I will pass on 4 just on principle.
Jeffery — you said what I said in a post about Shrek earlier this weekend. I’m glad that I’m not the only one who feels this way about Shrek 4 and the Shrek series in general.
McGruber is worse than Gigli.
Damn.
no, it sure isn’t.
MacGruber fail and I don’t like it either! Why did they make that stupid movie? The original McGyver (however you spell) is the best and case closed.
To be fair, MacGyver, like the original A Team, was already pretty stupid on its own. However, it was fun.
Um, no. While McGruber might be crap (I haven’t seen it and don’t know if I will) McGyver was cheesy crap wrapped up in absolute bullsh*t.