Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
June 12, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
[tm:4844_]The Karate Kid[/tm]
The Jaden Smith/[bp:50_]Jackie Chan[/bp] update of the 1984 film clearly won the '80s Nostalgia War with a surprising $18.3 million on Friday. I'm really not sure what to attribute this amount to. It's not Chan, who hasn't had a non-animated hit since Rush Hour 3 (and this is likely to be his second highest opening ever, after Rush Hour 2), and it's certainly not Jaden Smith whose resume consists of The Pursuit of Happyness and The Day the Earth Stood Still. This must have just struck the right chord with those that remember the original. The Karate Kid should win the weekend with ease, with $51.2 million.
[tm:1161_]The A-Team[/tm]
The other '80s retread from this weekend, the A-Team, is not fueled by such nostalgia as it earned $9.4 million on Friday, nearly half as much as The Karate Kid. While the closest comparison here is last year's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The A-Team is pretty far away from that movie's $22.1 million opening day. It's keeping the core audience of those who just want to see stuff blow up happy, but it looks like the rest of the moviegoing public opted for the Karate Kid. The A-Team should earn $25.3 million for the weekend.
Notable Holdovers
There's very little that is notable about last week's four openers, especially since the smallest Friday-to-Friday decline belongs to Get Him to the Greek at 49%. The only other thing of note is that [tm:2300_]Shrek Forever After[/tm] will have crossed $200 million by the time you read this and sometime Sunday [tm:4515_]Iron Man 2[/tm] will become 2010's second $300 million film.