Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
August 6, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Planet of the Apes reboot took in $19.5 million on Friday, which is a completely acceptable figure. Ten years ago, [bp:1495_]Tim Burton[/bp]'s Planet of the Apes remake opened, with $25 million on Friday on its way to a $69 million weekend. As we've noted, reboots often sacrifice some box office in hopes of building up goodwill towards future sequels, especially if the entry prior to the reboot wasn't well received. Rise of the Planet of the Apes might be a textbook entry in the reboot theory given the solid reviews and audience reaction. Tim Burton's entry managed a 2.75 multiplier and while ten years ago is pretty much a different era when it comes to box office, that is probably where Rise of the Planet of the Apes will end up. That would give it a weekend of $53.6 million.
[tm:5224_]The Change-Up[/tm]
Surprisingly not a movie about baseball, the adult body switching comedy comes in a disappointing fourth on Friday with $4.7 million. It's another miss for [bp:1182_]Ryan Reynolds[/bp] (after the disappointment of [tm:4064_]Green Lantern[/tm]) and concludes the Summer of the R-Rated Comedy with a whimper. While [tm:2270_]Horrible Bosses[/tm] just earned $100 million, [bp:971_]Jason Bateman[/bp] bombed last year as well with The Switch, which opened to $8.4 million off a $2.7 million Friday. The Change-Up is ahead of that, but it's still going to end up with a mediocre $14 million.
Notable Holdovers
[tm:2831_]The Smurfs[/tm] falls 55% from last Friday to $5.9 million. This isn't surprising, as legs for kids films aren't guaranteed in summer, but above average weekdays make up for it (it earned close to $20 million from Monday to Thursday). Give it a second weekend of $18.8 million.
Cowboys & Aliens fares worse than The Smurfs, off 64% from last Friday to $4.7 million, which I like to attribute to karma after last weekend's epic number fudging in order to avoid the headlines about losing to The Smurfs on opening weekend. Now definitely qualifying as a bomb, look for a second weekend of $14.2 million.
[tm:5225_]Crazy, Stupid Love[/tm] is the best holdover of last weekend's new releases, falling 44% from last Friday to $3.7 million. Between this, The Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens, this one will be the first to make its production budget back. So it's got that going for it. It should have a weekend of $11.6 million.