Friday Box Office Analysis
by Tim Briody
March 16, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Easily leading the field for a second weekend is Oz the Great and Powerful, with $11.4 million, a 52.7% decline from last Friday, which is just fine. The year's first true blockbuster has already crossed $100 million and will overtake Identity Theft for the top film of 2013 by the end of the day. Last weekend Oz scored a strong 3.75 weekend multiplier, boosted by a strong Saturday, and that trend will continue this weekend. A second weekend of $42.1 million is quite strong as it heads towards the $200 million mark.
The Call
The biggest surprise of the weekend is the performance of The Call, with $6.2 million on Friday. This puts it in line to be the biggest performer in the history of WWE Studios. Take that, John Cena. The [bp:912_]Halle Berry[/bp] thriller is doing what last weekend's Dead Man Down (also a WWE production) couldn't by providing a viable box office alternative in what's been a fairly weak year so far. A weekend of $17.3 million is far above any expectations The Call may have had going into the weekend.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Any box office hopes and dreams the comedy starring [bp:7561_]Steve Carell[/bp] and [bp:1155_]Jim Carrey[/bp] had turned out to be just a bunch of smoke and mirrors as it earned an unmagical $3.7 million on Friday. It doesn't take a wizard to figure out that this is kind of bad. Audiences were an illusion for Burt Wonderstone, and there is no spell to save it from mediocrity. A weekend of $10.3 million seems to be the best it can hope for.