Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Dare to Check Out "Evil Dead"

As I expected, Evil Dead came out on top at the weekend box office with an impressive but not necessarily remarkable $26 million. The film had an incredible marketing campaign that almost dared audiences to check it out, and it seemed to have worked- for the film's opening night. But a C+ Cinemascore and declining grosses through the weekend seems to emphasize that audiences aren't crazy about the film. Still, with a $17 million budget this one should do solid business for Sony. It's the planned sequels they'll have to worry about. Though, if you read my review, you might see that it has the potential to be a cult classic, much like its original.

This week's other 'new' release is Jurassic Park 3D, which did much better than I expected with $18 million. 3D rereleases haven't performed very well as of late, and Jurassic Park's opening ranks relatively high amongst its peers- though it isn't exactly huge by any means. Still, it's almost impossible for these films to actually be flops, so I can't imagine Universal is too unhappy. As for whether or not the 3D rerelease trend will continue- I'm not sure, but I hope not.


As for holdovers, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Croods are actually tying for second and third place right now, and we'll only know for sure the order of these two films on the Top 10 once actuals are reported. Both films are performing well, however. Olympus Has Fallen also continues to impress, Temptation is showing solid legs and Oz continues to make some serious money for Disney and should officially break even next weekend. In the meantime, check below the jump for a preview of next week. And here is your Top 10-

1. Evil Dead- $26 million (debut)
2. G.I. Joe: Retaliation- $21.1 million ($86 million in 2 weeks)*
3. The Croods- $21.1 million ($125 million in 3 weeks)*
4. Jurassic Park 3D- $18 million (debut)
5. Olympus Has Fallen- $10.04 million ($71 million in 3 weeks)
6. Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor- $10 million ($38 million in 2 weeks)
7. Oz the Great and Powerful- $8 million ($212 million in 5 weeks)
8. The Host- $5 million ($19 million in 2 weeks)
9. The Call- $3 million ($45 million in 4 weeks)
10. Admission- $2 million ($15 million in 3 weeks)

* is used to symbolize the fact that the two films are tied for 2nd and 3rd place. Results will change when actuals are reported tomorrow.

 NEXT WEEK: 

Next week's wide releases are 42 and Scary Movie 5, neither of which I expect to do all that well. Audiences seem to be over the spoof movie genre, so I can see Scary Movie 5 debuting somewhere in the mid to high teens, with a low $20 million debut being the absolute highest. As for 42, the film should open in the high teens, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had solid legs through the month. It should be a quiet weekend overall, and I can't really tell what's going to come out on top.