Weekend Box Office

For the weekend of May 20-22.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - $90.1 million - 1 wk (BV)
. . . 4155 screens / $21,685 per screen
2. Bridesmaids - $21.06 ($59.52) - 2 wks (U) -19.8%
. . . 2937 / $7170
3. Thor - $15.5 ($145.41) - 3 wks (Par) -55.3%
. . . 3924 / $3950
4. Fast Five - $10.63 ($186.22) - 4 wks (U) -48%
. . . 3622 / $2935
5. Rio - $4.65 ($131.65) - 6 wks (Fox) -43.8%
. . . 2593 / $1793
6. Priest - $4.6 ($23.68) - 2 wks (SG) - 69.2%
. . . 2864 / $1606
7. Jumping the Broom - $3.7 ($31.32) - 3 wks (TS) -47.6%
. . . 1472 / $2514
8. Something Borrowed - $3.43 ($31.43) - 3 wks (WB) -50.2%
. . . 2606 / $1314
9. Water for Elephants - $2.15 ($52.43) - 5 wks (Fox) -48.8%
. . . 1894 / $1135
10. Madea's Big Happy Family - $.99 ($51.76) - 5 wks (LG) -55.3%
. . . 912 / $1086
11. Soul Surfer - $.95 ($40.63) - 7 wks (TS) -48%
. . . 984 / $965
12. Midnight in Paris - $.58 - 1 wk (SP)
. . . 6 / $96,500

Let's work backwards through this. Midnight in Paris had an amazing per-screen average for Woody Allen, and it's getting his best reviews since Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Soul Surfer, Something Borrowed, Jumping the Broom, all batting singles and hitting their targets, breaking even but nothing to write home about. Madea's Big Happy Family and Water for Elephants are mildly profitable. Priest is sinking like a stone and can be called the first real flop of summer. Rio's in the green, actually passing Rango, which had a higher budget. Fast Five should safely make it to $200 million, and Thor will likely peak around $185 million.

Kristen Wiig's phone should have received a phonecall already from Universal executives to see if she has any pitch ideas for Bridesmaids 2. It's getting great word-of-mouth and dropping only 19% in its second week signifies it'll be probably surpass $100 million. Not bad for a $33 million budget.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is being called a disappointing opening. How can a Part 4 of any franchise be called disappointing? I'm pretty sure Indiana Jones 4 is the only to open higher, but considering that Pirates 3 openind to $135 million, that's where the expectation comes from. But sheesh, add in the overseas take and it's already at $346 million. I'll take that kind of disappointment anyday, especially considering it's getting worse reviews than Pirates 3.