Weekend Box Office: Thor Hammers Out Another Win

By Chris Kavan - 05/16/11 at 01:22 AM CT

It looks like Thor is still mighty, at least for one more weekend. The Norse hero managed to hold off a relatively strong R-rated comedy to keep hold of the top spot. With an estimated $34.5 million, Thor now stands at just over $119 million total. Dropping less than 50%, the film also retained more of its audience compared to super hero films past, including Iron Man 2 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

In second place was the R-rated Bridesmaids. The $24.4 million was a surprisingly strong start for an R-rated comedy and Kristen Wiig can now boast the best opening for an SNL cast member in a non-SNL film (beating Will Ferrell's turn in Old School). With some clever marketing and a modest budget, the film was another great turnout for Judd Apatow who produced the film.

The week's other new wide-release, Priest, wasn't so lucky. After suffering delays, it could only manage a 4th-place $14.5 million - nowhere near the numbers of Underworld or Resident Evil and it couldn't even top Legion. The main audience that Priest courted - namely young, male demographic, was still enamored with Thor and the third place film: Fast Five.

Speaking of which, Fast Five scored another $19.5 million and sped past Fast & Furious to become the highest grossing film in the series - $168.7 million and counting. Not bad for a franchise that's a decade old. It should cross the $200 million mark before its run is over.

In fifth place, and holding most of its audience (down only 6%) was the animated film Rio. The $8 million it took in bumped it up to $125 million and it is now officially the year's top-grossing animated film, blowing past Rango's $120 million total.

Thanks to Bridesmaids stealing a wide chunk of their audiences, both the romantic comedy film from last week suffered the biggest drops. Jumping the Broom was down 52% and Something Borrowed was off right around 50% - the films ended up 6th and 7th with Broom taking in $7.3 million for a $26 million total, while Borrowed earned another $7 million and now stands at $25.7 million.

Total box office was off 5% compared to last year, but hopefully this next week, when most eyes will be on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, will turn things around again. Something tells me Captain Jack Sparrow won't have any problems dominating the box office - but just how high will it go? I know I'll be watching it, anyway.