By Chris Kavan - 03/06/11 at 11:21 PM CT
Channeling the spirit of everything from Chinatow to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to Hunter S. Thompson, Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski's Rango led the box office with a $38 million opening.
And while the total looks good, initial numbers had it pegged anywhere from $43 - $50 million, making the numbers a bit of a disappointment. Still, Paramount is happy - hoping that Rango takes a cue from How to Train Your Dragon and open soft but continue to build to a strong finish. It should be noted, Rango was strictly a 2D affair.
In 2nd and 3rd place were also two new films that opened. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt came up second as The Adjustment Bureau managed a better-than-expected $20.9 million. The numbers may not be spectacular, but it bodes well for a film that only cost $62 million. It also bodes well for Matt Damon, whose efforts of late have been dramatic, but haven't burned up the box office (Invictus, Green Zone and The Informant! all came opened under $15 million).
In third was the Beauty and the Beast retelling, Beastly, which opened with $10.1 million. Considering some pretty harsh reviews, it looks like it lured in enough of a young female audience, and the people they dragged along with them, to make up for its delayed release.
Rounding out the top 5 was Hall Pass in 4th with $9 million and a $27 million total and the animated Gnomeo & Juliet, which didn't lose too much thunder to Rango, taking in another $6.9 million for a $83.7 million total.
The week's other new release, Take Me Home Tonight, couldn't even crack the top 10. It opened in 11th with a meager $3.5 million. Even though it only cost $10 million to make, it looks like Reality Media may be wishing they had left it on the shelf, or gone straight-to-DVD this time around.
Continuing its reign as the film with the lowest drop in attendance week-to-week, the now Best Picture, Director and Lead Actor award-winning Oscar film The King's Speech took in $6.5 million and now stands at just under $124 million. If it keeps going this strong, expect it to break the $150 million total before its done.
Taking the biggest hit was the 10th place Justin Bieber concert film Never Say Never, whose audience most likely were swayed by Rango and Beastly. While a 54% drop is steep, the 10th-place $4.3 million and $68.9 million total put it ahead of Miley Cyrus and her Hannah Montana concert movie and could easily top Michael Jackson's This Is It before it moves out of theaters.
Despite the noble efforts of all newcomers, Hollywood continued its down year. With Alice in Wonderland blistering the box office at this time last year, the total numbers were down 34%.
Next week's top offerings look to be the sci-fi / action film Battle: Los Angeles, Amanda Seyfriend giving an old story an updated twist in Red Riding Hood and another animated film joining the crowded market Mars Needs Moms!
