By Chris Kavan - 04/04/11 at 12:34 AM CT
It was another banner week for family films (but not the box office), as Hop, the animated/live action Easter bunny tale, opened with a 2011 record-best $38.1 million - just beating out Rango for that distinction. Despite getter mostly lukewarm reviews, the film will probably surpass $100 million especially with Easter just around the corner.
In second place was Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code. The $15 million opening was in line with estimates, but was a little on the weak side compared to recent entries Limitless and The Adjustment Bureau. Still, with just a $32 million budget, it should have not trouble exceeding that amount.
In third was the horror film Insidious. The $13.5 million must look really good, considering the budget on this film was a song - and considering it came from the same people who brought up Paranormal Activity, it looks like they have this down to a science.
Dropping 54%, Diary of Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, wound up in fourth place with $10.2 million. The drop was consistent with the first film and the sequel now stands at $38.3 million. Sucker Punch certainly took one itself, taking the biggest hit with a 68% decline to wind up in 7th place with $6 million. The film has earned just under $30 million and will be hard pressed to reach near its stated $82 million cost. Well, there's always DVD.
Holding up well between those two films were Limitless and the Lincoln Lawyer, which both took only modest drops of 37.5% and 34.4% respectively. Limitless took in $9.4 million and now stands at $55.6 million while Lincoln Lawyer earned an extra $7 million and stands at $39.6 million. Both films should come out as a win for the respective studios.
Rango remains the top-grossing film of the year. Now in 8th place, it added $4.5 million to its $113.7 million total. It remains to be seen if Hop can overtake it in the coming weeks.
Overall box office still couldn't compete with last year's totals, as it was off 25% from last year when Clash of the Titans was still riding the 3D wave to glory.
We'll see if Russell Brand in the remake of Arthur, the medieval tomfoolery of Your Highness or Saoirse Ronan kicking into action in Hanna can finally give the box office the lift it needs next week.
