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'Lorax' trumps 'John Carter' with $39.1M weekend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Dr. Seuss' the Lorax" has easily beaten Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter" at the weekend box office.

Studio estimates Sunday put Universal Pictures' "The Lorax" at No. 1 for the second-straight weekend as the animated adventure based on the children's book took in $39.1 million. That raised its 10-day domestic total to $122 million, making "The Lorax" the top-grossing movie released this year.

"John Carter," based on "Tarzan" creator Burroughs' tales of the interplanetary adventurer, opened in second-place with $30.6 million. That's an awful start given the whopping $250 million that Disney reportedly spent to make "John Carter," which also earned generally poor reviews that will hurt its long-term prospects.

The movie's salvation could come overseas, where "John Carter" opened in 55 markets with $70.6 million, giving it a worldwide total of $101.2 million.

The stronger international business helps, but that worldwide total still pales compared to global debuts of $200 million and up for many modern blockbusters.

"We would have hoped for more considering the larger economics of the film but are still encouraged with how it's been received by audiences that have seen it and hope to see that generate positive word of mouth for the balance of the run," said Dave Hollis, Disney's head of distribution.

The Warner Bros. teen comedy "Project X" held up well in its second weekend with $11.6 million to finish at No. 3 and raise its domestic haul to $40.1 million.

Elizabeth Olsen's horror tale "Silent House," released by Open Road Films, opened modestly at No. 4 with $7 million. Olsen plays a young woman terrorized inside her family's spooky summer home.

Eddie Murphy's comedy "A Thousand Words," a leftover shot in 2008 and finally dumped into theaters by distributor Paramount, was a dud at No. 6 with just $6.4 million.

The movie features Murphy as a fast-talking literary agent and neglectful family man who gets a lesson on the important things in life after discovering he has only a thousand words left to utter before he dies.

"A Thousand Words" was so bad it had a perfect score on the film critic site Rottentomatoes.com: all of the 37 reviews compiled there for the movie were negative.

"John Carter" at least managed 49 percent favorable notices of the 170 reviews compiled there. That's still not a recipe for staying power at the box office, particularly with such a bad opening in the United States.

"If you just take the domestic number, it's not a very pretty picture," said Paul Dergarabedian, analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "But if you look at the worldwide opening weekend of a hundred million dollars, that's pretty solid."

"John Carter" casts "Friday Night Lights" co-star Taylor Kitsch in the title role as a 19th century Civil War veteran whisked away to Mars, where he falls for a beautiful princess and becomes a hero in the red planet's own civil war.

Disney executives noted that the movie had a 25 percent uptick in domestic business from opening day Friday to Saturday, saying it was a sign that audiences were talking up "John Carter" to friends.

But the movie drew only 41 percent of its viewers from the under-25 crowd, indicating that Hollywood's key audience of young action fans was not interested.

Overall domestic business rose again as studios continued their 2012 box-office roll. Revenues totaled $140.5 million, up 8.7 percent from the same weekend last year, according to Hollywood.com.

Receipts have climbed every weekend this year, with domestic revenues inching above $2 billion so far in 2012, an 18 percent increase over last year's.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Dr. Seuss' the Lorax," $39.1 million ($1.4 million international).

2. "John Carter," $30.6 million ($70.6 million international).

3. "Project X," $11.6 million.

4. "Silent House," $7.01 million.

5. "Act of Valor," $7 million.

6. "A Thousand Words," $6.4 million.

7. "Safe House," $5 million ($6.1 million international).

8. "The Vow," $4 million ($2.4 million international).

9. "This Means War," $3.8 million.

10. "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," $3.7 million.

Source: yahoo.com

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How Dr. Seuss's The Lorax Went Big

Taylor Swift can now add "box-office champion" to her list of accolades."Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" scored huge numbers at theaters this weekend, ending up with an outstanding $70.7 million take and the biggest weekend of 2012 so far.Dr. Seuss' little environmentalist surpassed all expectations on the way to its record-breaking bow; the film also contributed to a solid weekend on the whole, with ticket revenues up 27 percent from the same period last year.

With stars like Swift, Zac Efron, Ed Helms and Danny DeVito populating the cast, "The Lorax" not only had the benefit of being the first big-budget family release of the year, but also one with major stars.

Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations, told MTV News that March has recently been a month made for strong animated openings, so the success of "The Lorax" isn't exactly shocking.

"Over the last decade or so, March has been a veritable hotbed for animated releases. In fact, six of the top 10 March debuts have been 'toons," Bock said. "Universal certainly had already been witness to the success of 'Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!' which went on to gross over $150-plus million after a March 2008 rollout. So is this a surprise? Not really."

The success of "The Lorax" could potentially bode well for the rest of 2012's box-office prospects, especially with such big releases slated for the rest of the year. "The box-office surge of March should continue, as 2012 is packed with promise," Bock said. "The real question is whether or not summer will live up to expectations; those four months can make or break the entire year. With the triple threat of 'The Avengers,' 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and 'The Dark Knight Rises,' I certainly like our chances."

Source:www.mtv.com

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Box office report: 'The Lorax' tops the weekend with a record-breaking $70.7 mil

In a year in which one movie after another has surpassed industry expectations, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax just blew the roof off.

According to studio estimates, Universal’s CG-animated film harvested $70.7 million this weekend, breaking a number of records in the process. First, it was the best opening ever for a Dr. Seuss adaptation, toppingHow the Grinch Stole Christmas‘ $55.1 debut in 2000. The Loraxeasily scored the best opening of the year so far, trouncing The Vow ($41.2 million). Finally, if the estimate holds, the movie will have earned the sixth best debut ever for an animated feature, beating both The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.3 million). And if one discounts sequels, then The Lorax had the second-best opening among animated fare, behind only The Simpsons Movie ($74 million).

Going into the weekend, most industry prognosticators (myself included) were predicting The Lorax to debut to around $50 million. Clearly we didn’t realize just how much of a box-office juggernaut the little tree-loving creature would be. Credit must be given to Universal, which launched an omnipresent marketing campaign that included more than 70 global partners. And the production company Illumination Entertainment has proved it’s a force to be reckoned with, having now gone three-for-three after the success of Despicable Me and Hop. That track record is especially impressive considering that all three of those movies were made on relatively modest budgets — The Lorax cost $70 million to produce.

Unsurprisingly, The Lorax thrived thanks to family audiences. Universal reports that 68 percent of the audience consisted of parents attending with children under the age of 13. The box-office data itself also suggests a huge family presence, as the PG-rated movie jumped 80 percent from Friday to Saturday. The Lorax picked up an “A” rating from CinemaScore moviegoers, suggesting that it should benefit from positive word of mouth in the weeks to come.

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In second place, Project X may have been overshadowed by The Lorax, but the teen party flick debuted to a solid $20.8 million. Made for only $12 million, the R-rated film is the third “found-footage” movie this year to open strongly, after The Devil Inside and Chronicle. The “found-footage” style of filmmaking, with its no-name stars and you-are-there handheld camerawork, has been particularly attractive to young men. That should come as a relief to Hollywood since many young men seemingly abandoned the multiplex during 2011.

Project X drew a crowd that was 58 percent male and 67 percent under the age of 25. It received an overall “B” grade from CinemaScore audiences and fared much better with men (B+) than with women (C+).

As for holdovers, the Navy SEALs war film Act of Valor dropped 44 percent for $13.7 million, pushing its two-week tally to $45.2 million. The Denzel Washington thriller Safe Houseslipped just 34 percent for $7.2 million — it has so far grossed $108.2 million. And Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds fell 55 percent for $7 million. That drop is slightly better than Perry’s average second-weekend decline of 59 percent.

The Artist, which won the Best Picture Oscar last Sunday, had its biggest showing to date with $3.9 million — a 34 percent increase over the prior weekend. However, the black-and-white silent film had to nearly double its theater count (from 966 to 1,756) to get there, and its per-location average of $2,221 was its lowest so far. By comparison, last year’s Best Picture winner The King’s Speech earned $6.2 million the weekend after the Oscars, and had already collected $123.5 million by this point.

Still, The Artist is by no means a financial disappointment. The movie cost a mere $15 million to produce and has grossed $37.1 million domestically (and $81.8 million worldwide). It just will finish its run as one of the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners of the past 30 years.

1. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax — $70.7 mil
2. Project X — $20.8 mil
3. Act of Valor — $13.7 mil
4. Safe House — $7.2 mil
5. Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds — $7.0 mil

Source: google.com

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Weekend Pick: ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’

What's the Story?
In a plastic land with nary a tree, Ted (Zac Efron) is infatuated with an older girl named Audrey (Taylor Swift). When Audrey tells Ted that what she wants most in the world is to see a Truffula tree, Ted knows what he must do. After getting some advice from his Grammy (Betty White), Ted hops on his monocycle and seeks out the mysterious Once-ler (Ed Helms) to find out where all the Truffula trees have gone. The Once-ler tells Ted the story of the Lorax (Danny DeVito), who used to speak for the trees, and challenges Ted not to accept the plastic land he's been dealt.
Who Will Dig It?
Fans of Dr. Seuss adaptations, scintillating 3D, stunning animation, family fun, musicals, and magical adventures should check out this flick for kids of all ages. Don't forget to recycle your ticket stub.

Source: yahoo.com