‘Oz’ Repeats Atop the Box Office While ‘The Call’ Smothers ‘Burt Wonderstone’s Magic

Oz the Great and Powerful taking the #1 spot for the second weekend in a row is no surprise and the 46.6% drop and $42.2 million it took in are two very good signs for the film and Disney. While this isn’t as big as Alice in Wonderland was back in 2010, it’s still quite good considering that looming $215 million budget. A drop under 50% is just what the wizard ordered.

Magic, however, didn’t strike The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which appeared, before the weekend began, to be the more likely film to take #2, but the curtain closed on this one quickly. Wonderstone opened in 3,160 theaters and only managed $10.3 million and a third place finish while the Halle Berry thriller The Call scored a whopping $17.1 million from 2,507 theaters and a $6,821 per theater average to Wonderstone‘s $3,261.

The CinemaScores also match with the results with Burt earning a “C+” from opening day audiences and The Call a “B+”.

Looking over the predictions from Thursday, Laremy went big on Burt with $20.5 million and small on Call at $13.8 million, but before getting into reader predictions on those two, I must give credit to gerberzy and his $42.2 million call on Oz. Spot on! Nice!

As for reader predictions on The Call, the predictions were primarily all below $10 million, ranging from AZ‘s tiny $4 million prediction to the coltonhaynes22‘s $13.4 million, which was the closest on the board.

Looking at reader predictions on Burt Wonderstone, some predictions went as high as $27.4 million, but Rach wasn’t fooled and her $10 million prediction was closest on the board.

You have to wonder how the people at Warner Bros. are feeling about now when it comes to their 2013 slate of films. So far they’ve had bomb after bomb starting with Gangster Squad followed by Bullet to the Head, Beautiful Creatures, Jack the Giant Slayer and now Burt Wonderstone. I guess they can at least be happy their upcoming films look to be on solid ground with Cannes Film Festival opener The Great Gatsby, The Hangover Part III and the return of Superman with Man of Steel.

Looking over the rest of the weekend, in its second three-day frame, Dead Man Down is already out of the top ten, landing at #11, while limited release newcomer, Spring Breakers opened in only three theaters and pulled in $270,000 for a $90,000 per theater average. The film goes wide in approximately 600 theaters next weekend, care to predict how well you think it will do?

Speaking of predictions, next weekend is packed.

The Croods (3,900+ theaters), Olympus Has Fallen (3,000+ theaters) and Admission (2,100 theaters) are your three films that are going wide. In limited release is InAPPropriate Comedy (250 theaters) and The Sapphires (4 theaters).

I have to think The Croods are going to take it, but how the weekend will shake out I’m just not sure. The Call may have done well this weekend, but does Olympus take all its second weekend audience and what about Oz now that a new animated, family comedy is out? Weigh in with your thoughts on the weekend and next weekend in the comments below.

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