Weekend Box-Office: 'The Lorax' Busts Out with $70 Million

The big story this week is The Lorax as it simply shattered expectations and became quite the box-office monster. So let’s have a look.

Laremy predicted the #1 movie correctly 1 Weeks In A Row

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

Laremy may have picked it to finish #1, but his prediction was almost doubled as The Lorax now holds the highest opening for a Dr. Seuss adaptation, the fourth largest opening for Universal of all-time, it is only $190,000 shy of becoming the second highest march opening and it’s the largest opening for an animated non-sequel ever. That’s a lot to brag about, I just wish I liked it so I could be a little more excited.

As far as predictions go, Laremy’s $37.8 million was clearly low, but looking over the reader predictions and no one was expecting this one to do this kind of a number. The closest prediction on the board belonged to Arthur Carlson and even he was $22 million off with a $48 million prediction.

Weekend: $70.7 million

RottenTomatoes Score: 59%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #1 and his prediction of $37.8 million was $32.9m off for a percentage error of 46.53%.

2. Project X

It’s not $70 million, but with a $12 million production budget it’s hard not to be happy with a $20.7 million opening.

Weekend: $20.7 million / RottenTomatoes: 28%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #2 with $18 million, which is $2.7m off for a 13.04% error.

3. Act of Valor

Act of Valor held nicely after topping the box-office last weekend.

Weekend: $13.7 million (-44.5% drop) / Cume: $45.2 million / RottenTomatoes: 29%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #3 with $13.4 million, which is $0.3m off for a 2.19% error.

4. Safe House

There was a little talk on Thursday over Laremy using the word “flop” to describe Safe House. I mean, how could a film that has made $144 million worldwide be a flop?

Well, with an $85 million production budget it still has some work to do to become profitable if you ascribe to the two-times multiplier rule (though it’s probably closer to a 3-times multiplier for a film to be profitable).

Weekend: $7.2 million (-36.3% drop) / Cume: $108.2 million / RottenTomatoes: 53%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #7 with $5 million, which is $2.2m off for a 30.56% error.

5. Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds

I look at Tyler Perry’s films and I see no real rhyme or reason as to why his films do well or why they do poorly. One thing I did notice, however, is if you put Perry in a dress the money rolls in.

Weekend: $7 million (-56.3% drop) / Cume: $25.7 million / RottenTomatoes: 29%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #5 with $6.7 million, which is $0.3m off for a 4.29% error.

6. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

The fact this has made over $247 million worldwide is mind-boggling.

Weekend: $6.9 million (-48.5% drop) / Cume: $85.6 million / RottenTomatoes: 43%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #4 with $7.4 million, which is $0.5m off for a 7.25% error.

7. The Vow

Now here’s a film that’s not a flop. $142 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. Now that’s printing money.

Weekend: $6.1 million (-39% drop) / Cume: $111.7 million / RottenTomatoes: 28%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #9 with $4.4 million, which is $1.7m off for a 27.87% error.

8. This Means War

I’m not quite sure why everyone rejected this film.

Weekend: $5.6 million (-34.1% drop) / Cume: $41.4 million / RottenTomatoes: 26%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #10 with $4.2 million, which is $1.4m off for a 25% error.

9. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

I’m not at all confused why people didn’t go see this film.

Weekend: $4.7 million (-46.6% drop) / Cume: $44.8 million / RottenTomatoes: 15%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #8 with $4.8 million, which is $0.1m off for a 2.13% error.

10. The Artist

Oscar’s Best Picture winner is enjoying its first trip into the top ten after it added 790 following its big night and saw a 34.2% box-office bump.

Weekend: $3.9 million / Cume: $37 million / RottenTomatoes: 97%

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #6 with $5.5 million, which is $1.6m off for a 41.03% error.

There is actually a lot to talk about in terms of Oscar contenders seeing big bumps beginning with Foreign Language winner A Separation, which added 160 theaters and pulled in $1 million, a 173.5% increase over last weekend. Meryl Streep’s The Iron Lady lost 11 theaters and still saw a 29.5% bump to $900,000 and the Best Documentary winner, Undefeated added 7 theaters and saw a 336.5% increase to $84,300.

Next week sees the release of John Carter along with a slew of other films. I’m curious, anyone want to make some early predictions?

Check out our complete Box-Office charts here and

subscribe to our updated Box-Office RSS feed here