Box Office: Dr. Seuss Beats Out Burroughs for Top Spot

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

After two months of movies far exceeding expectations, we finally got a week with three movies that only did about what was expected and not much more with the biggest disappointment being Disney’s John Carter, starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Dominic West, Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church, which came into the weekend with mixed reviews and negative buzz due to its reported $250 million budget. It didn’t completely bomb as it was able to bring in an estimated $30.6 million domestic in 3,749 theaters, averaging roughly $8,100 per venue. $5 million of that amount was made from 289 IMAX screens, and another $70.6 million was earned internationally in 55 territories, bringing its three-day global total to $101 million.

Still, it had to settle for second place behind Universal Pictures’ Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, which brought in $39.1 million in its second weekend, down 44% from its record-setting opening weekend, bringing its ten-day gross to $122 million and making it the year’s top-grossing movie.

Last week’s #2 movie, the R-rated Project X (Warner Bros.) dropped down to #3 with $11.5 million and $40.1 million total.

The horror remake Silent House (Open Road), starring Elizabeth Olsen, just barely took fourth place with $7.01 million, narrowly besting the Bandito Brothers’ action flick Act of Valor (Relativity Media) with $7 million and a gross of $56 million after three weekends. With just $10,000 between them, we could expect their positions to be reversed by Monday.

Eddie Murphy’s long-delayed comedy A Thousand Words (Paramount) will be seen as a bomb with just $6.3 million in 1,890 theaters, although it still opened better than both Meet Dave and Imagine That and took sixth place.

The Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds action-thriller Safe House (Universal) brought in another $5 million for seventh place followed by Screen Gems’ romantic drama The Vow, starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, in eighth place with $4 million. They’ve both grossed in the $115 to 118 million range since opening last month.

The Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy This Means War took ninth place with $3.7 million and $46.9 million for ninth place, while tenth place went to the family adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (New Line/WB), which has grossed $90.7 million so far.

The Top 10 grossed $118 million up roughly 6% from the same weekend last year when Sony’s Battle: Los Angeles opened in first place with $35.5 million.

Opening in 374 theaters nationwide, Jennifer Westfeldt’s directorial debut Friends With Kids, co-starring Adam Scott, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Megan Fox, Ed Burns and Chris O’Dowd, brought in $2.2 million, roughly $5,800 per theater. Also in limited release, CBS Films’ comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt, brought in $240 thousand in 18 theaters this weekend, roughly $13 thousand per site. Joseph Cedar’s Israeli Oscar nominee Footnote (Sony Pictures Classics) opened in two theaters in New York City and brought in $48 thousand.

Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.

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