1. Rio- $26.8M/$81.3M
Rio kicked major butt last weekend, earning the highest opening of the year so far. In it's second week facing tough Tyler Perry competition and the Easter holiday, Rio dipped only 32%. With the only real challenge next week coming from Fast Five, Rio could be pretty strong again.
2. Madea's Big Happy Family- $25.8M
Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but is it possible we're seeing the Madea franchise hit the wall a little bit? This one, which featured an idiotic "movie spoof" ad campaign, is the lowest grossing Madea film yet, and is barely ahead of other less publicized Perry flicks.
3. Water for Elephants- $17.5M
A mixed bag both critically and financially for Francis Lawrence's adaptation of Sara Gruen's wildly popular novel. It was clear that Fox was having a hard time marketing the antiquated romance, choosing to focus on the supposed chemistry between Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. An odd combination under the best of circumstances, even moreso when you consider the actors' struggles of late. Reese is looking to get back on her feet after the abysmal How Do You Know
, while Pattinson is trying to establish himself outside of Twilight. Water for Elephants certainly fared better than his last romantic effort, Remember Me
. 4. Hop- $12.5M/$100M
As you'd expect, the Easter bunny themed flick saw an uptick over the Easter holiday, up 16% from last week.
5. Scream 4- $7.15M/$31.2M
Ouch!!!! I wasn't here last week when Wes Craven's jumpstart got off to a mediocre start. But now, the franchise that once set itself apart as being different than other horrors has had an epic 60% drop just like most horrors do. Is this finally the end? It really ought to be. At this rate it's going to lose out to Insidious. Would any of us have predicted that?
6. African Cats- $6.4M
Another nature Earth Day release from Disney, this one focusing on the fine felines from Africa. The Mouse House will continue to put these out every year as long as they perform this well, with this one earning a bit more than last year's Oceans
, but less than 2009's Earth
. 7. Soul Surfer
- $5.6M/$28.7MVery happy to see that there's still a place for good old fashioned family dramas like this, especially ones as well crafted as Soul Surfer was. It dropped only 23% from last week and looks to be in it for the long haul.
8. Insidious
- $5.38M/$44.2M9. Hanna
- $5.28M/$31.7M10. Source Code
- $5.06M/$44.7M
