Unknown Wins Ultra-Competitive Weekend
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The top five films at the box office this weekend all finished within $5 million of each other. It was the Liam Neeson thriller Unknown that captured the top spot, while fellow openers I Am Number Four and Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son finished in second and fifth respectively.
Liam Neeson showed he could open a thriller early in the year with 2009’s Taken and Unknown played to a very similar audience. The ads for the film could have easily been mistaken as being a sequel. Taken opened with $24 million and Unknown finishes the three day weekend with $21.8 million and still has the holiday Monday to collect from.
In second place it was Disney’s adaptation of the James Frey novel I Am Number Four which made $19.5 million for the three day weekend. The studio had hopes for this to breakout and become a franchise but the numbers don’t support that being the case. Director DJ Caruso helped launch Shia LeBeouf’s career with Disturbia but with I Am Number Four probably didn’t succeed to the same extent with Alex Pettyfer. Reviews were largely negative but that generally wouldn’t harm a film with a built-in fan base and targeted to the younger crowd so an overall lack of interest seems a bigger culprit.
The other new opener was Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (the third entry in the Big Momma’s House franchise). Somehow, despite everyone knowing it was going to be terrible and as one of the worst reviewed films of the year, it still managed to make $17 million. On a budget of just $32 million it will probably end up being profitable but not hugely so. Hopefully that puts the dagger in the franchise for good.
In third place it was Gnomeo and Juliet which continued to show strength as the only fresh family film on the market. It made $19.4 million which amounted to just a 23.5% drop from its opening weekend. The Adam Sandler comedy Just Go With It fell to fourth dropping 40% to $18.2 million which is a good showing in its second weekend.
The Justin Bieber concert film Never Say Never fell a sharp 54% to $13.6 million. That puts it well ahead of the Jonas Brothers movie but behind Hannah Montana and Michael Jackson. The King’s Speech, The Roommate, The Eagle, and No Strings Attached rounded out the top 10.