Shrek Forever After took the weekend box office crown for the third weekend in a row. The final film in the animated franchise declined 41.6% to earn an estimated $25.3 million. The Shrek film has now amassed $183 million after 17 days in theaters. In spite of the higher ticket prices for its 3D and IMAX showings it still trails Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, which had earned $314.5 million and $255.9 million respectively in the same period.
In spite of four new films debuting this weekend, the box office dropped big time for the second week in a row, down 24% from the same frame a year ago when The Hangover opened with $45 million and 29% from 2008 when Kung Fu Panda debuted with $60.2 million. After a very strong start to 2010,
| Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): June 4 - 6, 2010 | |||||
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| Film | Wknd Gross | Screens | Avg./Screen | Total Gross |
| 1 | Shrek Forever After | $25,300,000 | 4,386 | $5,768 | $183,043,000 |
| 2 | Get Him to the Greek | $17,423,000 | 2,697 | $6,460 | $17,423,000 |
| 3 | Killers | $16,100,000 | 2,859 | $5,631 | $16,100,000 |
| 4 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | $13,900,000 | 3,646 | $3,812 | $59,452,000 |
| 5 | Sex and the City 2 | $12,650,000 | 3,445 | $3,672 | $73,434,000 |
| 6 | Marmaduke | $11,300,000 | 3,213 | $3,517 | $11,300,000 |
| 7 | Iron Man 2 | $7,783,000 | 3,007 | $2,588 | $291,294,000 |
| 8 | Splice | $7,450,000 | 2,450 | $3,041 | $7,450,000 |
| 9 | Robin Hood | $5,133,000 | 2,599 | $1,975 | $94,262,000 |
| 10 | Letters to Juliet | $3,000,000 | 1,962 | $1,529 | $43,300,000 |
The raunchy R-rated comedy Get Him to the Greek, earned an estimated $17.4 million and managed the best per theater average in the top 10, but it clearly was no The Hangover. The rock-themed Greek, which managed a 75% positive rating from Rotten Tomatoes, has room to grow over the coming weeks. Its debut weekend audience skewed slightly male (53%) and older with 45% of the crowd over 30.
Lionsgate didn’t let critics see the action comedy Killers, which stars Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, before it opened, which was probably a good thing since it only managed a 15% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The PG-13 film earned an estimated $16.1 million, and like the heavily-panned Jennifer Anniston/GerardButler vehicle The Bounty Hunter, the star-driven Killers could prove to be more or less critic-proof, though it will lucky indeed to earn back its $75 million cost.
Disney’s Prince of Persia, which cost $200 million, is even less likely to break even. Prince declined 53.8% in its second weekend while earning an estimated $13.9 million and bringing its cumulative to $59.4 million.
Sex and the City 2 suffered an even bigger drop, falling 59.2% and finishing in fifth place. Fox’s family comedy Marmaduke, which is based on the long-running comic strip, debuted weakly in sixth place with an estimated $11.3 million, while the other newcomer, the cleverly-plotted neo-Frankenstein horror film Splice couldn't buck the conventional wisdom that says summer is a bad season for horror films. Splice, which has the narrative moxie to become a cult hit on DVD, managed to bring in just $7.4 million and finished in eighth place.
The one film that has held up its end of the bargain so far this summer is Iron Man 2, which earned an estimated $7.8 million and brought its cumulative to $291.3 million. Some time this week the Iron Man sequel should pass the $300 million mark. It might be difficult to match the original Iron Man’s $318 million total, but Iron Man 2 will definitely be in the neighborhood.
