Seven-Day Summary: Sandler, Bieber Can't Stop Downward Spiral
Just Go With It, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and Gnomeo and Juliet all had openings north of $30 million, which led to 2011's highest-grossing week so far. Unfortunately, that wasn't nearly enough to bring an end to the year's negative trend: overall box office was off a sizable 29 percent from the same period last year, when Valentine's Day led with $70.3 million and Percy Jackson and The Wolfman each debuted to over $40 million.
Just Go With It's $42.6 million start was good enough for first place, though it was on the low-end for an Adam Sandler comedy. It was notably off from Sandler's 50 First Dates, which opened to $51.3 million on the same week in 2004. In fact, exempting his more dramatic-leaning titles like Funny People and Spanglish, this was the slowest start for a live-action Sandler movie since Little Nicky in 2000.
The week's most front-loaded movie was easily Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which opened in the lead on Friday before falling to third place for five of the six remaining days. The 3D documentary/concert ended up grossing $34.1 million, which was down from Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour but way up from Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.
While it settled for third place, Gnomeo and Juliet was probably the biggest surprise of the week. It had the look of a B-level animated movie, but its $31 million opening week topped the entire run of Alpha and Omega last fall. Gnomeo will almost certainly finish higher than Never Say Never and even has an off-chance at grossing more than Just Go With It.
The week's final new nationwide release The Eagle finished way below the other openers with a paltry $11.5 million start. That was barely higher than The Roommate, which dropped a light 38 percent to $10.9 million. This hold was much better than past Sony/Screen Gems Super Bowl openers The Messengers and When a Stranger Calls and was good for a two-week total of $28.6 million.
The King's Speech continued its impressive run by easing just three percent to $10.3 million. On Thursday, it passed its most direct Oscar competition, The Social Network, and has now earned $96.7 million.
Related Story
• Weekend Report: 'Just,' 'Justin,' 'Juliet' Jumpin'
Related Charts
• Weekly Box Office, Feb. 11-17
• Daily Grosses
• All-Time Domestic Grosses
Just Go With It's $42.6 million start was good enough for first place, though it was on the low-end for an Adam Sandler comedy. It was notably off from Sandler's 50 First Dates, which opened to $51.3 million on the same week in 2004. In fact, exempting his more dramatic-leaning titles like Funny People and Spanglish, this was the slowest start for a live-action Sandler movie since Little Nicky in 2000.
The week's most front-loaded movie was easily Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which opened in the lead on Friday before falling to third place for five of the six remaining days. The 3D documentary/concert ended up grossing $34.1 million, which was down from Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour but way up from Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.
While it settled for third place, Gnomeo and Juliet was probably the biggest surprise of the week. It had the look of a B-level animated movie, but its $31 million opening week topped the entire run of Alpha and Omega last fall. Gnomeo will almost certainly finish higher than Never Say Never and even has an off-chance at grossing more than Just Go With It.
The week's final new nationwide release The Eagle finished way below the other openers with a paltry $11.5 million start. That was barely higher than The Roommate, which dropped a light 38 percent to $10.9 million. This hold was much better than past Sony/Screen Gems Super Bowl openers The Messengers and When a Stranger Calls and was good for a two-week total of $28.6 million.
The King's Speech continued its impressive run by easing just three percent to $10.3 million. On Thursday, it passed its most direct Oscar competition, The Social Network, and has now earned $96.7 million.
Related Story
• Weekend Report: 'Just,' 'Justin,' 'Juliet' Jumpin'
Related Charts
• Weekly Box Office, Feb. 11-17
• Daily Grosses
• All-Time Domestic Grosses
