It was supposed to be a busy weekend at the multiplex. With the spring movie season winding down and The Avengers just around the corner (May 4), four new films rushed to theaters this weekend to beat the summertime rush. None were expected to be Hunger Games-like smashes, of course. But all hoped to be a nice springtime surprise and snag an April shower of cash.
Alas for them, it was not to be. The romantic ensemble Think Like a Man triumphed for the second week in a row with an $18 million performance, which left the newcomers feeling a waterlogged.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits had the best debut of the bunch, battening down $11.4 million worth of hatches for second place, according to early estimates. But fellow newcomer The Five-Year Engagement was fighting hammer-and-tongs against a pair of holdovers—The Lucky One and, predictably, The Hunger Games—for third place. According to initial estimates, Five-Year Engagement is tracking behind both of its rivals with $11.2, million; both Lucky One and Hunger Games are expected to finish the weekend around $11.3 million. Box Office Mojo said Five-Year’s performance was “easily” the weekend’s biggest disappointment. Star Jason Segel just doesn’t have the same audience attraction without a bevy of Muppets in tow.
Still, Five-Year outperformed Jason Statham’s Safe ($7.7 million) and John Cusack’s bizarre The Raven ($7.3 million), which finished sixth and seventh, respectively. My guess is we won’t see either of those films sneak into the year’s top-grossing films list.
The same cannot be said for The Avengers. The comic-book actioner featuring Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk, among others, opened practically everywhere but the good ol’ U.S. of A. last weekend and has already amassed an estimated $178.4 million.
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