In a surprising repeat victory, the growling green ogre Shrek scared off two debuting blockbusters, capping off one of the worst Memorial Day weekends in nearly a decade.
Shrek Forever After dropped a respectable 39 percent in its second weekend across three days for $43.3 million and a scant 19 percent for $57.1 across the long weekend for a per screen average of $13,066. This brings its magical total to $146.8 million and will likely settle north of $250 million domestically.
The three and four day totals saw a different second place finisher but ultimately video game adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time took advantage of Sex and the City 2's Thursday launch collecting $30.1 million in three and $37.8 in four days for an average of $10,371. While this represents the third biggest opening for a video game flick (behind Pokemon: The First Movie with $31.0 million and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life which scored $47.7 million in 2001) a $200 million price tag shows the difficultly in creating another “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Things are looking rosier overseas where the tally now stands at $135.5 million.
“Sex” was hexed next where it collected only $51.0 million despite having five full days to flaunt its stuff. In 2008 Sex and the City debuted to a robust $57.0 million on its way to $152.6 domestic and $415.6 worldwide. Goodwill from the television series excited the fan base but the sequel proves that people will not rush to see a film just because of brand name and must actually be of quality. Sex and the City 2 will be lucky to see much beyond the $100 million mark by the end of its run.
*Totals represent four day long-weekend grosses*
In fourth, superhero sequel Iron Man 2 finally levelled out after two weeks of heavy drops collecting $16.5 over the regular weekend and $21.1 million over four days. The domestic tally now stands at $279.7 with Downey Jr. and company having flown away with $555.6 million worldwide. The $300 million mark will easily be surpassed but whether it will exceed the gross of its predecessor is still a toss-up.
Robin Hood continued to steal from the rich (and likely the poor as well) plundering $10.4 million over three days and $13.4 million over four. The period action flick has taken in $86.1 million in three weeks and will easily break the $100 million mark in the month to come. Robin Hood has amassed $240 million including its overseas total.
The top ten films grossed $180.4M over four days which was down 15 percent from last year's long weekend when Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian opened in the top spot and down 15% from 2008's holiday when the “Indiana Jones” sequel debuted at number one with $126.9M.
