Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns starring Angela Bassett
The Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns starring Angela Bassett
The Judd Apatow brand is something. The Tyler Perry brand is something else.
The Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns, starring Angela Bassett, was the Easter weekend’s biggest hit, theater for theater, grossing $20 million off about 2,000 screens, per estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations.
Overall, the film placed second. Dr. Suess’ Horton Hears a Who!, playing on nearly twice as many screens, retained the No. 1 spot with a strong second weekend take of $25.1 million.
Drillbit Taylor, the latest comedy from the Apatow factory, meanwhile, sputtered to the weakest start of any of the major new releases: a $10.2 million take, and a fourth place debut.
At least Drillbit Taylor–a Freaks and Geeks meets The Bodyguard, starring Owen Wilson–was a few steps up the economic ladder from Apatow’s last producing effort, Walk Hard, the rock-biopic satire that basically did what satires are said to do: Close on Saturday night.
The prolific Apatow has now gone about seven months without a No. 1 hit, it was noted ironically.
The just as busy Perry has himself gone five months without a box-office topper. But Perry has been arguably more consistent than Apatow of late.
Of Perry’s five feature films, four of the five have opened with at least $20 million. Apatow’s last five features as producer have either debuted super big (Superbad, Knocked Up, Talledega Nights) or not so much (Walk Hard, Drillbit Taylor). Either label probably would have done Semi-Pro’s bellbottoms some good.
Elsewhere:
After 12 weekends–nearly 25 percent of the year–Hollywood still doesn’t have a $100 million hit. Horton, now standing at $86.5 million overall, should end the drought by next weekend.
Shutter (third place, $10.7 million), the latest redo of a Japanese horror hit, wasn’t The Ring or The Grudge. Frankly, it wasn’t even One Missed Call. On the upside, though, it wasn’t Dark Water, either.
Under the Same Moon (10th place, $2.6 million), the story of boy trying to find his illegal-immigrant mother in Los Angeles, cracked the Top 10 on the strength of only 266 theaters. Among the weekend’s biggest films, its per-screen average was second only to Meet the Browns.
Adam Carolla’s movie career is showing more promise than his dancing one. His new Rocky-esque comedy, The Hammer, did all right at 20 theaters, grossing $107,045.
Well, it was close but Will Ferrell’s Semi-Pro ($1.1 million; $32.3 million overall, per Box Office Mojo) ended up making more money than A Night at the Roxbury. Barely.
Saying goodbye to the Top 10 were: Doomsday ($2.2 million; $8.9 million overall); The Other Boleyn Girl ($2 million; $22.5 million overall); The Spiderwick Chronicles ($1.2 million; $67.8 million, per Box Office Mojo); and, the dearly departed Semi-Pro.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, $25.1 million
Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, $20 million
Shutter, $10.7 million
Drillbit Taylor, $10.2 million
10,000 B.C., $8.7 million
Never Back Down, $4.9 million
College Road Trip, $4.6 million
The Bank Job, $4.1 million
Vantage Point, $3.8 million
Under the Same Moon, $2.6 million
The Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns starring Angela Bassett, Editing by Alice Zhan