Weekend Box Office: Shrek Wins, MacGruber Bombs

Another week, another movie that is expected to win the weekend does just that. This time, Shrek Forever After, the fourth movie in the insanely successful franchise, finished atop the box office charts, pulling in $71.2 million. With the amount of money the other three movies have pulled in though, 71 million dollars might come off as a disappointment. Some say that the soaring price of ticket prices – as high as $20 for an adult ticket in New York – might have turned some audiences away, but it certainly helped Shrek earn as much as it did. It’s doubtful that there were many people who were that psyched to see a fourth installment, and the numbers are most certainly skewed by the 3D theaters.

As for the weekend’s other big release, Saturday Night Live’s MacGruber, it was essentially a bomb. It finished in sixth place, managing to only bring in $4.1 million despite lots of marketing and some pretty good reviews. I guess the stigma of being a movie based on an SNL skit was too much to overcome. Luckily, it only cost about $10 million to make.

It’s disappointing that MacGruber performed so poorly, because it wasn’t a sequel, remake, reboot, or animated feature that had a chance to make a splash at the box office. It’s not fun watching originality die at the box office.

Next week sees the release of two movies I have little interest in: Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Here are the rest of the weekend’s box office numbers:

1. Shrek Forever After – $71.2 M

2. Iron Man 2 – $26.6 M

3. Robin Hood – $18.7 M

4. Letters to Juliet – $9.1 M

5. Just Wright – $4.22 M

6. MacGruber – $4.1 M

7. Date Night – $2.83 M

8. A Nightmare on Elm Street – $2.29 M

9. How to Train Your Dragon – $1.85 M

10. Kites – $953 K