ARTICLE
Weekend Box Office - Thor's Lightning Strikes Twice
By InCinemas / 16 May 2011 (Monday)
Source: Cinemablend
After dominating the box office last weekend comic book hero flick Thor remained at the top of the heap, hammering its way past the $100 million mark. With $119 million banked in its first ten days it helped to bring this year's slumping sales performance up a bit, but even with the decent showing from the rest of this weekend's new entries the box office isn't out of the woods yet.
Bridesmaids fared well considering that rated R comedies traditionally struggle their way to success. With $24 million it took second place for the weekend. The movie marks Saturday Night Live member Kristen Wiig's film debut. In an interesting move those cash statisticians at Box Office Mojo have tracked how well each SNL member's first movie has done. At this rate Wiig will likely land somewhere around sixth place between Chevy Chase's Foul Play and Bill Murray's Meatballs.
Fourth place winner Priest took a pounding from critics but pulled enough audience interest to bank an unimpressive $14 million. That's approximately $1 million for each genre the movie tries to incorporate (internet sites have the comic book flick pinned as everything from western to drama to horror to sci-fi to fantasy and beyond) but it's not enough to lock down a profit. With a $60 million budget to recoop it will need a hail mary (sorry, couldn't resist) pass next weekend to find box office solvency.
Indie eyes were on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Hesher. The movie, which is also actress Natalie Portman's first go around in the producer's chair, opened in just 40 theaters but the $127,000 is a poor showing for something that has been getting buzz all around the indie community. No wide release details have been announced, but if opening weekend sales are any indication, this movie will be headed to home video in short order.
For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:
