In need of a new "BACK-UP Plan"!

By Laurent Kelly / June 25, 2011

How's it going everybody. Welcome to today's Box Office Report highlighting the biggest movie money-makers from the past weekend in the states.

Although it made my prediction from last week look pretty lame, I was somewhat delighted to see the Jennifer Lopez rom com vehicle 'The Back-Up Plan' massively underperform during its opening weekend. I expected that it would drop majorly in the coming weeks but the fact that the film couldn't even generate some early heat is perhaps testament to the fact that people are becoming increasingly cautious of films starring the obnoxious, Latino star. With a Bad Film CV in the same league as that of Kate Hudson it is perhaps not surprising that her films are receiving such diminishing returns.

So as you've probably guessed 'The Back-Up Plan' did not reach this week's top of the chart. But what did? Let's find out right now in our top five countdown. 5. KICK-ASS

THE STATS:US WEEKEND GROSS: $9,500,000 US TOTAL GROSS: $34,870,000, WEEKS ON RELEASE: 2 PERCENTAGE DROP: -52.1% PRODUCTION BUDGET: $30 Million In a very tight weekend at the Box Office'Kick-Ass' fell from first to fifth. Surprisingly the film dropped a pretty hefty 52% from last weekend's opening gross, not what I expected at all from a movie that I felt for certain would possess superior staying power. Many people last weekend were already writing off the film's chance of box office success but I was not surprised that a quirky, indie R rated movie didn't make people rush to the cinemas. I did however expect the film's mainstream popularity to grow through word of mouth but there has been no evidence of this thus far. What seems likely however is that the R rating did the film no favours. After all although the film may contain deeper themes about delusion and the hard knocks of reality but it is essentially advertised as a superhero/spoof style film and as such is more likely to appeal to younger people who ironically are not allowed to watch the film. 4. THE LOSERS THE STATS: (NEW ENTRY)US WEEKEND GROSS: $9,605,000 US TOTAL GROSS: $9,605,000 PRODUCTION BUDGET: $ 25 Million The trailer may have contained plenty of bite and bling as I suggested last week but 'The Losers' fully lived up to its title by producing a very poor opening weekend. Considering the fact that the film was so heavily marketed and hyped up by Warner Bros the results were somewhat of a let down. The lack of star power may have been what kept people away. Or maybe it was the crappy title? You can argue that the film's title is irrelevant to box office success but I certainly don't think films such as 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' did themselves any favours with their arty, pretentious names. 3. Date Night

THE STATS:US WEEKEND GROSS: $10,600,000 US TOTAL GROSS: $ 63,471,000 WEEKS ON RELEASE: 3 DROP PERCENTAGE: - 36.6% PRODUCTION BUDGET: $55 Million 'Date Night' had a relatively strong third weekend in the charts with a 36 percent drop from last weekend's earnings. The film has now made $63 million overtaking its domestic budget and though it's unlikely to reach the $100 million mark it has still done pretty well considering it's being led by two stars better known for their sitcom characters. That being said however the $55 million budget means that the film's profit will be nothing substantial. 2. The Back-Up Plan THE STATS: (NEW ENTRY) US WEEKEND GROSS: $12,250,000 US TOTAL GROSS: $12,250,000 PRODUCTION BUDGET: $35 Million Jennifer Lopez has strayed away from mainstream film for five years and she may wish to extend her hiatus if this recent showing is anything to go by. A $12 million opening is very poor for a film of this calibre especially considering the current lack of competition within the charts. After all there is no mega-hit still hot on release (i.e. 'Avatar') and no direct genre opposition which could have explained why the numbers were down . Whether or not the J-Lo craze has passed or if people just didn't like the look of a film which couldn't even fit in a funny line for a two minute trailer is perhaps indecisive. What is certain however is that 'The Back Up Plan's' opening weekend resulted in a definitive flop. 1.) How to Train Your Dragon

THE STATS:US WEEKEND GROSS: $15,025,000 US TOTAL GROSS: $178,071,000 WEEKS ON RELEASE: 5 DROP PERCENTAGE: -23.5% PRODUCTION BUDGET: $165 Million Once again, owing to poor overall competition (particularly in the children's market) 'How to Train Your Dragon' has emerged as one of only a handful of films that have gone on to reclaim the top spot weeks after taking it for the first time. Other examples of the past decade include 'Passion of the Christ', 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe', 'Finding Nemo' and 'Signs'. As the Box Office Mojo's weekend report suggests this only usually happens when new releases under-perform and the other releases decline on a heavier basis. Owing to its budget, the film can still only be called a minor hit but it does now look destined to break the domestic 200 million barrier. It is also the second highest grossing film to have been released in 2010. A funnier stat appears again on the Box Office Mojo site where they have the film listed as the number one all time grossing movie to feature a dragon as a focal point of the film. There are only six other films listed.... The race to the top spot itself was like previous weekend's a pretty close affair. 'The Back-up Plan' took the Friday night lead but its $4.2 million opening haul suggested that it would struggle on the Saturday and Sunday when competing against a kids movie. On Saturday, 'How To Train your Dragon' defeated 'The Back-Up Plan' by almost 2 million dollars (6.7 to 5 million) and then on Sunday it strengthened its lead with a 4.7 daily box office beating out 'The Back up Plan's' $3.03 million.

A brief look now at films which have almost dried up with their run at the charts. 'Alice in Wonderland' took $2.2 million dollars over the weekend and is unlikely to gain any more ground on its $327 million total gross. The film has fallen pretty hard considering that it's only been in the charts for eight weeks and its vastly diminishing returns over recent weekends have proven it to be a hype release in the same manner as a film like 'New Moon'. 'Alice in Wonderland' opened very strongly with a $116 million opening weekend but then fell equally as strongly in subsequent weekends with returns of $62 and $34 million dollars, falling approximately by half with each passing weekend in the charts. Assisted by 3-D ticket sales however the film has taken $875 million dollars worldwide, a huge hit even taking into consideration the $200 million budget. Almost everyone who watched the film however watched it in the first few weeks meaning that it has had nothing like the staying power of the other 3-D mega-hit 'Avatar'. Now moving on to next weekend's releases: Yet another horror remake is upon us shortly as 'Nightmare on Elm Street' becomes the latest horror classic to be tampered with and modernised. Once again people will complain that the genre is steadily being killed and once again these complaints will fall on deaf ears as the film will go on to be a big hit (in horror genre terms) just as the remakes of other horror classics 'TheTexas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'The Amityville Horror' were all big hits before it. As long as people keep paying money to see the remakes, the Hollywood studios are going to be keep making them. After all why bother with an original idea when you can borrow something that was already successful and make money off it again? Sad but unfortunately true. With that being said then I will be very surprised if 'Nightmare on Elm Street' doesn't open with a healthy $29 million dollars to top the charts next weekend. The film's trailer is sharp and intriguing, the premise is bound to interest new audiences and the old die-hard fans will probably buy tickets anyway just so that they can validate their complaints and ironically became a part of the reason why these remakes have become such a sensation in the first place. And besides not all of these modern horror remakes have been bad ('The Hills Have Eyes', ' TheLast House on the Left' and 'Dawn of the Dead' were in my opinion some of the better horror films of the last decade.)

The other new US release next week is the Brendan Fraser vehicle 'Furry Vengeance'. It's a Brendan Fraser film with live action animals... there is no real need to go into any more detail with that one. He'll do some sweaty stunts, there will be some awfully bad one liners and at the end there will be this tremendously hopeful aftertaste. Oh okay, the film is about a real estate agent who is forced to collide with a bunch of angry animals when his new housing sub-division ends up too close to the wilderness. With the kids alternative option of watching 'How to Train Your Dragon' the two films are likely to split the spoils between one another and so I predict a 16 million opening for this one. Check back this time next week to find out how these new releases got on in the Box Office Report.