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And a Dragon Swooped In

By William Goss | Posted Under Box Office Round-Ups | Comments (7)



kick-ass-hit-girl-11-3-10-kc.jpg

As I mentioned in last week’s comments section, the Sunday estimates were tripped up by the Monday tallies, which saw the 3-D-inflated grosses for Clash of the Titans squeeze past Date Night’s apparent number one ranking. I bring this up now because How to Train Your Dragon has seemingly taken back the top spot from three weeks’ worth of new contenders, but is estimated to have brought in $20 million over newcomer Kick-Ass’ $19.75 million.

Now, these numbers will probably hold because family films traditionally take an upswing on Saturday and Sunday, whereas the young audience that Kick-Ass was targeting already turned out on Friday and Saturday nights (and even Thursday, in this case). Dustin joked on the Twitters that The Last Song could see a considerable bump from kids buying tickets for that and trying to sneak into Kick-Ass, but something tells me that Dragon was more than likely the beneficiary in that scenario (even if barely so).

In third place was last week’s number-one-in-our-hearts, Date Night, with $17.3 million, although it too could be tripped up by the $17 million that this week’s Death at a Funeral remake was estimated to have brought in. I’m kind of surprised that it didn’t earn more — I was all like, “KA-CHING!”, and America was all like, “MEH!” Right behind in fifth was Titans with $15.7 million, in sixth was The Last Song ($5.8 million), in seventh was Tyler Perry’s Not Death at Funeral But The Other One ($4.1 million), in eighth was Hot Tub Time Machine ($3.54 million), in ninth was Alice in Wonderland ($3.5 million), and closing the top ten out was The Bounty Hunter ($3.2 million).









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Comments

When I went to see Kick-Ass last night it was sold out, so it's less than blockbuster results are a surprise to me. I think it will be a slow burner though as it has enough lowest common denominator type moments to keep bringing em in through word of mouth.

Incidentally that movie has revealed that I get an unhealthy amount of satisfaction from seeing a child cuss and murder like there's no tomorrow. It's okay, I guess, as long they're one of the good guys. The child doing murders thing seemed utterly tedious in Orphan.

Posted by: Jiggles at April 18, 2010 4:46 PM

I just saw Kick Ass today as well and the cinema was about half full. Of course, it was Sunday and the football was on.

I really enjoyed it and, much like the film, I have nothing deep to say about it. The controversy is silly.

Posted by: TSF at April 18, 2010 4:54 PM

Wait, TSF what football is on that I am missing?

Posted by: EricD at April 18, 2010 6:38 PM

He ain't talkin American football.

Posted by: Jay at April 18, 2010 7:58 PM

I saw Kick Ass Friday night and loved it. Pure fun. Can't wait for the sequel.

Posted by: Whorish Mouth at April 19, 2010 7:32 AM

GODTOPUS DAMN IT.

Variety: "Despite preliminary reports, "Kick-Ass" took home the top spot at the domestic box office. Grossing $19.8 million, Lionsgate's superhero action pic beat DreamWorks Animation's 3D kid pic, "How to Train Your Dragon" ($19.6 million) in a closely contested race."

Posted by: William Goss at April 19, 2010 4:01 PM

Plot thickens yet... "Lionsgate is counting non-weekend Thursday night grosses towards 'Kick-Ass's weekend gross. The difference could be large enough that 'How to Train Your Dragon' is actually No. 1." -Box Office Mojo

And I'm spent.

Posted by: William Goss at April 19, 2010 8:43 PM