UPDATED: The R-rated female comedy toplined by Krisen Wiig and Paul Bettany's "Priest" do better than expected, but can’t beat "Thor."
Overall, domestic box office revenues were down just 3 percent from the same weekend a year ago, a lower-than-expected drop, considering the two new films — Universal’s Bridesmaids and Sony/Screen Gems’ Priest 3D — were smaller counter-programming moves.
Both titles overperformed, but not well enough to vanquish Paramount and Marvel Studios’ Thor. The superhero pic stayed at No. 1 in its second weekend, declining a respectable 48 percent to $34.5 million for a domestic cume of $119.3 million. Thor is showing glimmers of playing like a family film, with traffic up a whopping 66 percent from Friday to Saturday.
Overseas, Thor grossed $27.5 million for the weekend to push its foreign take to $225 million and world total to $344.5 million.
Universal continued its recent winning streak with Paul Feig’s R-rated Bridesmaids, produced by Judd Apatow. The comedy grossed $24.6 million, instead of the anticipated $15 million to $17 million, a result of getting a reasonable number of males (who made up 33 percent of the audience). It even out-grossed Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which debuted to $21.4 million in 2005
However, Bridesmaids did nothing to ease Hollywood’s worry over the flight of young people from the box office, playing older than expected. Of those buying tickets, 63 percent were over the age of 30, according to Universal, while CinemaScore exit polling showed that 77 percent were over the age of 25. The film received a B+ CinemaScore overall.
Regardless, Bridesmaids is a key vindication for Universal after the dismal showing for recent comedy Your Highness. It’s also a big boost for Kristen Wiig’s film career, and for Feig, who worked with Apatow on Freaks and Geeks.
Even rival studios have been commended Universal for taking a risk and making a raunchy comedy about women since most films in this subgenre have targeted men.
Bridesmaids’ lineup includes Wiig — who also co-wrote the film -- Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy and Wendi McLendon-Covey. Jon Hamm also stars.
Relativity Media is Universal’s financial partner on the comedy, which had a net budget of $32.5 million.
Overall, domestic box office revenues were down just 3 percent from the same weekend a year ago, a lower-than-expected drop, considering the two new films — Universal’s Bridesmaids and Sony/Screen Gems’ Priest 3D — were smaller counter-programming moves.Both titles overperformed, but not well enough to vanquish Paramount and Marvel Studios’ Thor. The superhero pic stayed at No. 1 in its second weekend, declining a respectable 48 percent to $34.5 million for a domestic cume of $119.3 million. Thor is showing glimmers of playing like a family film, with traffic up a whopping 66 percent from Friday to Saturday.
Overseas, Thor grossed $27.5 million for the weekend to push its foreign take to $225 million and world total to $344.5 million.
Universal continued its recent winning streak with Paul Feig’s R-rated Bridesmaids, produced by Judd Apatow. The comedy grossed $24.6 million, instead of the anticipated $15 million to $17 million, a result of getting a reasonable number of males (who made up 33 percent of the audience). It even out-grossed Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which debuted to $21.4 million in 2005
However, Bridesmaids did nothing to ease Hollywood’s worry over the flight of young people from the box office, playing older than expected. Of those buying tickets, 63 percent were over the age of 30, according to Universal, while CinemaScore exit polling showed that 77 percent were over the age of 25. The film received a B+ CinemaScore overall.
Regardless, Bridesmaids is a key vindication for Universal after the dismal showing for recent comedy Your Highness. It’s also a big boost for Kristen Wiig’s film career, and for Feig, who worked with Apatow on Freaks and Geeks.
Even rival studios have been commended Universal for taking a risk and making a raunchy comedy about women since most films in this subgenre have targeted men.
Bridesmaids’ lineup includes Wiig — who also co-wrote the film -- Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy and Wendi McLendon-Covey. Jon Hamm also stars.
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