G-Force Wins Over Harry Potter

Published by Jeff Leins on July 27, 2009

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was not able to win back-to-back weekends at the box office because it was beaten by Disney’s G-Force.  The CGI guinea pigs made an estimated $32.2 million and the sixth boy wizard adventure only managed $30 million.

The rodents placed third in live-action talking animal openings behind 101 Dalmations ($33.5M) and Alvin and the Chipmunks ($44.3M).  Families made up 75% of the audience and even though less than half of the screens were 3-D, they accounted for 56% of the total.  The PG movie was super producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s first foray into 3-D, but it also shows that after turning a theme park into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise he’s willing to try just about anything.  Secret agent guinea pigs?  Sure why not.

Harry Potter 6 dropped 61% from it’s record-breaking opening and pulled $30 million domestically.  It’s still a mystery how it wasn’t able to repeat box office dominance, but Potter has already made $221.8 million in the States so he’s not sweating it.  Internationally, it has the fastest pace of the series.  The total worldwide is already $627.1 million.  Half-Blood Prince opens in IMAX this Wednesday.

Also starting this weekend was another romantic comedy from Katherine Heigl titled The Ugly Truth.  For the third movie in a row, the actress paired herself with some guy who’s “so hot right now” and it appealed to a 62% female audience.  Also starring Gerard Butler, it scored a 15% on RottenTomatoes and a $27 million debut.  I underestimated the draw of Heigl’s many faces.

The other wide opener was Orphan, which came in low at $12.8 million.  The R-rated movie has gathered some controversy from adoption agencies and parents and ho-hum reactions from horror fans bored with another creepy kid.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen added another $8 million in its fifth weekend and the $379.1 million total places it tenth in the largest domestic grosses of all time.  The Michael Bay sequel knocked Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King off the list and rests just below Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.  11 Oscars and the final Jedi movie are no match for two and a half hours of explosions and clanging metal.

Brüno dropped another 67% this weekend after plummeting 73% the week before.  The fashionista is fading fast with only $2.7 million for the 3-day.  The steep decline falls well short of Borat.

3-Day U.S. weekend estimates:
1. G-Force $32.2 million
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince $30 million
3. The Ugly Truth $27 million
4. Orphan $12.8 million
5. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs $8.2 million
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $8 million
7. The Hangover $6.5 million
8. The Proposal $6.4 million
9. Public Enemies $4.2 million
10. Brüno $2.7 million