Seven-Day Summary: 'Dragon' Returns to the Top


Thanks to strong word-of-mouth and weak competition, How to Train Your Dragon flew back to the top of the box office in its fifth week. The week's new releases didn't fare quite so well, with The Back-Up Plan, The Losers and Oceans all disappointing. With no strong newcomer, overall business was down 17 percent from last weekend and 10 percent from the same period last year, when Obsessed topped the box office with $34.8 million.

How to Train Your Dragon grossed $18.6 million, representing a slight 24 percent decline. Through five weeks, Dragon has accumulated $181.6 million, compared to Monsters Vs. Aliens's $176.6 million at the same point. Worldwide, Dragon is now at $377.6 million, and will pass Monsters's $381.5 million total by Saturday at the latest. How to Train Your Dragon should be able to continue unabated until fellow Dreamworks Animation movie Shrek Forever After takes most of its 3D screens (and family audiences) three weeks from now.

Touted as Jennifer Lopez's return to movies, The Back-Up Plan made an underwhelming $15.7 million in its first seven days. This is the lowest opening week for Lopez in a traditional romantic comedy, falling behind Monster-in-Law ($29.8 million), Maid in Manhattan ($24.5 million), and The Wedding Planner ($17.2 million). On the bright side, though, the CBS Films release managed to double the $7.8 million first week of the fledgling distributor's first release Extraordinary Measures.

The Losers and Oceans, were even less impressive than The Back-Up Plan. Despite being heavily promoted, The Losers mustered a weak $12.1 million, which was lower than comparable movies like Shooter ($19.2 million), XXX: State of the Union ($15.4 million) and The Big Hit ($13.6 million).

Oceans finished the week with $8.4 million for an 8-day total of $10.9 million, and is lagging way behind Disneynature's first release, Earth, which had banked $16.9 million through the same point last year. Still, Oceans will become one of the Top Ten highest-grossing documentaries ever sometime today or tomorrow.

Date Night continued to hold well, off 37 percent to $13.2 million for a total of $66 million after three weeks in theaters. Kick-Ass, on the other hand, tumbled in its second week, down 51 percent to $12.4 million. Its two-week total of $37.7 million makes it the highest grossing live-action superhero comedy ever, but it's still a long way from being considered a success.



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Weekly Box Office, April 23-29

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