RESULTS FOR WEEKEND OF MAY 29-31

This weekend at the box office, Disney Pixar’s Up floated higher than most industry
expectations and easily took the top spot for the frame. Family film domination
continued at multiplexes as Night at the Museum: Battle of the
Smithsonianexperienced a decent hold to finish second for the weekend. Drag
Me to Hell didn’t perform as well as expected based on the rave reviews and the
pedigree of director Sam Raimi, but still managed a third place finish and
Terminator Salvation was all but annihilated in its second outing.

Disney Pixar unleashed their tenth #1 debut with Up which grossed $68.2M to
become the company’s third biggest opening behind The Incredibles (2004,
$70.4M) and Finding Nemo (2003, $70.3M). Most industry expectations for Up
were slightly below last summer’s Pixar treat, WALL-E ($63.1M), as were mine, with
anopening prediction of $62M. The grumpy old man in the floating house was able
to float so high due to amazing reviews and higher ticket prices for 3-D showings, a
first for a Pixar film. Up is currently the 4th highest opening of the year behind X-
Men Origins: Wolverine ($85.1M), Star Trek ($75.2M) and Fast & Furious
($71M), but that will all change with the imminent arrival of the latest
Transformers and Harry Potter movies later this summer. With little competition
over the next few frames, Up should continue to float along nicely, eventually
landing at about $220M overall.

Drag Me to Hell, the horror film that returns director Sam Raimi to his staple
genre, managed a third place debut, scaring up $16.6M. A decent start for a horror
film, but lower than most industry expectations and my $20M forecast. Hell has
been universally praised by critics and its opening is a bit of a disappointment due
to Raimi’s loyal fan following. The horror genre has also done really well at the box
office earlier in the year and that was expected to spill over to Hell, the first fright
flick to open in 2 months. Of course, horror films from earlier in the year didn’t have
to compete with terminator robots, a refurbished U.S.S. Enterprise and the sharp
claws of the still viable Wolverine. Drag Me to Hell should be able to terrify
audiences out of about $50M by the end of its run.

Among holdovers, Night at The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian fell to

2ndplace after topping the charts over Memorial Day Weekend. The family comedy
slipped 53% which is quite good for a blockbuster movie in its second weekend,
especially when faced with a competitor (Up) that is after the same audience.
Smithsonianadded another $25.5M to its total, very close to my $26.7M forecast.
After a disappointing first weekend, Terminator Salvationplummeted 62%,
landing in fourth place with $16.1M, exactly as I predicted. To see how the rest of
my predictions fared, check out the chart below.

R TITLE MAY 29- MAY 22- % # OF # OF TOTA BILL

ANK 31 25 CHAN THEAT WEE L SAID
GE RES KS
1 Up $68.2M N/A N/A 3766 1 $68.2 $62M
M
2 Night at $25.5M $54.1M -53% 4101 2 $105 $26.7
the M M
Museum: -50%
Battle of
the
Smithso
nian
3 Drag Me $16.6M N/A N/A 2508 1 $16.6 $20M
to Hell M
4 Terminat $16.1M $42.5M -62% 3602 2 $90.7 $16.2
or M M
Salvatio -62%
n
5 Star Trek $12.8M $22.9M -44% 3507 4 $209 $13.2
M M
-42%
6 Angels & $11.2M $21.7M -48% 3464 3 $104 $11.9
Demons M M
-45%
7 Dance $4.9M $10.6M -54% 2459 2 $19.2 $4.8M
Flick M -55%
8 X-Men $3.9M $8M -52% 2263 5 $170 $4M
Origins: M -50%
Wolverin
e
9 Ghosts $1.9M $3.8M -50% 1450 5 $50M $2.1M
of -45%
Girlfrien
ds Past
10 Obsesse $665,00 $1.9M -66% 679 6 $67.5 $790,
d 0 M 000
-55%