Weekend Box Office: 'Rock of Ages' and 'That's My Boy' Are Flops
by Andy Neuenschwander
Neither of this weekend's big openers fared particularly well, as audiences seemed less than impressed with what theaters had to offer over the weekend.
Audiences were clearly not ready to rock and roll as "Rock of Ages" placed third on the weekend. In first place was holdover "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," which brought in another healthy $35 million, landing it at about $120 million over two weeks.
Following that up was "Prometheus," which had a sharper drop than "Madagascar 3" but still managed a good $21 million in its second weekend. "Prometheus" has now earned $89.6 million domestically.
"Rock of Ages" didn't even come close to meeting that, as the 80's jukebox musical mustered only $15 million over the weekend. Obviously Tom Cruise singing Bon Jovi wasn't enough to fill seats. However, the movie had a budget of about $70 million, so it doesn't have much ground to make up... though it doesn't seem to be helped at all by foreign markets, where it earned just $4.1 million so far.
Fourth place is currently projected at a tie, with "Snow White and the Huntsman" and new opener "That's My Boy" both on track for about $13 million. "Huntsman" has now grossed about $121.6 million in three weeks. "That's My Boy," Adam Sandler's new offering, was a risky endeavor as it did away with the usual PG-13 Sandler fare and stepped into R-rated territory.
That risk didn't pay off, and it wouldn't be surprising to see "That's My Boy" finish below "Huntsman" before the weekend is over. With this and "Jack and Jill" behind him, Sandler is going to have to work hard to restore his star status with his next solo endeavor. His upcoming role in "Grown-Ups 2" should help regain some ground, but his role in "Valet Guys" with Kevin James might not help much.
- "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" -- $35 million ($120M)
- "Prometheus" -- $21 million ($89.6M)
- "Rock of Ages" -- $15 million
- "Snow White and the Huntsman" -- $13 million ($121.6M)
- "That's My Boy" - $13 million