Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of pirates sailed into #1 at the box office with 2011’s top grossing weekend of $90.151 million of booty, besting Fast Five‘s end of April premiere of $86.198 million. Kristen Wiig’s Bridemaids stayed in the #2 spot with Thor, Fast Five and Priest rounding out the top five.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides bested the original The Curse of the Black Pearl but was more than short of the first two sequels, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, with $135.634 million and $114.732 million, respectively. Although the sequels were #1 and #6 (also respectively) in Disney/Buena Vista’s top 10 grossing films, audiences, and star Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer were less than satisfied by the back-to-back films (see Horror Haven Review’s ‘5.20-22.2011: What To Watch – Theater Edition‘). With a budget of $250 million (more than Dead Man’s Chest but less than At World’s End), a new director in Rob Marshall, new stars like Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane, and more importantly, the team of Depp and Bruckheimer from the start of the script, On Stranger Tides was starting fresh and hopefully, able to draw in moviegoers who loved the franchise from the beginning. It is difficult to say if it did in its premiere weekend but it is a guarantee that Depp put 110% of himself in his beloved Captain Jack.
#3 Thor raised $15.455 million in its third weekend with a total domestic gross of $145.361 million, close to its $150 million budget (foreign gross = $247 million). Director Kenneth Branagh is known for all things Shakespeare but to him, Thor‘s themes are very much like his first film, Henry V, where “a young prince who is supposed to be king who is suspected by his fatherof being not up to the job. He does something provocative that ends up in a battle, and he earns his maturity and wisdom and responsibility by paying a price.” (from Entertainment Weekly) With Thor‘s positive reviews and box office numbers, is a sequel in its future? Branagh and Marvel have no comment (yet).
Vampire flick Priest fell only spot to #5 after premiering at #4 even though early estimates had Rio at #5 and Priest at #6. The action/horror/sci-fi Paul Bettany-as-a-priest-again movie saw only $4.750 million to eek out a total worldwide gross of $61.433 million to end up in the black ($60 million budget).
Check out ‘What To Watch – Theater Edition’ next Friday (6/3) for the week’s new movie releases as this week it’s all about being hungover again in The Hangover Part II with the boys and Mr. Chow (the ‘laugh out loud, pee in your pants’ funny Ken Jeong) in Bangkok.
Feed me at sharon@horrorhaven.com
