Steve’s Box Office Report: April 2010
Top 10 Films for the Month of April:
1. Clash of the Titans – $163,214,888
2. Date Night – $98,669,097
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street – $63,075,011
4. Why Did I Get Married Too? – $60,095,852
5. Kick-Ass – $48,071,303
6. Death at a Funeral – $42,739,347
7. The Back-Up Plan – $37,490,007
8. The Losers – $23,591,432
9. Oceans – $18,735,398
10. Furry Vengeance – $17,630,465
Honorable Mentions:
None
April Winners: Clash of the Titans, Date Night, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Why Did I Get Married Too?, and Death at a Funeral
We continue on through the year of 2010 and after what ended up being a pretty successful March, we now enter April where we have a very unique slate of films to fill the month before we get to the kickoff of the summer. Usually, April can either be a dumping ground for films to bridge the gap between March and May, but sometimes it can feature a surprise breakout hit and we did have a few films that maybe didn’t completely break out, but still did fairly well. The first film that makes it into this category is the action fantasy film Clash of the Titans, a remake of the 1981 film of the same name about the mythical stories of Perseus and the war of the gods. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a major downgrade from the original, but partially due to Sam Worthington’s stock being on the rise from Avatar it would be a shocking surprise as it made over $160 million and became one of more stunning successes of the year. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the romantic comedy Date Night, a film about a couple who try to rekindle the spark of their marriage only to be caught up in a case of mistaken identity. The film would receive mixed to positive reviews from critics and wound up being the most popular romantic comedy of the month, and it would just miss hitting $100 million by a few million and it was still a very successful film. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake of the classic horror film where Freddy Kruger terrorizes a group of teenagers in their dreams. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was an unnecessary remake though they did praise some aspects of the film, and it would make just over $63 million which would make it the highest grossing film in the franchise amazingly enough. The next film from this month that makes it into this category is the comedy drama Why Did I Get Married Too?, a sequel to the 2007 film where four couples undergo a week-long retreat to improve their relationships. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was a step down from the previous film, but it still did fairly well by making over $60 million which was a fine amount of money. The final film from this month that makes it into this category is the black comedy Death at a Funeral, a remake of the 2007 British film of the same name where a family come together for a funeral and did with their own internal issues. Much like the other films in this category, this film would receive mixed to negative reviews from critics who felt it was inferior to the original, and the film would end up making over $42 million which was again a nice little success for this film. While these films were not liked by critics, they still struck enough of a cord with the mainstream audience and they made plenty of money that lands them right into this category.
April Losers: Oceans
On the surface, it looked like a couple of these films would end up in this category just due to the money they made and they seemed to have high production budgets, but amazingly enough all of them expect one managed to finish with an amount that landed around the budget that they didn’t completely bomb. Unfortunately, there was one film that did end up making his category and that is the documentary film Oceans, released by Disney Nature that showed a detailed look at the world’s oceans and humanity’s affects on them. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt it was a fine entry after the previous year’s film Earth, but after its Earth Day release it would quickly fall off a cliff as it finished with just under $19 million. Now one could argue that these type of films aren’t worried about making money and are just used to spark interest in nature and to promote a charity based on the film, but you can’t ignore that this did end up being a bit of a flop and wound up being one of the bigger bombs of the year.
The Surprise/Story of April 2010: No “Clash” for first place as Titans take top spot of April 2010
Going into the month of April, there didn’t seem to be a clear cut choice of what film would end up doing the best of all the films as most of the films were not being well-received by critics, and even though they were a variety of genres they were all seemingly aimed at the same audience. In the end, we did get a definite winner as Clash of the Titans not only took the top spot of the year, but completely overperformed even the most modest of expectations as it made over $160 million which I’m sure nobody expected it to make. Coupled with a solid performance from Date Night and some average takings from the rest of the films, and in the end of the month of April ended up being a fairly average month though it was a step down from March and it only wet the appetite for the slate of films that were coming in May.
Overachiever of April 2010: Clash of the Titans
As I had mentioned a few times in this recap, going into the month of April I don’t think anyone expected much out of Clash of the Titans even though it was being released over Easter weekend which was also at the beginning of the month. The original of 1981 was moderately received and many felt that this newer version was far inferior to the original, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many believed that it would end up being a bomb especially with the other films that were coming out that month. In addition, the film had originally been set for a March release but was pushed back a few weeks so it can be converted to 3D which some felt was completely unnecessary. However, as I mentioned earlier it was not to be underestimated the value of star Sam Worthington as he was coming off the massive juggernaut that was Avatar and the film also had plenty of star power in it as well. Ultimately when it was released, it would be a surprise success as it made close to $68 million in its opening weekend and it would continue to play well over the month, and by the end it would finish with over $163 million which was way more than anyone expected and made you wonder if a sequel was now in the works. We will get to that down the line when we get there, but for now Clash of the Titans is more than deserving of its title of the overachiever of the month and could potentially have a shot at overachiever of the year though it may be a long shot.
Underachiever of April 2010: Kick-Ass
On the flip side of Clash of the Titans, another film was generating plenty of buzz going into its release and that was the superhero film Kick-Ass, based on the comics of the same name of an ordinary teenage who trains to become a superhero and partners with a cop and his daughter as they battle a ruthless mob boss and his son. The film would receive positive reviews from critics who felt the film was a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre, and the film would open at number one in its opening weekend before finishing with over $48 million. Now while that is a good number for the film and it would gain a cult following which would lead to a potential sequel, it does feel like a bit of a disappointment given the hype that was going into this film. One could blame the “R” rating though that is a bit of a cop out since as we will see, future superhero films that are rated “R” can do very well and as a result of this, Kick-Ass does end up being named the underachiever of the month.
April 2010 Awards Watch: Clash of the Titans
One things I have noticed is that the month of April usually does not have a lot of films released that are considered for one of the big 3 awards, and typically we have had either one film or two films be included in this category. For this year, we only have one film make it into this category again as Clash of the Titans would be nominated for 2 Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel and Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D) though it wouldn’t end up winning either one. I hate having to cut this category so short, but there’s really nothing I can do about when the slate of films is so average that hardly any of them can get a nod for any of the big 3 awards.
Overall Thoughts of April 2010:
Overall, the month of April 2010 ended up being a fairly average month and while it was far superior to January, it was a major step down from March and was about on par from what February was. It’s interesting because you did have a film from this month that made over $100 million and was one of the bigger success stories of the year, but the rest of the films from this month were either on par with what was expected or underperformed though nothing outright bombed aside from one film that wasn’t designed to make a lot of money. 2010 has been a very interesting year of film thus far as it started badly, picked up a bit and shot up the previous month though we seemed to have plateaued here and we will see how things end up doing as May looks to shoot the year back up. As for the month of April 2010, it is a fairly average month with one major success and a lot of pretty tepid performances though nothing outright bad and it was really just as average as you could get.
Final Grade: C-
