Sony's "The Green Hornet" premiered to a four-day gross of $40 million, according to studio estimates, right in line with pre-release estimates for the $130 million 3D action tentpole.
Universal's Ron Howard-directed ensemble comedy "The Dilemma" finished in second place over the Martin Luther King holiday, grossing an estimated $21.1 million.
That's also right in line with pre-release estimates, which were not at all bullish for the $70 million film. The movie stars feature-comedy heavyweights Vince Vaughn and Kevin James.
The overall box office finished down about 26 percent from last year's MLK weekend, according to one studio's estimate, with "True Grit" ($13.1 million) placing third and "The King's Speech" coming in fourth.
While "Green Hornet" didn't match the pre-release predictions of some box office pundits for a blowout $50 million-plus four-day performance, it did enjoy the second biggest MLK premiere ever, finishing only behind 2008's "Cloverfield" ($40.1 million).
"And we think this film is going to be around a while," said Sony distribution president Rory Bruer, speaking to TheWrap on Sunday.
For Sony, which is coming off a tough December, during which both "The Tourist" and "How Do You Know" notably underperformed at the domestic box office, "Green Hornet" should be plenty profitable, with the film taking in $16.1 million in 35 foreign territories, primarily Western Europe, over the standard three-day weekened. (It still has two-third of the world to premiere in, including Asia, where co-star Jay Chou could play big.)
"Hornet's" domestic tally included $3 million grossed running at 174 digitally equipped IMAX locations.
Universal's "The Dilemma," meanwhile, will have to hold up well in the coming weeks to get into the black, with stars Vaughn and James undershooting the usual $30 million-plus start their previous feature comedies have enjoyed.
"Considering the soft weekend overall at the box office, I'm pleased," said Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco. "And this is not a slapstick comedy — it's a relationship comedy, and those play differently."
"Dilemma" received a B grade from Cinemascore and — somewhat surprisingly for a guy-centric comedy — garnered an audience that was 60 percent female.
Here's how the top 10 finished, however:
"The Green Hornet" ($40m)
"The Dilemma" ($21.1m)
"True Grit" ($13.1m)
"The King's Speech" ($11.2m)
"Black Swan" ($10.4m)
"Little Fockers" ($8.4m)
"Yogi Bear" ($7.5m)
"Tron Legacy" ($6.8m)
"The Fighter" ($6.2m)
"Tangled" ($5.5m)
Sunday update:
Sony's "The Green Hornet" grossed an estimated $12.7 million Saturday, putting the $130 million Seth Rogen 3D action film on pace to hit pre-release tracking of around $40 million for the four-day Martin Luther King holiday, according to studio data.
If "Hornet" can stay on this pace, it will enjoy the second biggest MLK opening ever, next to the $40.1 million start in 2008 for Paramount's "Cloverfield."
Universal's "The Dilemma" was also up around 10 percent on Saturday to $6.8 million. The $70 million Ron Howard-directed ensemble comedy, which stars Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, is now set to narrowly exceed soft pre-release projections of $20 million.
Overall, the domestic box office remained off about 30 percent from MLK-Day weekend in 2010, when "Avatar" and "Book of Eli" led the market.
Paramount's "True Grit" currently stands in third place with $11.2 million for the three-day accounting period, and should be at nearly $130 million in total domestic gross by the end of the holiday.
Weinstein awards hopeful "The King's Speech" is in fourth place with an estimated $9.1 million through Sunday. The film was up 35 percent in the U.K., where it has already passed the $10 million peformance of 2006's "The Queen" in only 10 days of release.
The big story at the box office, however, remained "Green Hornet," which has garnered a solid A-minus score from movie word-of-mouth tracker Cinemascore, as well as an audience that's 61 percent male.
Internationally, the movie opened to about $16.1 million in 35 iterritories, primarily in Western Europe and covering about a third of the global market.
"To get a nice uptick on Saturday bodes well and shows that people are enjoying it," said Sony worldwide distribution president Rory Bruer.
Here's how the top 10 shapes with Sunday estimates:
"The Green Hornet" ($34m)
"The Dilemma" ($17.4m)
"True Grit" ($11.2m)
"The King's Speech" ($9.1m)
"Black Swan" ($8.1m)
"Little Fockers" ($7.1m)
"Tron Legacy" ($5.7m)
"Yogi Bear" ($5.3m)
"The Fighter" ($5.1m)
"Tangled" ($3.9m)
Saturday update:
Sony 3D action film "The Green Hornet" opened softly Friday to $11.1 million, putting it behind pace to meet pre-release tracking projections of $40 million for the four-day Martin Luther King holiday, according to studio data.
Universal's Ron Howard-directed ensemble comedy "The Delimma" finished second with an estimated $6.1 million Friday. Teaming potent box-office-comedy forces Vince Vaugn and Kevin James, the $70 million PG-13-rated film is on pace to meeting dour tracking projections of $20 million for the four-day weekend.
Overall, the domestic box office continues to lag behind year-to-year "Avatar" influenced totals, with Friday putting the market about 30 percent off the pace.
The year's first big release, Sony opened "Green Hornet" — which counter-intuitively stars comic actor Seth Rogen in the heroic title role, alongside Taiwanese multi-hyphenate Jay Chou as his sidekick — in 3,584 theaters, most of them showing the movie in 3D.
Various outlets have put the movie's budget at higher than the $110 million studio executives have reported, but profitability doesn't seem to be an issue, regardless of how this weekend shakes out (the film also opens in several international territories this weekend, and is expected to play strongly in Asia, where Chou has pull).
"Hornet" is scoring only a 47 percent among aggregated critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but is getting a solid A-minus Cinemascore grade, indicating good word-of-mouth.
"Dilemma," meanwhile, is in line with tracking expectations of around $20 million for the weekend. But this performance isn't in line with the recent box-office acumens of stars Vaughn and James, who have collectively opened five comedies to well over $30 million each over the last three years.
Here's how the top 10 finished Friday:
"The Green Hornet" ($11.1m)
"Dilemma" ($6.1m)
"True Grit" ($3.2m)
"The King's Speech" ($2.4m)
"Black Swan" ($2.4m)
"Little Focker" ($2.0m)
"The Fighter" ($1.5m)
"Tron Legacy" ($1.4m)
"Season of the Witch" ($1.3m)
"Country Strong" ($1.1m)
