Box Office: 'Sucker Punch' no match for 'Wimpy Kid' [Updated]

Five tough young women decked out in bustiers and fishnets got their butts kicked this weekend by a scrawny pipsqueak.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules," the second film in a series based on popular children's novels, grossed $24.4 million in ticket sales, according to an estimate from distributor 20th Century Fox. That was enough to knock out Zack Snyder's much pricier action film "Sucker Punch," which collected only $19 million.

Heading into the weekend, prerelease audience surveys had indicated that the two films were neck-and-neck as they vied for the No. 1 spot at the box office. But "Wimpy Kid," which centers on a middle-school student's relationship with his older brother, pulled ahead, attracting a broader audience than "Sucker Punch." Mostly families showed up to see "Wimpy Kid," and audiences who saw the film enjoyed it, giving it an average grade of A-minus, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

The movie was produced by 20th Century Fox for about $21 million, meaning its debut is strong for a relatively inexpensive film. And the movie performed even better on its opening weekend than did the first installment in the franchise, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," which debuted last March to $22.1 million and went on to gross $64 million domestically.

Despite the fact that fewer children were out on spring break this year compared with last, the movie saw a sizable 39% bump in ticket sales from Friday to Saturday. Last year, the movie had only an 18% increase over the same two-day period. As kids continue to trickle out of school over the coming weeks, the film should keep a good hold, especially since families don't always rush out to see new movies on their opening weekends.

"Rodrick Rules" will open in its first foreign market, Australia, in mid-April.

Meanwhile, as expected, "Sucker Punch" played best with the director Snyder's fanboy audience. Most of the moviegoers who saw the film were male, and 74% were under the age of 35. While young males were more enthusiastic about the movie, the poorly reviewed movie only received an average grade of B-minus from general audiences.

"Sucker Punch's" weak debut is a blow to Snyder, whose name brand means a lot to Warner Bros. The filmmaker has been tapped to direct the upcoming "Superman" film, which the studio is hoping will become one of its next bankable franchises as the lucrative "Harry Potter" series ends this summer.

Warner Bros. and co-financier Legendary Pictures spent $82 million to produce the movie about a throng of strong-willed females who bond together to escape from an insane asylum. But the movie, the first the filmmaker has written and directed that's not based on an existing property, did not do nearly as much business on its opening weekend as some of Snyder's past films. Back in March 2007, his movie "300" became a box office surprise, opening to $70.9 million and ending up with $210.6 million domestically. Snyder's March 2009 film "Watchmen" opened to $55.2 million but dropped about 68% the following weekend and eventually wound up with a lackluster $107.5 million domestically. Because fanboy crowds typically want to see new films on their opening weekends, "Sucker Punch" could face a challenge in the coming weeks.

The film, which showcases Snyder's signature moody visuals, did 21% of its business on IMAX screens, setting a record for 2-D IMAX marketshare.

Last weekend's top-grossing films, Relativity's "Limitless" and Lionsgate's "The Lincoln Lawyer," retained strong holds. "Limitless," which was No. 1 last weekend and stars Bradley Cooper, dropped only 19%, collecting $15.2 million. "The Lincoln Lawyer," starring Matthew McConaughey, had the smallest drop of any film in the marketplace -- only 17%, adding $11 million to its tally.

In limited release, The Weinstein Co.'s "Miral," directed by Julian Schnabel, debuted in four theaters and grossed a pretty good $65,000. In its second week in theaters, Fox Searchlight's coming-of-age dramedy "Win Win" expanded to 23 theaters and added $470,000 to its tally. The Tom McCarthy-directed film saw a huge spike in business from Friday to Saturday, jumping 89% and indicating the film has strong word-of-mouth with arthouse crowds.

[Updated at 12:41 p.m.: "Sucker Punch" opened in 23 foreign markets and collected $7.4 million overseas, performing best in Italy, Spain and Brazil. The movie will open in France, Germany, Russia and Britain in the coming week.

Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office, with foreign grosses where available, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com:

1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" (20th Century Fox): Opened to $24.4 million.

2. "Sucker Punch" (Warner Bros./Legendary): Opened to $19 million. $7.4 million in 23 foreign markets.

3. "Limitless" (Relativity): $15.2 million in its second weekend, down 19%. Domestic total: $41.3 million.

4. "The Lincoln Lawyer" (Lionsgate/Lakeshore): $11 million in its second weekend, down 17%. Domestic total: $29 million.

5. "Rango" (Paramount): $9.8 million in its fourth weekend, down 35%. Domestic total: $106.4 million. $15.5 million in 55 foreign markets. International total: $94 million.

6. "Battle: Los Angeles" (Sony/Relativity): $7.6 million in its third weekend, down 48%. Domestic total: $72.6 million. $16.2 million in 55 foreign markets. International total: $79.5 million.

7. "Paul" (Universal/Relativity): $7.5 million in its second weekend, down 42%. Domestic total: $24.6 million. $2.1 million in eight foreign markets. International total: $30.7 million.

8. "Red Riding Hood" (Warner Bros.): $4.3 million in its third weekend, down 40%. Domestic total: $32.5 million. $4.2 million in 13 foreign markets. International total: $11.3 million.

9. "The Adjustment Bureau" (MRC/Universal): $4.2 million in its fourth weekend, down 26%. Domestic total: $54.9 million. $5.6 million in 44 foreign markets. International total: $39.7 million.

10. "Mars Needs Moms" (Disney): $2.2 million in its third weekend, down 59%. Domestic total: $19.2 million. $3.5 million in 25 foreign markets. International total: $14 million.]

-- Amy Kaufman

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Top photo: (From left) Robert Capron and Zachary Gordon. Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Bottom photo: (From left) Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish and Vanessa Hudgens star in "Sucker Punch." Credit: Warner Bros.

Comments

[Elvin Orta]

I don't get the term fanboy, as this is not a franchise nor sourced out of a comic book...the term is kind of misused here. What are they "fans" of?

[Fernando Polowan]

I am going to see Sucker Punch in about two hours. I can already tell you that he lost much of his audience by making it PG-13.

[iLikeMovies]

Re: Elvin Orta

They are fans of Zack Snyder.

[jacob]

sucker punch rocked, it was just too twisted for the mainstream reviewing world

[mlsl1101]

I better go see 'Sucker Punch' two times immediately. I don't want that awesome movie to be sucker punched by some tween movie.

[Aaron]

That Sucker Punch pic of those chicks in this article is hot!

[Amanda]

Really seems like the critics are dead set on writing the script for how this movie is received.

"Five tough young women decked out in bustiers and fishnets got their butts kicked this weekend by a scrawny pipsqueak."

Come ON. The movie still did well. Why does everyone seem to be foaming at the mouth to declare it a failure?

[Sue Hill]

Just cause a movie does better than others doesn't mean it is better. Same with music, if its mainstream, people will follow like sheep towards it more. Alot of great films flopped or didn't hit number 1 only to gain huge cult status. Twilight can make a movie about nothing and as long as the Twilight names on it, it will hit no. 1 guaranteed. That's the reality of this industry. Paranormal Activity 3 is coming out, such a boring film, yet it will be number 1 to whatever films come out that day.

[Catalectic]

Shocking. Really? Wow. Disappointing. Has anyone actually seen the "Wimpy" trailer???

[Kass]

Sue Hill-
Twilight has a huge following for a reason. It's a book series people love A LOT !

[peaches]

Saw Sucker Punch. We're the Suckers.

This is NOT Sparta! (cut to Zack Snyder getting kicked down a well)

If you go, bring your ipod and listen to music, it won't make a difference.

[Sucker Punch was perfectly fine (I am female by the way).]

I didn't see much advertisement for Sucker Punch in the first place, neither did any of my friends. The only way I even knew about the movie was by seeing a single thread about it on an online forum. Meanwhile I was getting bombarded with commercials for Diary of a Wimpy Kid every day since who knows when. They didn't exactly have a fair start in my opinion.

It's taken me a while to collect my thoughts on Sucker Punch, but I loved it. Most people don't like movies where they have to actually think to piece things together. It's not the director's fault that movie goers are lazy (not counting children obviously). :/

[Joseph L Cooke]

I watched Sucker Punch this weekend because all the other new releases were worse. Thanks for nothing, Hollywood.

[Ryan K]

First of all, to answer Elvin about what they mean by Fanboy, they mean a male who is into comics, scifi, video games, ect, in an extreme way. In other words the target audence for Sucker Punch was single males under 35 who are geeky and love young sexy girls who kick ass with guns.

For my money Sucker Punch was really good. Beyond the killer action sequences, I thought the fantasy world within a fantasy world was a bit weird, but very well thought out and once you see the ending, it really works. IMOP the critics are just to old for this kind of movie and already had it trashed before they even saw it. If you go in wanting to hate it, then it will be a self fullfilling prophase. I thought it was very edgy and high concept and well worth a second viewing. Other then the fact you have to get to the end to understand it all, I don't know how anyone couldnt' like this film. See it in IMAX if that's an option. Would have been great in true 3D.

[IAN]

Warner Brothers is banking on remakes of Superman? No wonder an entire generation has fled movie theaters!

[Mike]

Selling Female Heroes/Superheroes is very difficult. Very few have succeeded. The most obvious point is that the fan base of the superhero genre are men 18-35. Lara Croft succeeded because the character didn't sell sex directly and kicked serious butt. These girls are dressed like they're in a pedophiles wet dream. It's a hard sell in this society to tell a man he should sympathize with a female hero/superhero (mostly because he wants to sleep with her more than idolize her, especially when the leads are 4 pretty girls ).

Sucker Punch may be an good film, but any studio that would spend $82 million on a bunch of teenage girls as leads in an action film is truly insane and destined to take a loss on this film.

[lkj]

Too Ryan K., i'm sooo sorrie u didt'n stay n skool. Good luk @ McDonolds!!!

[Catelyn]

What a silly article. Sucker Punch was always going to be niche release. It wasn't designed to go against Wimpy Kid which is watered down enough to have universal appeal.

http://ifrymineinbutter.com/2011/03/28/why-we-love-clue-1985/

[hollywood99.com]

Updated news is more attractive in our eyes . Very smart article

[luke]

Sucker punch will beat whimpy,in two weeks time.