'Bridesmaids' headed past $100 million at box office after strong second weekend
The box-office party may last a while for "Bridesmaids." Following a solid $26.2-million opening for the rare female-oriented comedy, "Bridesmaids" ticket sales dropped only 20% on the film's second weekend to $21.1 million, an impressive number, demonstrating very strong word-of-mouth.
The modestly budgeted Universal Pictures release, co-financed by Relativity Media, is already at $59.5 million in total box-office receipts and is on track to easily surpass $100 million in the weeks to come. It's unusual that R-rated comedies perform that well, but "Bridesmaids" seems to have found a very successful niche while playing underneath summer blockbusters such as "Thor" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."
It could easily end up as one of the most successful movies produced by comedy magnate Judd Apatow, surpassing the box-office totals of movies with bigger stars such as "Stepbrothers ($100.5 million) and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" ($109.4 million).
Meanwhile, the other movie that opened last weekend, "Priest," had an opposite experience. Bad buzz sent box-office receipts for the 3-D action film from Sony Pictures' Screen Gems label plummeting 69% to $4.6 million.
-- Ben Fritz
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Photo: From left, Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Ellie Kemper, Wendi McClendon-Covey, and Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids." Credit: Universal Pictures
