‘Bridesmaids’ headed past $100 million at box office after strong second weekend
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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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