Dave here rounding up the box office while Nat's away thinking about nicer things.
Parrots took over from rabbits at the top of the box office this weekend, although the fact that it still isn't Easter might give that foppish British bunny a boost this week. Or did they bounce him out too early? Rio signals the coming of summer by scooping the biggest opening weekend of the year so far, besting Rango's $38.1 million. Meanwhile, Scream 4 came in a pale second place, not even making half of Rio's total; and Nat will be delighted to learn that Academy Award Winner Helen Hunt's Soul Surfer held steady as others tumbled around it. Maybe Ghostface might be able to take a stab at her as he falls past her next week?
Jesse Eisenberg doesn't usually look so emotional at the movies...The Box Office (Actuals)
01 RIO new $39.2
02 SCREAM 4 new $19.3
03 HOP $11.2 (cumulative $82.6)
04 SOUL SURFER $7.4 (cumulative $20.0)
05 HANNA $7.3 (cumulative $23.3)
06 ARTHUR $6.9 (cumulative $22.3)
07 INSIDIOUS $6.7 (cumulative $35.9)
08 SOURCE CODE $6.3 (cumulative $37.0)
09 THE CONSPIRATOR new $3.9
10 YOUR HIGHNESS $3.9 (cumulative $16.0)
Disastrous numbers for the $45 million-budgeted Your Highness, crashing almost 60% in only its second week; but beautiful ones for the $1.5 million budget of Insidious, a bonefide hit that even looks likely to outgross horror rival Scream 4. Sometimes the little guys win!
And how the mighty Ghostface has fallen. Here's a usefulless comparison of the opening weekends for the whole series.
Of course, the original Scream started out small and ended up breaking $100 million, whereas the unfavorably received Scream 3 couped the biggest debut but faltered before $90 million. Those numbers are now just a forgotten dream for Scream 4, of course; how much do you think it'll end up grossing?
Lower down the chart, audiences shrugged at Atlas Shrugged (thanks Glenn), Win Win won a little extra on further expansion, and the biggest winner of the week was Italian thriller Double Hour, snatching the biggest per-screen average with $15,400... on its two screens. But what did you enjoy this weekend, in theatres or at home? I had a scream myself.