Up Hangs Around, Holding Off The Hangover

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

Last week, it seemed like it would be a close race between two new comedies, Todd Phillips' R-Rated The Hangover (Warner Bros.) and Will Ferrell's take on the Saturday morning show Land of the Lost (Universal), but that ended up being a non-event.

Instead, this weekend became about whether Phillips' breakout comedy hit could in fact dethrone last week's #1 movie, the Pixar Animation/Disney animated hit Up, which dropped just 35% in its second weekend and just squeaked out a victory with roughly $44.2 million in its second weekend, bringing its total gross to $137.3 million in ten days.

With great buzz among a wide variety of audiences going into the weekend, The Hangover (Warner Bros.) kicked off the weekend grossing $16.5 million on Friday in 3,269 theaters, then dropped a little on Saturday to end the weekend with an estimated $43.3 million, averaging over $13 thousand per venue. It is the third biggest opening for an R-rated comedy, surpassing the opening weekend of past summer R-Rated comedy hits There's Something About Mary, Superbad, Knocked Up and Wedding Crashers.

Meanwhile, the attempt to bring Land of the Lost (Universal) to the screen was marred by overwhelmingly negative reviews and a confused marketing campaign that made it look like a movie suitable for kids despite its PG-13 rating. That and the fact that many of Will Ferrell's older fans opted for The Hangover led to a disappointing opening weekend of $19.5 million in 300 more theaters than the competing comedy, averaging $5.5 thousand per site.

Ben Stiller's comedy sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (20th Century Fox) held up decently in its third weekend despite the comedy competition, dropping just 39% to add another $14.6 million to its total of $127.3 million.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (Paramount) stayed in fifth place with $8.4 million, a minor 33% drop from last weekend, its total box office of $222 million putting it well ahead as the top grossing movie of 2009.

Dropping three spots to sixth place, McG's Terminator Salvation (Warner Bros.) added another $8.1 million in its third weekend to cross the $100 million mark with $105.5 million.

Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell (Universal) dropped 54% in its second weekend, pulling in $7.3 million for eighth place with a total of $28.5 million.

The Ron Howard adaptation of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons (Sony), starring Tom Hanks, dropped to 8th place with $6.5 million and a four-weekend total of $116 million.

The only other new movie in wide release, the return of Nia (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) Vardalos in the Fox Searchlight comedy My Life in Ruins didn't stand much of a chance against the other two comedies. It opened with $3.2 million in 1,164 theaters for ninth place.

The Top 10 grossed an estimated $157.3 million, down 8% from the same June opening weekend last year when DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda won the weekend over Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess with the Zohan, $60 million to $38 million.

In limited release, Sam Mendes' new road comedy Away We Go (Focus Features) scored $143 thousand in four theaters in New York and L.A., averaging $35 thousand per venue.