Poor reviews didn't slow down Cars 2 at all this weekend. The Pixar sequel earned $68 million this weekend, beating expectations. Even Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz, earned better than expected with $31 million. Bad Teacher reportedly cost $20 million to produce, so this is a big win for Diaz and Columbia Pictures.
Green Lantern placed 3rd this weekend, bringing its total to $89 million at the US box office. It took quite a tumble from last weekend and may slide down further after next week's big release.
It is also worth noting that Bridesmaids is still doing quite well. It isn't often mentioned by the media, but is still holding on at number 8 and has earned $146 million domestically, which will be difficult for even some of the big summer event films to hit.
Next week's big opening is Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The trailer for this film was fantastic, the other two films were some of the biggest earners for the year they opened and we expect no different from this sequel. Buzz for the film has been more positive than the previous sequel, so this could have a lot of staying power if it's a much better film than the last sequel. Here is the top ten list for this weekend:
1 Cars 2 - $68,000,000
2 Bad Teacher - $31,000,000
3 Green Lantern - $18,350,000
4 Super 8 - $12,100,000
5 Mr. Popper's Penguins - $10,300,000
6 X-Men: First Class - $6,600,000
7 The Hangover Part II - $5,865,000
8 Bridesmaids - $5,372,000
9 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - $4,702,000
10 Midnight in Paris - $4,481,000