Weekend Box Office Update

With a strong marketing push and plenty of early screenings that generated positive buzz, Evil Dead had no problem winning the weekend. With a production budget of only $17 million, Evil Dead is off to a good start, earning an estimated $26 million in its first weekend. There has already been talk of a sequel, but it's not guaranteed yet.

If we look at the Friday the 13th remake, it was produced for $19 million, earned $40 million in its opening weekend, and only went on to gross a total of $91.3 million worldwide by the time it left theaters. We'll be tracking how Evil Dead performs over the next few weeks, and feel that a sequel is more likely to happen quickly if the movie can cross the $100 million mark worldwide.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Croods both crossed the $21 million mark this weekend, and took second and third place. Jurassic Park 3D earned $18 million, which was less than The Phantom Menace in 3D earned in its opening weekend last year. This isn't a big win for Universal, but could be considered part of the marketing plan to generate interest for Jurassic Park 4.

Next week sees the release of 42 and Scary Movie 5. Here are the top ten results for this weekend:

1. Evil Dead - $26,000,000
2. G.I. Joe: Retaliation - $21,100,000
3. The Croods - $21,100,000
4. Jurassic Park 3D - $18,247,000
5. Olympus Has Fallen - $10,042,000
6. Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor - $10,000,000
7. Oz The Great and Powerful - $8,171,000
8. The Host - $5,239,000
9. The Call - $3,500,000
10. Admission - $2,054,000