Weekend Box Office Results for May 15–17, 2009

Weekend Box Office Results for May 15–17, 2009

It was kind of an unusual pattern this week. Even though the lead film, which was also the only new film, was nearly 20% below expectations, the aggregate of the top ten came in right as expected, thanks to excellent performance from the carry-overs. Star Trek did great. It finished a distant second on Friday, which was the opening day for Angels & Demons, but ran dead even with A&D on Saturday and Sunday. (It may even have won Saturday, but we will not know until the actuals are available.)

Cult pics like Star Trek usually have monstrous drops in week two because all the fanboys pile in during the first weekend, but that has not been the case with Star Trek, which has crossed over from the hardcore cultists and has shown excellent mass audience appeal. It dropped only 42%, and has already grossed $147 million in ten days.

The weekend was slightly above last year, but that is misleading because last year sucked. This weekend was actually quite a bit lower than any of the previous three years. Angels and Demons did not prove strong enough to carry the day.