Box Office Goes to 21 Jump Street

After the excitement of John Carter‘s epic box office flop, things got more or less back to normal over the weekend, with new release 21 Jump Street (weekend gross $35 million) taking the top spot and reigning champ Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (weekend gross $22.8 million, total gross $158.4 million) sliding to second place.

John Carter (weekend gross $13.5 million) came in at number three, its box office take dropping 55 percent from last weekend; so far, the sci-fi blockbuster that cost $250 million to make has earned a mere $53.1 million in domestic markets. Coming in at number four was Project X, whose weekend gross of $4 million brings its total so far to $48.1 million, or roughly four times its estimated $12 million budget. Rounding out the top five was A Thousand Words (weekend gross $3.7 million, total gross $12.1 million); though the Eddie Murphy-starring comedy managed to climb one spot since its debut last weekend, it still has a rather embarrassing 0% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s doubtful that anyone at DreamWorks is celebrating too much.

Among last weekend’s limited releases, the big winner was Will Ferrell’s Spanish-language telenovela-inspired comedy Casa de mi Padre, which earned $2.2 million in fewer than 400 theaters, for an average per-theater gross of $5,759. Also out in limited release were the Duplass brothers’ Jeff Who Lives at Home ($840,000), Seeking Justice ($260,000), The Kid with a Bike ($48,900) and Detachment ($11,050 in only two theaters).

In case you haven’t heard, next weekend sees The Hunger Games hit theaters in wide release; an adaptation of the first book in the über-popular teen trilogy of the same name, the film has already surpassed former record-holder The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in advance ticket sales and is expected to gross over $100 million in its opening weekend. For those not feeling the whole teenagers-forced-to-kill-each-other-by-a-repressive-dystopian-regime-thing, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Musical Chairs, October Baby, The Raid: Redemption, The Trouble with Bliss and The Deep Blue Sea are all set to open in limited release. MM