Weekend Estimates: Limitless Wins Five-Way Box Office Battle

March 20, 2011

The North American box office showed further glimmers of hope this weekend, with no less than five movies vying for top spot on the chart, and Limitless handily beating expectations to finish first. Its $19 million debut is the best so far for Relativity Media's fledgling distribution organization. Overall, however, box office will be down around 10% from last year, continuing a losing streak that will almost certainly extend to cover the entire first quarter.

The other wide openers, The Lincoln Lawyer and Paul both performed OK, grossing an estimated $13.4 million and $13.15 million each. With per theater averages around $4,750, both films will have a chance to stay in theaters for a while.

Rango had another strong hold to finish second, and will pass $100 million in the next week. Battle: Los Angeles fell steeply, as expected, but still managed to hold to third place with $14.6 million. Mars Needs Moms actually held on pretty well after its horrendous opening, but will lose a lot of theaters next weekend thanks to its miserable per-theater average.

In limited release, Bill Cunningham New York posted a huge $33,000 in a single theater in New York, but probably has limited nationwide appeal. Win Win was arguably even more impressive with an average a shade over $30,000 in five theaters. Jane Eyre also enjoyed a successful expansion to 26 theaters, posting around $480,000 in its second weekend.

- 3-Day Weekend Estimates
- Friday Estimates
- Saturday Estimates
- Sunday Projections

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Rango, Battle: Los Angeles, Mars Needs Moms, Limitless, Paul, Win Win, Jane Eyre, The Lincoln Lawyer, Bill Cunningham New York