While I suspected that we might see some great reviews for Kick-Ass (and it did not disappoint) I never thought it would take the top spot. Then I saw what it was up against and figured it stood a shot at it, but in the end, it just didn’t dominate where the fanboys might have wanted. Probably a lot to do with that R rating, but Kick-Ass wouldn’t have been as faithful without it. No movie NEEDS to be rated R, but Kick-Ass surely benefited from it. But its best quality might also have been its own limitation at the boxoffice as well.
EDIT The list is updated with the final numbers instead of the estimates reported this morning. It was that close of a race that Kick-Ass just tipped out on top by less than $200k. Thats a tight race.
Kick-Ass – $19,828,687 – Opening
How to Train Your Dragon – $19,633,320 – 4wks
Date Night – $16,720,038 – 2wks
Death at a Funeral – $16,217,540 – Opening
Clash of the Titans – $15,385,491 – 3wks
April is a fickle month for movie releases. The biggest season of the movie industry is the Summer Blockbuster season. The studios save their biggest popcorn flicks for the summer months, and that season officially kicks off the first weekend of May. So that leaves the studios releasing thier modest releases that would get lost in the tidal wave of Blockbuster draws.
Kick-Ass had a narrow target audience, appealing to the teen and beardy gamer demographic, but it had a broader catchment for superhero fans, but then limited it mostly to the over 18 crowd. That’s a tough audience. And while mostly everyone seemed to like it, there just didn’t seem to be enough to put it on top. EDIT Now that finals are in, it looks like it did edge out… but barely.
A 4th week running family film nearly stood in its way of a top spot in a weekend that the top 5 films were less than $5million apart.
Kick-Ass was the only film I caught this weekend. What did you go see?
