May in Review

In a way the month as a lot like the movies that filled it, big, bloated, fairly predictable and a little underwhelming. The box office, in recent months, has been on a record breaking streak until it hit this May, one of the worst starts to summer in years. Overall business was down 11% from last year. There were no surprises or break outs like last year’s Star Trek or Up. Then again this year did boast more big pictures, but outside a couple of big (but still under-performing) opening weekends, there wasn’t a whole lot of money to be made.

As I predicted in my box office predictions earlier this summer that Shrek Forever After would open significantly lower ($70 million and I was right on the money) than previous installments and that Iron Man 2 would fizzle out after the opening weekend and prove to have not-so-iron legs. Although I did not predict the box office for the rest of the month, my predictions for Sex and the City and Prince of Persia wouldn’t have been too far off. Here is a weekend by weekend highlight of the month.

5/1

Iron Man 2 opens to $128 million, should end around $315 million

My Prediction: $110 million /$295 million

5/14

Robin Hood opens to $36 million should end around $105 million

5/21

Shrek Forever After opens to $71 million should end around $240 million

My Prediction: $70 million / $295 million

5/28

Prince of Persia opens to $38 million should end around $1 million

Sex and the City opens to $37 million should end around $115 million

Box Office Winner of May: Iron Man 2. Though it hardly broke out and performed beyond the original like other sequels such as The Dark Knight or Dead Man’s Chest as many thought, but it still was the only $200 million budget film in May to actually gross above its budget.

Box Office Loser of May: Too many to count. MacGruber was a total bust, though it had a small budget. Prince of Persia or Robin Hood are less economical choices. Either of these $200 million dollar budget films did the opposite of Iron Man 2 and will likely make less than $120 million, making them lose big bucks for their studios.

Check out my full Summer Box Office Predictions

June box office predictions soon to come.