Rio, Reese and Madea celebrate at the Easter Box Office

While it wasn’t a blockbuster weekend at the box office, several films all did quite well ushering in a nice boost to movie grosses as we head into the summer season. Next week will bring a big opening for Fast Five, then we’ll have Thor and more Pirates, but for now, the birds are ruling the roost yet again as Rio held on top for a second week pulling in $26.8 million for a total of $81 million. That was enough to hold off Tyler Perry’s latest, Madea’s Big Happy Family, which grabbed a good but not great $25 million much lower than the previous Madea movies. Opening above expectations was the Reese Witherspoon/Robert Pattinson romance Water for Elephants which took in $17.5 million, a good number for a period romance. The other new film in the top ten was the Disney documentary African Cats which did solid business with $6.4 million. The bad news was the big drop for Scream 4 which tumbled 61% to $6.4 million and may end up being outgrossed by the tiny budgeted horror pic Insidious when all is said and done…. Take a look at the new top ten below and for all your box office needs, head to Box Office Mojo here.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	1	Rio	Fox	$26,800,000	-31.7%	3,842	+16	$6,976	$81,261,000	$90	2
2	N	Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family	LGF	$25,750,000	-	2,288	-	$11,254	$25,750,000	-	1
3	N	Water for Elephants	Fox	$17,500,000	-	2,817	-	$6,212	$17,500,000	$38	1
4	3	Hop	Uni.	$12,461,000	+16.3%	3,616	+8	$3,446	$100,500,000	$63	4
5	2	Scream 4	W/Dim.	$7,154,000	-61.7%	3,314	+9	$2,159	$31,158,000	$40	2
6	N	African Cats	BV	$6,400,000	-	1,220	-	$5,246	$6,400,000	-	1
7	5	Soul Surfer	TriS	$5,600,000	-23.0%	2,240	+26	$2,500	$28,664,000	$18	3
8	7	Insidious	FD	$5,384,000	-20.2%	2,130	-103	$2,528	$44,178,000	$1.5	4
9	4	Hanna	Focus	$5,277,000	-27.5%	2,384	-161	$2,214	$31,718,000	$30	3
10	8	Source Code	Sum.	$5,063,000	-18.5%	2,363	-194	$2,143	$44,664,000	$32	4

Rio Reigns at the Box Office

This weekend, the box office belonged to the birds as the winged cuties of Rio took out the Ghostface killer of Scream 4. In fact, Rio grabbed the biggest opening of 2011 with $40 million. The film featuring the voices of Oscar nominees Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) should see a nice long shelf life as it faces no strong family competition til Kung Fu Panda 2 comes out in late May…. Opening in second was the fun horror sequel Scream 4 which was on the low end of expectation with $19 million. It will be interesting to see if that film starring original cast members Courtney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell has the legs of its predecessors which all netted at least $90 million… The other new opener was Robert Redford’s historical drama The Conspirator starring James MacAvoy and an award-worthy Robin Wright which came in 9th with almost $4 million on only 700 screens… Holding up well in their second weekend were Soul Surfer and Hanna while Arthur tumbled and the stinking bomb Your Highness collapsed… Take a look at the brand new top ten below and for all your numbers needs, head to Box Office Mojo here.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Rio	Fox	$40,000,000	-	3,826	-	$10,455	$40,000,000	$90	1
2	N	Scream 4	W/Dim.	$19,279,000	-	3,305	-	$5,833	$19,279,000	-	1
3	1	Hop	Uni.	$11,167,000	-47.6%	3,608	-8	$3,095	$82,609,000	$63	3
4	4	Soul Surfer	TriS	$7,400,000	-30.2%	2,214	-	$3,342	$19,997,000	$18	2
5	2	Hanna	Focus	$7,327,000	-40.8%	2,545	+10	$2,879	$23,327,000	$30	2
6	3	Arthur (2011)	WB	$6,940,000	-43.2%	3,276	-	$2,118	$22,348,000	$40	2
7	5	Insidious	FD	$6,857,000	-26.8%	2,233	-186	$3,071	$35,983,000	$1.5	3
8	7	Source Code	Sum.	$6,300,000	-27.2%	2,557	-414	$2,464	$36,990,000	$32	3
9	N	The Conspirator	RAtt.	$3,924,000	-	707	-	$5,550	$3,924,000	$25	1
10	6	Your Highness	Uni.	$3,895,000	-58.4%	2,772	+3	$1,405	$15,952,000	$49.9	2