Weekend Estimates: No Strings Attached Tops with $20 Million

January 23, 2011

A decent $20.3 million estimated opening for No Strings Attached and some surprisingly good holds in the top four wasn't enough to halt 2011's early box office slump. Overall, the weekend's box office take looks like it will be about $35 million below last year's total, once more uncannily close to the haul of Avatar in the equivalent period.

The opening weekend for No Strings Attached was very much in line with the average for a romantic comedy, although perhaps a little higher than expectations. Perhaps more impressive were the second weekends of The Green Hornet and The Dilemma, which were both about 45% off their 3-day holiday openings. An even more impressive performance was posted by The King's Speech, which was flat with last weekend and has now taken close to $60 million. With more awards in its future (and a PGA Best Picture on Saturday night), the movie could be in the top five for a while longer.

The other wide-ish opener of the weekend, The Way Back averaged a shade over $2,000 in 678 theaters, for an opening of $1.47 million. The Company Men did a little better in limited release on a per theater basis, earning an estimated $767,328 in 106 theaters -- possibly enough to expand a bit in the next couple of weeks.

Barney's Version looks set to top the per theater chart again this weekend, with an average just over $10,000 in 16 theaters.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Green Hornet, Barney's Version, The Company Men, The King’s Speech, The Way Back, No Strings Attached, The Dilemma