Sequelitis and the Little Pop of Horrors

As predicted, Ocean's Thirteen took the top slot this weekend but earned less green than some had expected, taking in $37.1 million, which is the roughly on par with the franchise's other two installments (Twelve opened at $39.1 million and Eleven with $38.1 million). I think it's right to chalk it up to a case of sequelitis, or that feeling that you've seen it all before so why rush out to the theater. I had thought Thirteen would have benefitted a bit more from star power and the mostly solid reviews (and the fact that the actors promised in almost every interview that it would be much better than the crappy Twelve--I guess there's not much upside in honest marketing). The lesson learned is that not every sequel is going to break records this summer. However, the good news for George, Brad and Matt is that the audiences skewed older (63% was over 25), which means that the movie will probably see good mid-week business, as the older folks don't feel the need to rush out and see movies on opening weekend.

The rest of the top five: Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End held fast in second place ($21 million), Knocked Up took third with good word of mouth ($20 million), Sony's Surf Up came in forth with a slightly disappointing $18 million, and DW's Shrek the Third was fifth with $15.7 million. The much-hyped Hostel II provided the biggest shock of the weekend, taking in a meager $8.8 million at sixth place (the first film did $19.5 million), as the horror genre continues to stall in theaters (but it still does extremely well on DVD). Overall though, it seems that June just can't keep up with the pace that May set. Per the HR:

Overall for the weekend, the boxoffice for the top 10 films was down 8% from the comparable weekend last year, when Disney/Pixar's "Cars" left the starting gate with a $60.1 million opening frame, according to Nielsen EDI.

It was the second down weekend in a row; after a torrid May, the June boxoffice appears to be undergoing something of a correction. Although EDI reports that summer 2007 remains ahead of summer 2006 by 10% and 2005 by 9%, it has slipped behind the record summer of 2004 by 1%.

'Ocean's Thirteen' tops lackluster weekend [Hollywood Reporter]
'Ocean's Thirteen' wins weekend [Variety]