Box Office - 'Karate Kid' Tops $50 Million

When a movie doubles its expected box office performance, it's a pretty good sign that it will have legs. The Hangover did it 53 weeks ago, and now The Karate Kid has opened up a can of whoop ass, generating the third best debut of the summer with $56 million in the last three days. It started on Friday with just under $19 million, and by that point, it was already clear that it would be The A-Team, which was slightly off predictions, but still managed to do OK. However, it was the other 80s reboot, starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith (and produced by Jaden's dad, Will) that became the first unpredictable out of the box smash of the summer. We aimed slightly below $30 million, which given the theater counts and the strong run for Shrek Forever After seemed like a good ballpark. But it appears that just as many parents were looking forward to this one as their kids, and because the movie's pretty good (or at least isn't terrible), it ought to play well for several weeks, even if Toy Story 3 is only seven days away. By the end of next weekend, Karate Kid should top $100 million, something that has eluded Robin Hood, Sex and the City 2, and Prince of Persia, despite much more marketing and more recognizable stars. A-Team wound up with $26 million, which looks worse than it is. Again, it's still less than the studio would have hoped for, and it probably means the movie won't be in that $100 million group when all is said and done, but relative to the bad opening weekends around it this summer, that's not too embarrassing. Shrek Forever After crossed $200 million with almost $16 million added to its total this weekend. I think the finish line for this one will be around $265 million, and that might be good enough for a top five summer finish. Get Him to the Greek dropped to fourth place with $10 million, and Killers finished in fifth. The Top Five:
1 - The Karate Kid ($56 million)
2 - The A-Team ($26 million)
3 - Shrek ($15.8 million)
4 - Get Him to the Greek ($10.1 million)
5 - Killers ($8.2 million)