'Green Hornet' Tops US Weekend B-O

JAN 17, 2011 - The Green Hornet added some zing to an otherwise tepid Martin Luther King, Jr weekend, collecting an estimated US$34 million while The Dilemma was a distant second. Overall business was down around 25 percent from the same weekend last year, which featured the one-two punch of Avatar and The Book of Eli, and this is shaping up to be the least-attended MLK weekend since the mid-1990's.

The Green Hornet snared the highest-grossing opening ever for a live-action superhero comedy, topping Kick-Ass's US$19.8 million in a sub-genre that usually struggles at the box office. Last weekend's top grosser, True Grit, eased 23 percent to an estimated US$11.2 million, lifting its haul to US$126.4 million in 26 days, while The King's Speech more than doubled its location count to 1,543, and business rose 41 percent to an estimated US$9.1 million.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Jan 14-16, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. The Green Hornet (Sony) $34.0 million ($34.0 million) 1

2. The Dilemma (Universal) $17.4 million ($17.4) 1

3. True Grit (Paramount) $11.2 million ($126,4 million) 4

4. The King's Speech (Wein.) $9.0 million ($44.5 million) 8

5. Black Swan (Fox) $8.1 million ($72.9 million) 7