Wimpy Kid 2 Beats Sucker Punch at US Weekend B-O

MARCH 28, 2011 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules packed more wallop than the hyped actioner Sucker Punch in their debut weekend. Overall business was down five percent from the same weekend last year, when How to Train Your Dragon led.

Rodrick Rules bagged an estimated US$24.4 million on close to 4,000 screens at 3,167 locations, boasting a brawnier start than its predecessor. The first Diary of a Wimpy Kid (which cost US 15 million) drew US$22.1 million on around 3,400 screens at 3,077 locations in its first weekend last March, which led to a US$64 million final gross. The sequel cost just US$21 million and will theoretically end up in the same $60-70 million ballpark.

Sucker Punch succumbed to style and spectacle over substance: it was marketed as a video-game-like blur of random fantastical action bordering on sensory overload.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for March 25 - 27, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)


1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Fox) $24.4 million ($24.4 million) 1

2. Sucker Punch (WB) $19.1 million ($19.1 million) 1

3. Limitless (Relativity) $15.2 million ($41.2 million) 2

4. The Lincoln Lawyer (Lion's Gate) $11.0 million ($28.9 million) 2

5. Rango (Paramount) $9.8 million ($106.3 million) 4