U.S Box Office Report - 25th - 27th June 2010

1. Toy Story 3 - $59M - $226.6M
2. Grown Ups - $41M - $41M
3. Kinght & Day - $20.5M - $27.8M
4. The Karate Kid - $15.4M - $135.6M
5. The A-Team - $6M - $62.8M
6. Get Him To The Greek $3M - $54.4M
7. Shrek Forever After - $2.87M - $229.3M
8. Prince of Persia - $2.8M - $86.1M
9. Killers - $2M - $44M
10. Jonah Hex- $1.6M - $9.1M

After a strong start last weekend, Toy Story 3 built on its $110M during the week-days, helped in some part by US schools finishing for Summer on Wednesday. With those impressive day to day figures, it was inevitable the film would see $200M this weekend (incidentally its production budget). The two new releases may have had some slight impact, as did the inevitable front loading, which saw the film down 56% on a Friday to Friday basis (46% for the weekend as a whole, which again, naysayers are deeming as very disappointing), but word of mouth is incredibly strong and like Up, the film will dig in deep and almost certainly remain in the top ten for the next seven to eight weeks. Only Despicable Me will offer any family competition in the coming weeks. At this point the film is on track to be the biggest of 2010.

Adam Sandler's last film was the disappointing (at least box office-wise) Funny People. Released around this time last summer, the film ended its run with just $51M. This time around, for Grown Ups, Sandler has decided to surround himself with a different set of funny people in the guise of Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, Kevin James and David Spade. The film centres around a group of old college friends who get together for a July 4th party and to commemorate the passing of their basketball coach, dragging all their families, rivalries and emotions with them. The film opened strong on Friday, even with the competition from Knight & Day, taking in $14.5M. By the end of the weekend it finished amongst Sandler's biggest opening weekends (fourth, behind The Longest Yard, Anger Management and Big Daddy) . With the family at Toy Story 3, Grown Ups makes a safe date movie for those who have already seen Get Him To The Greek. A decent hold next weekend could see the film on course for $100M.

The film that was expected to best Grown Ups opened very softly on Wednesday. Knight & Day stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, the former still suffering from a poor public image . The film sees Cruise as a rogue secret agent who ends up dragging Diaz's character along for a series of hijinks and narrow escapes. Trailers were decent, if a little too revealing and the film reviewed above average. Unfortunately the public still can't seem to forgive Tom Cruise and that was highlighted by a $3.8M Wednesday and a $3.4M Thursday. Friday saw competition from Grown Ups which left the film with a disappointing $6.3M (especially poor when you consider Friday should be the film's strongest day of the weekend). As the weekend wore things didn't get any better, leaving the film with a five day total of just $27M.

That figure for a three-day weekend would have been cause for concern given the talent involved, so one can only imagine what the studio make of the state of things. Expect them to play up the number, rather than the time it took to reach it. Unless word of mouth overcomes the situation, the film will struggle to see $60M, leaving all concerned to look to the international market for salvation.

Even with the new releases and strong return from Toy Story 3, The Karate Kid manages another solid hold. The $40M budgeted film has now tripled its production budget and star Jaden Smith has seen his first lead role gross more money than a few of his father's flicks, including his most recent, Seven Pounds. Internationally the film could see another $200M and should finish up not far from that figure domestically.

After a better than expected second weekend, The A-Team flounders and will be pretty much done by next weekend. While it's just out of flop territory, it'll need to rely heavily on its international fans to clear the $110M production budget. Meanwhile, Get Him To Greek, which is at 1,000 locations less than the A-Team, manages roughly half of that total. The Russell Brand/Jonah Hill comedy has no budget fears, having been made for $40M.

With nowhere left to go, Shrek Forever After is simply biding its time and looking toward its quick DVD release. While it may taken more money than Dreamwork's other release this year, How To Train Your Dragon, it's unlikely to be as fondly remembered. Prince of Persia continues to blast away at the international box office while the domestic market still wonders what all the fuss is about. The film has actually done well to score over $85M given its below average start. It won't hit $100M in the US but could still see as much as $250M around the rest of the world.

Being a few weeks old meant that Killers stood little chance against the similarly themed (and newer) Knight & Day. Thanks to Lionsgate selling off the international rights they've reduced their own risk on the film, but as their costliest ever production, a less than $55M finish is going to sting somewhat. Somehow Jonah Hex managed to stay in the top ten. The only thing the film can take away with it is the fact it took more money than recent flop MacGruber. Of course, MacGruber only cost $10M to produce while Jonah Hex could have cost anything up to $180M if rumours are to be believed.

Next weekend all bets are off with the return of Twilight: Eclipse. It's the first time the Vampire series has opened outside of November so it'll be interesting to see how it fairs against some major competition - not to mention one of the biggest holidays in the US, Independence Day. Facing off alongside it is M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender and a sure to still be strong Toy Story 3. But don't underestimate those Twilight Mums...