It took four weeks, but the mighty green ogre and the bad movie were finally knocked out of the top spot. The movie to unseat the monster? A surprisingly potent remake. The new version of The Karate Kid proved to be a strong draw across all demographics as it cruised to a $56 million opening weekend. I am surprised with how well it opened, but I am also surprised at how good the movie is. It doesn't cover any new ground and is virtually a shot for shot retelling of the original 1984 film, but that doesn't stop it from totally executing its premise. It doesn't hurt that both Jaden Smth and Jackie Chan turn in strong performances with effective emotional arcs and good action sequences.Coming in second place with a slightly disappointing gross is the big screen adaptation of the 1980's action series The A-Team. I loved that show growing up. Sure, it is seriously dated these days, but there is still a level of nostalgic cool attached to it, not to mention Mr. T! This movie brings together a strong cast that fill their roles perfectly in a movie that by and large gets the feel right. It is big, loud, immensely dumb, and fun. It gets that feel right, but the problem is that it does not seem to try to do anything with the concept. All flash, no substance. I enjoyed it for what it got right and did not like it for not trying to make it good for the big screen.
The rest of the top ten list is essentially just shifted down a couple from last week. There is nothing of any particular note down the list. Frankly, this summer is just not all that exciting. Yes, there are good films and bad films, those I want to see again and those I wish were never made. I just don't see all that much to get really excited over. Iron Man 2 got the summer season off right, but since then I feel terribly indifferent. I really hope that movies like Toy Story 3 and Inception help turn things around.
Next weekend will see the previously mentioned Toy Story 3 and I have the utmost confidence in Pixar. They just continue to turn out amazing work and there is nothing to indicate this will be any different. We also get the comic adaptation Jonah Hex with Josh Brolin and Megan Fox. This could be fun, but the trailers make it seem like a movie of quips and one-liners which could be bad. It also has Megan Fox, who I am not particularly a fan of.
Two movies dropped off the list this week: Robin Hood (11) and Letters to Juliet (32).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | N | The Karate Kid (2010) | $55,665,805 | $55,665,805 | 1 |
| 2 | N | The A-Team (2010) | $25,669,455 | $25,669,455 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | Shrek Forever After | $15,770,491 | $210,022,557 | 4 |
| 4 | 2 | Get Him to the Greek | $9,942,405 | $36,400,720 | 2 |
| 5 | 3 | Killers | $8,008,007 | $30,261,624 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | Prince of Persia: Sands of Time | $6,486,150 | $72,228,302 | 3 |
| 7 | 6 | Marmaduke | $6,006,704 | $22,285,540 | 2 |
| 8 | 5 | Sex and the City 2 | $5,438,345 | $84,658,826 | 3 |
| 9 | 7 | Iron Man 2 | $4,521,206 | $299,282,390 | 6 |
| 10 | 8 | Splice | $2,942,492 | $13,153,956 | 2 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
Well, I guess I was just a little bit off. The Karate Kid remake certainly did come out firing on all cylinders scoring across all demographic. It proved to be a big hit raking in considerably more than the majority of estimates were predicting. On the other hand, I overestimated the draw of The A-Team. It still did pretty good, but under most predictions. The rest of the chart I was just about right on the money with, although I wish Marmaduke fell off more than it did.
Here is how the field matched up:
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 2 | 1 | The A-Team (2010) | $25,669,455 | $34 million |
| 1 | 2 | The Karate Kid (2010) | $55,665,805 | $28 million |
| 3 | 3 | Shrek Forever After | $15,770,491 | $15 million |
| 4 | 4 | Get Him to the Greek | $9,942,405 | $11 million |
| 5 | 5 | Killers | $8,008,007 | $8 million |
| 6 | 6 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | $6,486,150 | $7.5 million |
| 8 | 7 | Sex and the City 2 | $5,438,345 | $5.5 million |
| 9 | 8 | Iron Man 2 | $4,521,206 | $5 million |
| 7 | 9 | Marmaduke | $6,006,704 | $4.5 million |
| 10 | 10 | Splice | $2,942,492 | $3.5 million |
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| Article first published as Box Office Update 6/11-6/13: The Karate Kid Kicks Up the Business on Blogcritics. | ||||
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