A Disappointing “Prince of Persia” Flopped at Box Office
>> Jun 1, 2010
The first biggest bomb of the summer was dropped on the big screen version of the "Prince of Persia" video game, "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time". The Jerry Bruckheimer film wrecked at second spot in its opening weekend, only rakes in $37.7 million over the four-day holiday period domestically. The modest results for "Prince of Persia" leave the movie's franchise potential in doubt. Bruckheimer, whose movies include the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" series, was aiming for similar franchise treatment on "Prince of Persia." The number which shown by the $150 million production, once again proofing that this is no Mummy or Pirates of the Caribbean, either. RottenTomatoes counted 158 reviews, and of those only 62 were fresh, giving this one a 39% fresh rating at RT. Mainstream critics liked it even less, with the score coming in at only 23% fresh. But Walt Disney Pictures will not be too much disappointed by "Prince of Persia" since it attracts moviegoers from all over the world. The film drew $59 million from 7,100 screens in 47 territories for an early international cume of $87.5 million. In "Prince's" second week on the foreign circuit, it finished No. 1 in at least 40 of its 47 markets and helped drive Disney's 2010 foreign box office revenues past the $1-billion for the 16th consecutive year. It was the fastest that Disney has ever reached that benchmark.
DreamWorks Animation's sequel "Shrek Forever After" remained the No. 1 movie for a second weekend with $43.4 million for the three days ended Sunday and an estimated $55.7 million for the four days ending on Monday's U.S. Memorial Day holiday, according to studio estimates. The fourth Shrek film which also suffered a disappointing debut last weekend, held up surprisingly well. Sales slipped just 39 percent, a better hold than the 56 percent drop for "Shrek the Third" in 2007. The North American tally for the cartoon stands at $133.1 million, down from the comparable 10-day haul of $203 million for "Shrek the Third." The studio said it was too early to tell if the new film could catch up. DreamWorks is really hoping for a lengthy shelf life on "Shrek Forever After," that had critics wondering if audiences finally were growing tired of the big green ogre.
Meanwhile, in third, "Sex and the City 2" sold $37.1 million worth of tickets during its first four days of release across North America, falling far short of the opening round for the first film in the series. While critics ripped this sequel, which reunites actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis with director Michael Patrick King, women still accounted for 90 percent of the audience, up a few points from the first one. They also liked it a little less. RottenTomatoes counted 134 reviews, and of those, only a laughable 21 were positive, which lands “Sex and the City 2” with a rotten rating at 16%. Also with a budget approaching $100 million (about 40% higher than the first film), Carrie and the girls needed to seriously outdo the opening of the original, and like we have seen over the first month of summer so far, this sequel failed to live up to those expectations.
DreamWorks Animation's sequel "Shrek Forever After" remained the No. 1 movie for a second weekend with $43.4 million for the three days ended Sunday and an estimated $55.7 million for the four days ending on Monday's U.S. Memorial Day holiday, according to studio estimates. The fourth Shrek film which also suffered a disappointing debut last weekend, held up surprisingly well. Sales slipped just 39 percent, a better hold than the 56 percent drop for "Shrek the Third" in 2007. The North American tally for the cartoon stands at $133.1 million, down from the comparable 10-day haul of $203 million for "Shrek the Third." The studio said it was too early to tell if the new film could catch up. DreamWorks is really hoping for a lengthy shelf life on "Shrek Forever After," that had critics wondering if audiences finally were growing tired of the big green ogre.
Meanwhile, in third, "Sex and the City 2" sold $37.1 million worth of tickets during its first four days of release across North America, falling far short of the opening round for the first film in the series. While critics ripped this sequel, which reunites actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis with director Michael Patrick King, women still accounted for 90 percent of the audience, up a few points from the first one. They also liked it a little less. RottenTomatoes counted 134 reviews, and of those, only a laughable 21 were positive, which lands “Sex and the City 2” with a rotten rating at 16%. Also with a budget approaching $100 million (about 40% higher than the first film), Carrie and the girls needed to seriously outdo the opening of the original, and like we have seen over the first month of summer so far, this sequel failed to live up to those expectations.
2 Remarks:
This movie will score a success in the world if not in USA.
I thought "Prince of Persia" will end on 1st place, with at least $60 million, after its opening weekend and I'm so mad it didn't. It may not be great, but it's definitely worth-seeing on big screen.
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