Weekend Box Office: “Island” Hangs On

“Let me out! I want to go see ‘Shutter Island’!” 

1. Shutter Island $22,200,000

2. Cop Out $18,565,000

3. The Crazies $16,521,000

4. Avatar $14,000,000

5. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief $9,800,000

So I don’t think it was a huge surprise that “Shutter Island” hung onto the top spot for a second week. The fact that it’s opening weekend audiences were made up of people from all across the age and gender spectrum was a good omen for a long run.

I also don’t think it’s a surprise that “Cop Out” put up respectable numbers; like I said last week, it feels like forever since a comedy opened. The earnings for any of the films this weekend weren’t huge, probably due at least in part to the bad weather on the east coast, but I’ve got to think that the people who were able to shovel themselves out were in the mood to laugh.

After three weeks, “Percy Jackson” has earned about $71.2 million. Obviously Fox was counting on this film to launch a franchise. But is that $71.2 million enough to justify more films? BoxOfficeMojo says the budget for “The Lightning Thief” was $95 million, so right now this isn’t looking like a contender to pick up the soon to end “Harry Potter” mantle. But I guess they’re probably locked in to making at least one or two more films from the book series.

Oh, and “Avatar” has now earned $706.9 million in the US.

Next week: there are lots of high hopes for “Alice in Wonderland.” Can it live up to them?