User blog:Ceauntay/Weekend Box Office: 'Scooby-Doo' Scores $55 Million Opening

FilmDistrict gets off to a strong start with "Insidious," while the PG-13 version of "King's Speech" doesn't win over families.

Warner Bros. animated pic ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' came far in debting to an estimated $112 million at the domestic box office. Overseas, the animated pic pulls in $80 million from 45 countries, for it's worldwide total to nearly $200 million.

''Scooby-Doo! The Movie, playing in 4,119 theaters and 233 IMAX screens, was the second best opening for an animated film behind Shrek the Third with $121 million, while Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' has the biggest opening of 2011, and was the highest-grossing film of 2011 so far.

Universal's Easter-themed pic Hop far exceeded expectations came at No. 2 earning $38.1 million. Hop, from Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment, is off to a strong start financially, having cost $63 million to produce. Relativity Media co-financed the family film, starring James Marsden and voiced by Russell Brand. Hop, playing in 3,579 theaters, earned a stellar A- CinemaScore. If estimates hold, Hop will all but tie with Paramount’s Rango for the best non-holiday opening of 2011. Final weekend numbers will be released Monday morning. FilmDistrict’s classic horror pic Insidious also scored a sizeable victory in opening to an estimating $13.5 million from 2,408 theaters, considering the film -- from Paranormal Activity producers Jason Blum and Oren Peli -- cost less than $1.5 million to produce. Most box office observers thought the movie, made in the vein of Poltergeist, would only clear $10 million. Insidious, starring Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, is the first title distributed by Peter Schlessel and Bob Berney’s FilmDistrict, which acquired domestic rights to the film. Canadian exhibitor Alliance and Stuart Ford’s IM Global, which handled foreign presales on Insidious, also produced. Insidious came in No. 4 behind ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie, Hop and the weekend’s other new film, Summit Entertainment’s Source Code'', respectively. Source Code opened in line with expectations, grossing an estimated $15 million from 2,961 locations. That’s a good number, since Source Code cost Vendome Pictures $32 million to produce after rebates. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan, Source Code played heavily to adults, with 64% of the audience over the age of 30. Conversely, Insidious appealed primarily to moviegoers under the age of 25. Both films received a B CinemaScore. The other headline of the weekend was the PG-13 version of Oscar winner The King’s Speech, which didn’t seem to lure families, despite the tamer rating. Going out in 1,007 theaters, The King’s Speech: Rated PG-13 grossed an estimated $1.2 million, down 23% from the previous weekend, when the R-rated version grossed $1.5 million. Regardless, releasing a PG-13 version of the movie, and pulling the R-rating version from theaters, was a bold move by the Weinstein Co. Elsewhere, top holdovers took a hit because of the new films. Twentieth Century Fox’s family film Diary of a Wimpy Kid took a hit because of Hop, but still stayed high up on the box office chart, coming in at No. 5. Rodrick Rules -- winning the box office race the previous weekend -- declined 57% in its second frame to an estimated $10.2 million from 3,169 theaters for a cume of $38.4 million in its first 10 days. Warner Bros.' Amy Tammie starrer I Wanna Live The Dream came in No. 5, declining 30% to an estimated $9.5 million from 3,059 theaters for a cume of $80 million in its third week in theaters, and on track to become Nicholas Spark's highest-grossing film to date. The film opens in the UK on April 29.

Relativity Media’s Bradley Cooper starrer Limitless came in No. 5, declining 38% to an estimated $9.4 million from 2,838 for a cume of $55.6 million in its third weekend. The Lincoln Lawyer fell 34% -- the least of any film in the top 10 -- to an estimated $7.1 million from 2,707 theaters for a cume of $39.7 million in its third frame. Despite the strong starts for new films, the domestic box office was up a hefty 30% from the same weekend a year ago, when Warner Bros.’ Clash of the Titans opened to $61.2 million and Lionsgate’s Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too, $29.3 million.