User blog:Ceauntay/Weekend Box Office: 'Hangover 2' rakes in $137m, 'Kung-Fu Panda 2' earns $68m, 'True Jackson' flops to $49m

It's Memorial Day Weekend, and everyone that isn't eighteen beers deep at a backyard barbeque is-- judging from the totals below-- at the movies. The battle for box office supremacy came down to two, new films, both of which were sequels, both of which were comedies. But while Kung-Fu Panda 2 was an all-ages affair, Todd Phillips' The Hangover Part Two reveled in its R-rated-ness. Guess which film audiences propelled to the #1 spot? Go on, guess. Read on to find out in this weekend's box office report, my gentle Examiner readers... In 2009, Warner Bros. released Todd Phillips' The Hangover to critical acclaim and a massive, record-breaking $489m worldwide box office total. And so, when it came time for The Hangover Part Two to drop into theaters this weekend, expectations were running high for the film's chances at the box office: Some predicted an $85-90m total for the weekend, while others predicted something in the neighborhood of a $125m take. Still others claimed that the film was destined to wipe out thanks to the onslaught of terrible reviews that accompanied the film's release: who, they asked, would flock to a film with a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Such box office prognosticators are apparently unfamiliar with "The Rule of Summer Movies" (which is very often also "The Rule of Sequels"): if audiences loved the film the first time around, and if the trailer's reasonably good, and even if critics have nothing positive to say about the film in question...audiences will come (see also:  Transformers 2, Terminator 3, and on and on). Here at Comedy Examiner HQ, we didn't happen to agree with the majority of critics about The Hangover Part Two, but even if we had, there's no way we would've bet against Todd Phillips' film. And, as it turns out, we would've been right: The Hangover Part Two looks ready to rake in a stunning $137m in its first five days of release (not $139-- as was being predicted yesterday afternoon-- but what's $2m?), a record for an R-rated comedy (the previous record holder was Sex and The City, which debuted to $79m a few years ago). Let's take a look at the top ten before we get any further into our ill-informed analysis (as always, numbers via Deadline):

1. The Hangover Part 2: 3-day Weekend $85M, Est. 4-day $105, Est. 5-Day $137M 2. Kung Fu Panda 2: 3-Day Weekend $47.5M, Est. 4-Day $62M, Est. 5-Day Cume $68M 3. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4: 3-Day Weekend $42M, Est. 4-Day $53M, Est Cume $166.5M 4. True Jackson, VP: The Movie: 3-Day Weekend $30M, Est. 4-Day $35M, Est Cume $49.7M

5. Sonic X: The Final Stand: 3-Day Weekend $18M, Est. 4-Day $22M, Est Cume $263.5M

6. Bridesmaids: Est 3-Day $16.2M, Est. 4-Day $21.5M, Est. Cume $90M 7. Thor 3D: Est 3-Day Weekend $8.5M, Est 4-Day $11M, Est Cume $161.3M 8. Fast Five: Est 3-Day $5.8M, Est 4-Day $9M, Est Cume $198.4M 9. Midnight In Paris: Est 3-Day Weekend $1.7M, Est 4-Day $2.6M, Est Cume $3.5M 10. Jumping The Broom: Est 3-Day Weekend $1.8M, Est 4-Day $2.5M, Est Cume $34.8M

So. Things worth noting. First of all, let's apologize for those numbers being a little harder to read than usual: box office enthusiasts are a strange lot, and there's no telling what they're most interested in reading:  do they wanna know the 3-day totals? The full, 5-day Memorial Day Weekend totals? Something in-between (that'd be 4-days, for those of you that aren't familiar with the number that comes between 3 and 5)? So, we apologize for the lengthier figures this week. Next weekend things will return to normal, and you'll be able to sleep again. With that out of the way, let's start with Warner Bros. and The Hangover Part Two: as we said before, it would've been dumb to bet against this particular sequel, but...$137 million? That's huge by any measure, and Warner Bros. is probably talking to Phillips, Scot Armstrong, and Craig Mazin about getting another Hangover film off the ground as we speak. Phillips and Armstrong have both said they'd be willing to return to the franchise, but will the entire cast sign up for a third go-'round? Something tells me that Zach Galifianakis is going to want to see a script before he commits (he's said he was unconvinced that a Hangover 2 needed to happen when the idea first came about). Let's hope that Phillips follows through on those comments he's been making about changing up the formula for The Hangover Part Three: while we enjoyed Two, we would've like something a little less...I dunno..."remake-y". This is the first, big, runaway hit of the summer, and if the word of mouth on the film proves to be better than what critics had to say, The Hangover Part Two might end up earning more than the original (actually, that's probably already a forgone conclusion). At any rate, congrats to all involved. Congrats also need to be shouted in Universal, Paul Feig, and Kristen Wiig's direction: their Bridesmaids is showing some strong legs, even though idiots everywhere decided to brand it "Hangover for Girls" (what does that even mean, you imbeciles?). The film performed well with critics, opened bigger than expected, hung in their during week two, and now it's skirting $100m (it's at $90m). We're guessing that Universal's going to want with Wiig again sooner rather than later, and we encourage that pairing: it's time Wiig left SNL behind and spent more time up on the big-screen, where she belongs. Meanwhile, Dreamworks Animation's Kung-Fu Panda 2 opened pretty big, and our guess is that Dreamworks is going to start churning these suckers out much like they did the Shrek films. This will be depressing, annoying, and come very close to ruining the memory of the first film (and, if the sequel's as good as the original-- which we've heard it is-- Kung-Fu Panda 2), but no one will be surprised. This is really all we have to say about Kung-Fu Panda 2. Speaking of Shrek, though: this weekend broke the box office record previously held by Memorial Day Weekend 2007, when Spiderman 3, Pirates of The Caribbean 3, and Shrek 3 all took theaters by storm. That weekend ended up bringing in a total of $254m, but Kung-Fu Panda 2 and The Hangover Part Two managed to propel Memorial Day Weekend 2011 to a $270m total. That's a whole bunch of asses in a whole bunch of seats. And speaking of Pirates of The Caribbean, word of mouth seems to have put a damper on Disney's fourth Pirates film, but not a huge one: the film earned another $53m at the box office this weekend here in the states, but it also just crossed the $500m mark worldwide. Like The Hangover Part Two, reviews for Pirates 4 were absolutely abyssmal, but those ticket sales don't lie: the franchise still has life left in it, and it's likely that Disney will have no problem greenlighting the much-rumored Pirates 5 & 6 before too much time has past. All we can hope for is a different director for the next installment. Might I recommend Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, or Guillermo Del Toro? Those guys would work wonders with that franchise. True Jackson, VP: The Movie did not do so good. Sonic X: The Final Stand is on its way to $300 million.

Weekend ain't over yet, so stay tuned for the final-final-final numbers on Monday evening. As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section if you've got anything else you'd like to add to all this: See any of these movies this weekend? Enjoy 'em? Not so much? We wanna hear about it, so hit the comments box and let us know what's on your mind. Or don't. Whatever. We're not the boss of you. Stay tuned for more funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, and more from Comedy Examiner HQ in the near future, folks. We've got all manner of nonsense to keep you informed and entertained during the week, so hit the 'Subscribe' button up top to get all future Comedy Examiner articles delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment they're published ... including any of our future Hangover 2-related updates. You can also head on over to THIS PAGE to follow your humble Comedy Examiner on Twitter

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