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Did The Green Hornet Hit--Miss?

With one day to go in the holiday box-office weekend, Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet is on top.
/ Source: E!online

With one day to go in the holiday box-office weekend, Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet is on top.

But is its estimated $34 million Friday-Sunday take enough?

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"I really think they wanted a little bit more of out of it," Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said today. "...[But] it's not a disappointment at all. I don't know if anyone in January expects to release a film wide and get a summer opening number."

Exhibitor Relations guestimated The Green Hornet will have $40.5 million in the domestic bank by the end of Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Add in the overseas box office ($16.1 million through today), and the film's four-day debut could be at about $56 million overall--or about half-way home to its reputed $120 million-ish budget.

When stacked up against other comic-spawned superhero movies, The Green Hornet (which, yes, we know, got its start in radio) looks pretty mortal. Its three-day domestic take puts it somewhere between Kick-Ass ($19.8 million opening) and Hellboy II ($34.5 million).

The bottom line: The Green Hornet did OK; the other green guy--the Hulk, who opened with $60 million in 2003 off roughly the same budget en route to being declared a disappointment--needs a way better publicist.

Elsewhere, Vince Vaughn's and Kevin James' The Dilemma, the weekend's other major new release, is facing a dilemma: Will its older-skewing audience show up in enough numbers to eventually meet the Ron Howard comedy's $70 million budget? You never know. The Dilemma's $17.4 million debut is Vaughn's "worst" debut since Old School, which turned out OK.

Last weekend's champ, True Grit, got knocked down to third place, but upped its total to $127.4 million. The King's Speech, another Oscar contender, likewise showed popular appeal, moving up to fourth place (on the strength of nearly 800 more screens).

Gwyneth Paltrow's Saturday Night Live turn didn't help Country Strong, which tumbled out of the Top 10 after a one-weekend stay. Still, its $3.7 million take pushed the film's total to a budget-beating $13.3 million.

Disney's mega-expensive Tangled dropped out of the Top 10 after seven weekends, but neared $400 million worldwide.

Overall, Hollywood's losing streak hit 10 weeks--meaning it's been two-and-a-half months since the industry scored more ticket revenue than it did the previous year.

Tune in tomorrow for updated four-day totals. For now, here's the rundown of the top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

The Green Hornet, $34 million The Dilemma, $17.4 million True Grit, $11.2 million The King's Speech, $9.1 million Black Swan, $8.1 million Little Fockers, $7.1 million Tron: Legacy, $5.7 million Yogi Bear, $5.3 million The Fighter, $5.1 million Season of the Witch, $4.5 million

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