Box Office: The '80s Are Relevant Again: “Karate Kid” and “A-Team” Win Out

Box Office

The 80s Are Relevant Again: “Karate Kid” and “A-Team” Win Out

By our guest blogger, Tim Strain

Jaden Smith proved he may eventually have just as much clout as Daddy Dearest at the box office, driving his remake of the 1984 semi-classic which inspired kids everywhere to try martial arts for a year or two to number one. It scored an estimated $56 million in 3,663 theaters, making it the sixth biggest debut of 2010. While it juno-chopped its way past expectations, the other unnecessary '80s reboot, “The A-Team,” had quite a disappointing (for the execs, I’m personally thrilled) $26 million take in 3,535 theaters. I guess Liam Neeson isn’t necessarily the next big action hero, but we’ll see if his luck changes with the recently announced “Taken 2,” if it ever comes to fruition (considering the first made $226 million, I’m betting on it).

It was business as usual for the rest of the competition. Continuing the summer 2010 trend of being slow and dull, nothing else topped $16 million. The closest was “Shrek 4.0,” which only has $210 million through four weeks (keep in mind “Shrek 2” is the fifth biggest film of all-time, with $440 million), and will just get killed when “Toy Story 3” bows on Friday. “Get Him to the Greek” is keeping pace with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s” take after 10 days, having amassed $36 million (“FSM” went on to gross $63 million). Audiences continue to have better things to do than see the latest Kutcher-Heigl offering, and “Killers” has just $30 million through two weeks on a $75 million budget.

An even costlier flop is “Prince of Persia,” which through three weeks has $72 million against a $200 million budget. True, it has already blown past that mark ($262 million) worldwide, but don’t expect to see many Gyllenhaal headliners in the near future. “Sex and the City 2” and “Iron Man 2” continue to be plagued by sequelitis. “Sex” has just $85 million through three weeks and although “IM2” may hit $300 after actuals come in today, it will have a hard time surpassing its predecessor’s $319 million total the way it is dropping. And, oh yeah, remember when Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe made a “Robin Hood” movie?

Yeah, me neither.

In the art-house circuit, “Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky” debuted to an excellent $49k opening in three theaters. The doc “The Lottery,” which explores the incredible illiteracy problem being experienced by black children, had the highest PTA of the weekend, earning $17,200 in one theater in its debut.