Four new wide-release movies debuted on Friday, and three of them took the top spots: The CGI Western Rango, pairing director Gore Verbinski with his Pirates Of The Caribbean star Johnny Depp, came in first with a robust $38 million; the odd Matt Damon vehicle The Adjustment Bureau performed above expectations for second with $20.9 million, an especially generous gross given the film’s ever-shifting release dates; and limping into third with $10 million was Beastly, a noxious modern reimagining of Beauty And The Beast for dead-in-the-water would-be star Alex Pettyfer, which was also delayed about a year. But the saddest journey of all was the one taken by the fourth movie, the ‘80s nostalgia comedy Take Me Home Tonight, which was finally liberated from four years on the shelf and didn’t even crack the Top 10. At $3.5 million, it barely made half in its first week what The King’s Speech made in its 15th.
In limited release, yet another aged film was dusted off in ThankYouHappyMorePlease, the Zach Braffian directorial debut from How I Met Your Mother star Josh Radnor. Though the film got a tepid reception from critics at Sundance 2010, it enjoyed a respectable $15,000 per screen average on two screens.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.