It was kids vs. adults at the cineplex this weekend, with the grown-up audience just barely nudging Adam Sandler’s latest, Just Go With It, to No. 1 over the tween-courting Justin Bieber biopic/concert doc Never Say Never. Studio estimates place the two within $1 million of each other, so final tallies might result in a swap, but both films opened strong: The PG-13 Just Go With It won the date-night crowd (60 percent of the audience was over 25) with $31 million, while Never Say Never’s audience was 67 percent under 25 and a whopping (and unsurprising) 84 percent female. Its $30.3 million in ticket sales was bolstered by 3D prices: 84 percent of tickets sold included 3D surcharges.
Families who weren’t overcome with Bieber Fever flocked to the weekend’s other G-rated contender, Gnomeo & Juliet, giving it a sturdy No. 3 debut with $25.5 million. The weekend’s fourth wide-release contender, the Channing Tatum-starring historical epic The Eagle, fared far less well with $8.6 million in receipts, but it was enough for No. 4—just barely, as last week’s No. 1, The Roommate, followed close behind at No. 5 with $8.4 million, a reasonable 44 percent drop considering the amount of new competition. Last week’s No. 2, Sanctum, took a slightly bigger tumble, falling 46 percent to No. 8 with $5.1 million. The King’s Speech continued to enjoy its Oscar bump, falling just 4 percent from last week to No. 6 in its 12th week; True Grit also hung tough with a 19 percent drop to No. 9 in its eighth week. No Strings Attached continued to do healthy business in its fourth week, falling less than 30 percent to No. 7, while The Green Hornet neared the $100 million mark in its fifth week, landing at No. 10.
For more detailed numbers, go to boxofficemojo.com.