The Shrek franchise came back to the box office this weekend with its fourth entry, called either Shrek Forever After or Shrek: The Final Chapter (we’re not sure DreamWorks has made up its mind yet). And while this purported last entry in the series topped the US box office, it was well below previous outings, grabbing $71.2 million (by comparison, the far less enjoyable Shrek The Third launched with $121 million). And Forever After even boasted a 3D price advantage. It remains to be seen if it has strong ogre legs or tiny kitty feet going forward, especially given that Toy Story 3 is on the horizon.
The next two spots were taken by Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood, with Tony Stark proving he’s still more powerful than Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe combined, though Hood’s drop was a relatively minor 48%. IM2 took in $26.6 million to Hood’s $18.7 million.
Rom-com/drama combinations** Letters To Juliet** and **Just Wright **filled the next two places on the chart, earning $9.1 million and $4.2 million respectively, with both films beating out the only other wide release up against Shrek: MacGruber.
Unfortunately, Will Forte and Jorma Taccone’s comedy seems destined to end up in the “flop” column of Saturday Night Live-birthed films, raking in just $4.1 million despite a fevered, geek-pleasing marketing campaign and some healthy early buzz from the SXSW fest. Still, with a low $10 million dollar budget, it should see some return from DVD sales.
As for the rest of the chart, it broke down thusly:** Date Night** in seventh place ($2.8 million), A Nightmare On Elm Street eighth ($2.2 million), How To Train Your Dragon ninth ($1.8 million) and, in a successful first weekend despite showing in just 208 screens, epic romance Kites scored $952,000.
For the full chart, including the analysis of how Shrek Forever After compares to its DreamWorks stablemates, check out Box Office Mojo.