Update!

Did Seth Rogen Diet in Vain?

Slimmed-down actor's The Green Hornet leads holiday weekend box office with OK $40 million

By Joal Ryan Jan 17, 2011 6:00 PMTags
Seth RogenAndrew Shawaf, PacificCoastNews.com

Seth Rogen slimmed down to star in The Green Hornet.

Box office-wise, was it worth it?

Eh.

The $120 million-ish superhero movie grossed an estimated $40 million over the four-day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. Its worldwide total stands at about $56 million.

"I really think they wanted a little bit more of out of it," Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said Sunday. "…[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."

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 Friday-Sunday, three-day take puts it somewhere between Kick-Ass ($19.8 million opening) and Hellboy II ($34.5 million).

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 $17.8 million Friday-Sunday debut was 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 $128.3 million through today. 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. Disney's mega-expensive Tangled, meanwhile, dropped out of 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.

Here's the rundown of the top-grossing films, per updated Friday-Sunday numbers as compiled by Exhibitor Relations. Estimated grosses for the overall four-day holiday weekend are also included: 

  1. The Green Hornet, $34 million ($40 million Friday-Monday)
  2. The Dilemma, $17.8 million ($21.1 million Friday-Monday)
  3. True Grit, $10.9 million ($13.1 million Friday-Monday)
  4. The King's Speech, $9.2 million ($11.2 million Friday-Monday)
  5. Black Swan, $8.4 million ($10.4 million Friday-Monday)
  6. Little Fockers, $7.2 million ($8.4 million Friday-Monday)
  7. Tron: Legacy, $5.7 million ($6.8 million Friday-Monday)
  8. Yogi Bear, $5.3 million ($7.4 million Friday-Monday)
  9. The Fighter, $5.1 million ($6.2 million Friday-Monday)
  10. Season of the Witch, $4.5 million ($5.3 million Friday-Monday)

(Originally published Jan. 16, 2011, at 11:49 a.m. PT)