In 2011, the first North American box office three-peat since the summer season began finally arrived. "Fast 5" successfully claimed the crown, coming late but triumphantly as a dark horse. Its dominating performance drew waves of astonishment from all corners.
In the third week of May, all films made a concerted effort, hoping to seize more market share and box office earnings before the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" in the following week, avoiding an avalanche-like drop in box office and the creation of a box office disaster. As a result, the entire North American market seemed to ignite with an unprecedented fire.
Among them, Paramount Pictures took the lead, launching an enormous and powerful publicity campaign that fully utilized the advantages of a major film production company. They secured resources from major media outlets, seemingly undeterred by the defeat in the opening battle. Eventually, "Thor" managed to turn the tide, controlling its drop to a modest 47% in the opening weekend box office, effectively salvaging its reputation.
This outcome seemed to bring relief to the entire Hollywood.
Not only did it avoid the potential vicious cycle caused by negative word-of-mouth, but it also rekindled hope for comic book adaptations. The positive feedback from the market served as a comforting assurance for other competitors. With its impressive drop, "Thor" managed to earn $32.5M in its second weekend, barely crossing the $100M threshold after two weeks, landing at $108M.
For Paramount Pictures, which had no other options, this was undeniably the first ray of hope in the past two weeks.
Although the hope of "Thor" breaking $200M in North America was completely shattered when looking at the weekend box office and mid-week box office growth trends, fortunately, the poor word-of-mouth did not lead to a catastrophic plunge. The accumulated box office finally crossed the $100M mark. At least, this fig leaf had been preserved.
As for the two newly released films, they brought completely different results.
"Bridesmaids" duplicated the dark horse success of "Fast 5", garnering $26M over the weekend amid a shower of praises and cheers. Even compared to the second weekend box office of "Thor", it didn't pale in comparison. More encouragingly, the film received overwhelmingly positive feedback in various aspects, including media reviews, IMDb ratings, Rotten Tomatoes, cinema scores, and popcorn index, among others. Many experts were optimistic that this low-budget film could achieve a North American box office of over $100M.
In just three weeks, Universal Pictures once again achieved the miracle of achieving big results with small investments, unexpectedly becoming the biggest winner in this year's summer box office opening schedule.
On the other hand, "Priest" was completely drowned out by criticism and condemnation. Its promotional wave was completely suppressed by "Thor". From buzz to word-of-mouth, it suffered a comprehensive defeat, ultimately earning only $15M over the weekend. For a medium-budget film with a $60M investment, this result wasn't terrible, but it wasn't outstanding either. Whether it could recoup costs and turn a profit depended on the drop in box office next week. However, judging from the feedback on word-of-mouth, this seemed like an impossible task.
Facing the competition from three other films, "Fast 5" displayed the confidence of a winner, shielded by excellent word-of-mouth. They didn't intensify their promotional efforts but proceeded according to their established plan, calmly executing their publicity strategy. Universal Pictures stated that there was simply no need to increase the budget for promotion; the current momentum was more than enough.
In the deep of night, three figures, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and Renly Hall, made their first appearance on the late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. This marked Renly's debut on a talk show stage. The episode quickly gained popularity, not only achieving the highest ratings and viewer count since the Golden Globe Awards but also skyrocketing past ten million views after it was uploaded to YouTube.
Among them, discussions about Renly rapidly gained momentum. In less than three days, Neil Tuson, the "YouTuber" who uploaded a video of Renly's live music performance, saw his subscriber count surge by one and a half million. Neil even made it to the recommended account section on YouTube—an unprecedented feat, to say the least.
Indeed, Universal Pictures' confidence was well-founded. Even in the face of a relentless promotional onslaught in the second week for "Thor", and despite the strong challenges posed by the newcomers, "Bridesmaids" and "Priest", the dominance of "Fast 5" not only remained unshaken but also astonishingly expanded. It continued to accelerate steadily, maintaining a formidable upward trajectory and shedding its dark horse status. It became the most dazzling newcomer in May.
"Fast 5" began with an astounding 41% drop, contributing $35M to its box office and securing an incredible three-peat victory over "Thor". Subsequently, with a consistent pace of mid-week earnings, it boldly crossed the $200M threshold. In one fell swoop, it raised its cumulative box office to $238M over three weeks, maintaining its lead in the comparison over "Iron Man" in the same period and relentlessly pushing towards the $300M mark.
After three weeks, each step taken by "Fast 5" was awe-inspiring. With absolute dominance, it pocketed all the records. With a cumulative total of $238M over three weeks, it had already left behind the previous highest grossing installment of the franchise, "Fast & Furious 4". Moreover, it was rapidly approaching the box office champion throne in North American racing film history.
Previously, the North American box office champion for racing films was held by "Cars", with a record of $244.4M, comfortably leading the way and unchallenged for the past five years. This situation also reflected the waning popularity of racing films.
However, now, "Fast 5" had approached this record in just three weeks, making it a historical certainty. What remained to be seen was how high the final box office total would be and when the movie's sprint towards greatness would cease after crossing the $300M mark.
At the end of the third week in May, the North American box office chart was finalized. "Fast 5" triumphantly claimed the top spot, followed by "Thor" in second place, and "Bridesmaids", "Priest", and "Rio" securing the third to fifth positions.
In just one week, the initial opening fervor quickly subsided. The box office development trajectories of "Fast 5" and "Thor" showed drastically different trends, and naturally, the spotlight gradually faded away.
One film had accumulated over $200M in three weeks and was vigorously charging towards $300M. The other had barely crossed the $100M mark in two weeks, with all hopes of reaching $200M dashed, making it crucial to surpass the cost recovery line. One was leading with unwavering confidence and radiance; the other was retreating step by step, sinking into a quagmire. Clearly, as time passed, the gap between them would only widen, and the value of comparison would diminish.
In the midst of the war's smoky haze, two individuals who were now rivals found themselves on two different battlefields. There was no more intersection, and for "Thor", this was the most frightening aspect—they had even lost the qualification to be competitors in the realm of "Fast 5".
But facts spoke louder than words. The subsequent box office trend for "Thor" was truly bleak. The impressive drop in the second week seemed like a temporary resurgence, but its true colors were soon revealed.
In the third week, the drop rapidly reached fifty-five percent. The weekend box office, which was never impressive to begin with, hemorrhaged over half its earnings in the face of the overwhelming presence of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides". The pace toward the cost recovery line suddenly slowed down. The fourth week offered no significant improvement, with a drop of thirty-nine percent. The relentless competition from "The Hangover Part II" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" continued to suffocate its earnings, dragging the weekend box office below the $10M baseline.
Such was the nature of the summer blockbuster season, where a single misstep could lead to consecutive battles in a vortex of warfare. Step back, and another step back. Before they could even catch their breath, they had already faced a complete defeat.
In the end, "Thor" achieved a North American cumulative box office of $141M, to be precise, $141,101,000. Compared to the estimated $150M budget, there was still a gap of $10M. However, every industry insider knew that such a result could be called a dismal failure. Even the much-criticized "Superman Returns" from years ago managed to surpass $200M at the North American box office. To outsiders, that result seemed reasonable, if not impressive. But $141M?
Not to mention its performance in the international market, in the North American market, this film had undoubtedly failed. It not only failed to replicate the miraculous success of "Iron Man" but couldn't even reach the level of "X-Men". It was only slightly better than the disaster that was "Catwoman".
Relatively speaking, "Fast 5" embarked on an unwavering counterattack mode, resolutely continuing its formidable momentum.
In the fourth week of May, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" was released. The weekend box office for "Fast 5" plummeted by a staggering forty-eight percent, marking the largest drop since its premiere. However, even in the face of this, the film's earnings still stayed within the fifty-percent range, making this week's drop second only to the astonishing twenty percent of "Bridesmaids". Such remarkable performance left all words of praise overshadowed.
It's worth mentioning that "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" only earned a modest $90M in its opening weekend. Although it was higher than the first film in the series, it was far less than the second and third films. Considering the budget of $250M, this result was far from satisfactory. Moreover, this number was even inferior to the $95M earned by "Fast 5", causing disappointment throughout North America.
As one of the powerful contenders for this year's year-end box office champion title, the opening data for "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" could be considered a Waterloo.
Quietly and imperceptibly, after defeating two highly anticipated box office giants in succession, "Fast 5" had already displayed the mighty aura of a champion.
In the fifth week of May, "The Hangover Part II" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" were locked in a neck-and-neck battle. Ultimately, "The Hangover Part II" emerged as the dark horse with its opening weekend earnings of $85M. Even more surprising was the fact that "Kung Fu Panda 2" barely scraped the surface with an opening of only $47M, becoming the second major flop of the year after "Thor".
As for "Fast 5", it continued to script miracles in terms of drops, with an impressive thirty-six percent drop, pushing its North American cumulative box office to $280M.
$300M, within arm's reach!