Oz casts a magic spell at the box office

As expected, Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful had no trouble whatsoever to capture the top spot at the box office. The newest entry in the Wizard of Oz saga made $80.2 million at the domestic box office while internationally added some $69.8 million for a worldwide total of $150 million in just three days. This a great relief for the studio who corrected the mistake of last year's very expensive box office bomb, John Carter, by shedding like $85 million on marketing the $215 million production, which means that the total investment on the potential franchise was $300 million. While it might be too early to predict the final numbers of this film, it will most certainly recoup its investment and show profit too. It might end up with over $200 million domestically and perhaps double of that amount internationally. Disney already green lighted an 'Oz' sequel with at least 6 films planned. The film got positive reviews from its target audience, families, and will play well until the start of the summer. Oz has the third best opening ever for a March film, but a far cry from the juggernaut that was the openings of The Hunger Games ($152 million) and Alice in Wonderland ($116 million).

Also as expected, Oz success meant more trouble for Bryan Singer's Jack The Giant Slayer which plummeted a disastrous 63% from last week with a mere $10 million gross this weekend. Oz can be rightfully be called 2013's first blockbuster while Jack can be tagged as 2013's first box office major bomb. The $200 million production will have a hard time to close its run with the numbers Oz did in its opening weekend. Identity Thief continues holding well by adding $6.3 million to its $116.5 million total in five weeks. Debuting in the fourth spot, Dead Man Down was practically pronounced dead upon arrival with a tepid $5.3 million take. Snitch in the fifth spot continues its spiraling down path with $5.1 million.

 

Make room for the imitators trying to cash in:

Dorothy of Oz
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Dorthy and the Witches of Oz

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That Dead Man Down looks kind of good. No surprise it flopped since the only reason I heard about it and saw the trailer was because I was looking through IMDB's new trailers.