Box Office: 'Bridesmaids' actual weekend take a bountiful $26.2 million

Kristin Wiig comedy has higher per screen than 'Thor'

By Gregory Ellwood Monday, May 16, 2011 7:25 PM

Even Maya Rudolph can't believe how well her new comedy "Bridesmaids" did at the box office.

Credit: Universal Pictures

After a stellar Friday and Saturday, Universal Pictures provided a very conservative Sunday estimate for their new comedy "Bridesmaids" opening weekend yesterday. The studio projected a $24.4 million debut. When the final receipts came in on Monday, the film actually brought in a celebratory $26.2 million.

Defying conventional box office patterns, "Bridesmaids'" Sunday take, $7.82 million, almost equaled its Friday gross, $7.834. Saturday was a strong $10.5 million. Unless it's a blockbuster, even Sunday grosses in the summer tend to be 20% off a Friday debut. This signals great word of mouth for the Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo written comedy and Universal should expect a solid hold next weekend.

With the final numbers in, "Bridesmaids" also ended up with the highest per screen of the top 25 grossing films in the country with $8,995 per. "Thor" remained in the top slot for the second weekend in a row with a per screen of $8,757 in over 1,045 more theaters.

The only significant new release this Friday is "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" which should affect "Thor" much more than "Bridesmaids."

Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.