The Easter Bunny — or rather, his rambunctious teenage son E.B., as voiced by Russell Brand — came early this year, as Hop, the kid-friendly mix of live action and cartoonery released by Universal’s new animation unit, earned $38.12 million, according to early studio estimates, to thump the new thrillers Source Code and Insidious and land at the top of the North American box office. But for Hollywood, which has seen severe drops each weekend from the same times last year, the pre-Easter presents have been rotten eggs.
Made for $63 million , Hop saturated the kids’ networks with commercials and, according to IndieWire’s Anthony D’Alessandro, “touted 92 tie-in partners and licenses, valued at $76 million, with a big push from such family brands as Wal-mart, Hallmark, Burger King and the Hershey Company. The most prolific partner, Wal-mart, offered an array of crossover Hop and Easter tchotchkes.” The broad-based promotion paid off. Hop stole tweens away from last week’s No. 1 film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, and mopped up with the very young and their indulgent parents. Depending on the final weekend totals issued Monday, Hop’s first-three-day total may pass Rango’s to register the top weekend gross of 2011 so far. . Opening at a modest $19.1 million last weekend, Sucker Punch plunged 68% in its second frame — exactly the drop in Watchmen’s second week, though that film made its suicide plunge from a much loftier level . Snyder may be experiencing one of the fastest rise-fall directorial careers since Dennis Hopper went from the sleeper hit Easy Rider to the almost unreleased The Last Movie.See Mary Pols’ review of Source Code, a Groundhog Day with bombs.
