‘The Lorax’ leads weekend box office
Posted March 12, 2012 7:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax stayed firmly planted at No. 1 on box office charts over the weekend, easily trumping the debut of Walt Disney’s expensive sci-fi flick John Carter.
The Lorax, an environmental tale about a fuzzy orange creature that guards the trees, held strong in its second weekend, with $39 million U.S. in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.
John Carter meanwhile, opened in second place with $30.6 million, a low number for a hoped-for blockbuster.
While the 3D space adventure grossed more than double that amount overseas, Disney is left with a big hole to fill just to break even on the mega-budget movie. The film cost an estimated $250 million to produce, plus tens of millions more to market.
John Carter is based on a century-old book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. It tells the story of an ex-military captain who is transported to Mars and tries to end the planet’s civil war.
Comedy Project X, about three high-school kids who plan a party that spins out of control, pulled together $11.6 million domestically. That landed the movie in third place during its second weekend in theaters.
The horror flick Silent House had a quiet debut, pulling in $7 million and taking fourth place. The movie stars Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman trapped inside a lakeside house and unable to contact the outside world.
