Everything went pretty much according to plan at the box office over the weekend: Scurrilous liberal plot The Lorax indoctrinated enough kids and families to reign over a second consecutive week, while Disney’s super-expensive sci-fi gamble John Carter settled somewhat anemically into second place. But it’s not all bad for our boy on Barsoom. Your Weekend Receipts are here. 1. Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax Gross: $39,100,000 ($121,950,000) Screens: 3,746 (PSA $10,438) Weeks: 2 (-44.3%) The year’s biggest hit to date achieved that distinction in nine days, as opposed to roughly three full weeks for the likes of Safe House and The Vow . And there was even one less hour this weekend. Summer is here! Break up The Lorax ! 2. John Carter Gross: $30,603,000 (new) Screens: 3,053 (PSA: $4,487) Weeks: 1 Right or wrong, the widely reported $250 million (at least) price tag will precede any and every conversation regarding John Carter as long as people are talking about John Carter . Which may be longer than the sluggish domestic gross implies — though not that much longer — if the rest of the world has anything to say about it: Andrew Stanton’s epic took in nearly $70 million abroad , including the fourth-highest debut ever in Russia. The takeaway remains relatively grim: No blockbuster status is foreseen, but at least the unprecedented write-down foreseen at Disney may not be that bad. Happy Monday? 3. Project X Gross: $11,550,000 ($40,125,000) Screens: 3,055 (PSA $3,781) Weeks: 2 (Change: -45.1%) Not a remarkable hold, but considering the competition both above and below it &mdash plus the long-ish tails of several of the year’s bigger releases to date — Warner Bros. will take it. The only question remaining: What’s the threshold to greenlight the sequel? 4. Silent House Gross: $7,010,000 (new) Screens: 2,124 (PSA $3,300) Weeks: 1 Here is a conversation sure to have ensued in roughly 750 theaters screening the very soft-performing Elizabeth Olsen thrller: Viewer 1: “That doesn’t look like Ryan Reynolds.” Viewer 2: “When does Denzel show up?” Viewer 1: “Are we in the right theater?” Viewer 3: “Shhhh!” [Throws popcorn] 5. Act of Valor Gross: $7,000,000 ($56,100,597) Screens: 2,952 (PSA $2,372) Weeks: 3 (Change: -48.4%) Slowly, inexorably, probably futilely, Relativity continues to push its Navy SEALs experiment toward $100 million theatrically. Look for a special St. Patrick’s Day weekend campaign pushing Act O’ Valor : “Erin go BLAM,” “Kiss me, I shot Osama bin Laden in the face,” etc. Or… not. [Figures via Box Office Mojo ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
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Weekend Receipts: Why You Shouldn’t Cry For John Carter Just Yet
