21 Jump Street pulled in a solid $35 million in its opening weekend, preventing The Lorax, which earned another $22.8 million, from winning the domestic box office for a third straight week. The remake of the Johnny Depp–led eighties television show received some lukewarm (David Edelstein calls it an “agreeable shamblesâ€) but generally positive reviews and nearly reached its budget of $45 million. Deadline attributes some of Jump Street’s success to Sony’s extensive word-of-mouth campaign with over 350 screenings nationwide. Channing Tatum’s boyish charm doesn’t hurt either.
Meanwhile, John Carter might be suffering from a word-of-mouth campaign, dropping 55 percent this week with a domestic take of only $13.5 million. Carter is actually performing well overseas, though, finishing tops abroad again, bringing its total overseas gross to $126.1 million.
Finishing a noteworthy ninth was Will Ferrell’s Spanish-language Mexican soap opera parody Casa de Mi Padre. It earned $2.2 million in only 382 theaters, good for the second best per-theater average.
But the weekend belongs to 21 Jump Street. Let’s not draw too many conclusions, though — a lot of people were drunk this weekend.