Think Like A Man tops US box office

It had to happen. After four weeks of dominance, The Hunger Games finally didn’t finish first at the box office.
Instead, the relationship comedy Think Like a Man took the crown as it debuted to an impressive $33 million this weekend. Based on comedian Steve Harvey’s bestselling advice book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the PG-13 film performed much better than expected. (Although I predicted the movie would win the weekend, I thought it would do so with a moderate $19 million.)
Think Like a Man was produced for just $13 million by Sony-owned Screen Gems, which was also behind two other pictures that premiered at No. 1 this year: The Vow and Underworld Awakening. The studio’s marketing campaign targeted African American audiences via appearances on Harvey’s morning show, screenings at historically black universities, and special promotions on networks like BET.


The movie, based on the first in a series of best-selling young fiction books, was the first film to spend four consecutive weeks at the top of the US chart since Avatar in 2009.


The film, set in a dystopian future which forces teens to fight to the death on TV, now has earned worldwide takings of $573m (£355m).


Disney's nature documentary Chimpanzee opened in fourth spot with $10.2m (£6.3m).


US and Canada box office top 5


1. Think Like a Man - $33m (£20.5m)
2. The Lucky One - $22.8m (£14.2m)
3. The Hunger Games - $14.5m (£9m)
4. Chimpanzee - $10.2m (£6.3m)
5. The Three Stooges - $9.2m (£5.7m)
The Three Stooges, now in its second week of release, rounded out the top five, with takings of $9.2m (£5.7m).


Sony's number one movie, Think Like A Man, cost $13m (£8m) to make, earning nearly that on its opening day alone.


Studio executives had expected the film to make about $17m (£10.5m) over the whole weekend.


"It was a wild ride. It just got better and better as the night went on Friday. Then to be up so much on Saturday," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony.

Despite the film doing better than expected, overall Hollywood revenues fell for the second week in a row, down 5% from the same weekend last year.


Business is expected to improve early next month when Marvel superhero movie The Avengers is released over the first weekend in May.