The Weekend Box Office: ‘The Lorax’ Towers Over Competition

“Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” surprised everyone this weekend, debuting atop the box office with a staggering $70.2 million. “The Lorax” had the biggest opening this year, making nearly four times more than party film “Project X,” which also debuted this weekend in second place. Outside of those two newcomers, this week’s results look largely the same, with Sony-backed films “The Vow” and “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance” beginning to bottom out.

Hit the jump for a full rundown of this weekend’s box office.

“The Lorax” was the eighth largest animated film debut of all time and the fourth ranking non-sequel behind “The Simpsons Movie” and two Pixar hitters in “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo.” Despite a strong marketing push from Universal and the well-known Dr. Seuss brand, the huge opening for “The Lorax” came as a bit of a surprise, with the film’s environmental messages and the fact that Dr. Seuss film adaptations (outside of 2000’s “How the Grinch Stole Chrismas”) hadn’t debuted with large numbers.

Warner Bros’ party comedy “Project X” also made a strong debut, finishing in second place with $21.1 million. The movie follows a suddenly familiar trend of using “amateur” camera footage to tell the story, similar to this year’s “Chronicle,” which also found box office success.

Rounding out the top five is last weekend’s winner, war movie “Act of Valor,” followed by “Safe House” and “Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds.” Sony-supported films “Ghost Rider” and “The Vow” still sit in the top ten, though both movies are down over 50 percent compared to last weekend. The next big Sony Pictures release comes on March 16, when Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star in an updated version of “21 Jump Street.”