Closing the weekend of January 27, 2013, the combatant who was able to leave the battlefield victorious was Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Welcome to the first ever Box Office Aftermath, a recap of the past weekend’s total ticket sales. There can only be one true winner. In Box Office Aftermath, we will take a look at the numbers, how previous contenders fared, and provide a brief analysis of the results.

Now, I can’t truly explain how Hansel & Gretel were able to pull it off, but they did. Hansel & Gretel miraculously obtained almost $20 million this weekend, which isn’t even half of its budget. Some could attest that it was the 3D and IMAX 3D ticket sales, but there were maybe 15 people in my screening Friday night. The film also did better than Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I’m going to assume the more crazy action and just silly premise displayed in the trailer piqued the interest of movie goers.

Movie 43 was the big loser of the weekend. The star studded film produced by Peter Farrelly couldn’t even break past $5 million. This isn’t a total loss because it only cost $6 million to make. With stars such as Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, Halle Berry, and Kate Winslet what could have gone wrong? Even with those names alone, this movie should have hauled in more than at least $10 million. There were no screenings of this film, so critics’ reviews couldn’t have persuaded folks not to go; so that can’t be to blame.

Based on the trailers I’ve seen, Movie 43 didn’t have a cohesive narrative for anyone to latch on to, there was no story – it just showcased stars doing potentially funny things. Sad thing is, it wasn’t funny and I would have had a better time watching YouTube videos or Funny or Die shorts for an hour and a half then to sit through this. C‘est la vie.

If you take a look at the numbers, poor Arnie and The Last Stand dropped 60% to fall down to sixteenth. Which brings the total domestic ticket sales for The Last Stand, so far, up to $10 million. It’s a shame because it was decently entertaining.

This was actually a pretty pathetic weekend at the movies. Box Office Mojo reports that the top 12 grossing movies were down 10% off of last year’s numbers. There may be hope this weekend with Warm Bodies, but I’m not so sure tweens are as keen on zombies as they are vampires and werewolves. Warm Bodies is a sweet and hilarious film and I suggest you get out and support it before the Super Bowl; which gets me thinking that ticket sales may also suffer due to the big game.

Until the next weekend bout, stay tuned for more Box Office Aftermath.

Source: Box Office Mojo