“DRAGON” PROVES ITSELF MAGIC IN FIFTH WEEK

After engaging in a neck-and-neck race the previous two weekends, How to Train Your Dragon pulled out well ahead of its rivals in its fifth weekend as it topped the domestic box office with an estimated $15 million. The debut of CBS Films’s The Back-up Plan, starring Jennifer Lopez, performed about as expected with $12.3 million, while the weekend’s only other wide release, Warner Bros.’ The Losers lived up to its name with an estimated $9.6 million, placing it fourth behind Date Night with $10.7 million. The Disneynature documentary Oceans, narrated by Pierce Brosnan, turned out to be the unexpected hit of the weekend as it earned around $6 million from just 1,206 theaters — or about $5,000 per theater (versus Dragon‘s $4,100, including 3D premium pricing) — for eighth place. Debuting on Earth Day (Thursday), the film’s four-day gross came to an estimated $8.5 million. Mediocre ticket sales overall, however, made for a soft weekend at the domestic box office with the total gross for the top 12 films coming in at around $100 million, down 13 percent from the comparable weekend a year ago, making it by far the lowest weekend tally of the year.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. How to Train Your Dragon, Paramount , $15 million; 2. The Back-up Plan, CBS Films, $12.3 million; 3. Date Night, 20th Century Fox, $10.7 million; 4. The Losers, Warner Bros., $9.6 million; 5. Kick-Ass, Lionsgate, $9.5 million; 6. Clash of the Titans, Warner Bros., $9 million; 7. Death at a Funeral, Sony, $8 million; 8. Oceans, Disneynature, $6 million; 9. The Last Song, Disney, $3.7 million; 10. Alice in Wonderland, Disney, $2.2 million.

UPDATE: Final figures released Monday for the top five:
1. How to Train Your Dragon, $15,350,213; 2. The Back-up Plan, $12,201,710; 3. Date Night, $10,461,223; 4. The Losers, $9,406,348; 5. Kick-Ass, $9,342,398.