“KARATE KID” MASTERS BOX OFFICE

Thanks to a surprisingly robust performance by Sony/Columbia’s The Karate Kid, the box office returned to plus territory over the weekend with the gross for the top 12 films up 9.69 percent over the same weekend a year ago. The remake, starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s son Jaden, grossed $55.7 million, well above the $30-35 million that box-office experts had predicted. Coming in second was 20th Century Fox’s The A-Team, with $25.7 million, slightly below similar estimates. Both films dislodged Paramount/DreamWorks’s Shrek Forever After from the top spot that it had held during the previous three weeks. It fell to third place with $15.8 million. All three films are expected to move down a notch next weekend when Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 makes its debut and begins to fill up theater seats again. For the year, attendance is down 3.03 percent — and that statistic would be a lot higher if it hadn’t been for the strong performance of Avatar earlier in the year.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. The Karate Kid, Sony/Columbia, $55,665,805, (New); 2. The A-Team, 20th Century Fox, $25,669,455, (New); 3. Shrek Forever After, Paramount, $15,770,491, 4 Wks. ($210,022,557); 4. Get Him to the Greek, Universal, $9,942,405, 2 Wks. ($36,400,720); 5. Killers, Lionsgate, $8,008,007, 2 Wks. ($30,261,624); 6. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Disney, $6,486,150, 3 Wks. ($72,228,302); 7. Marmaduke, 20th Century Fox, $6,006,704, 2 Wks. ($22,285,540); 8. Sex and the City 2, Warner Bros., $5,438,345, 3 Wks. ($84,658,826); 9. Iron Man 2, Paramount, $4,521,206, 6 Wks. ($299,282,390); 10. Splice, Warner Bros., $2,942,492, 2 Wks. ($13,153,956).