SUPER TAKE FOR SUPER 8

A Twitter campaign rolled out by Paramount for Super 8 last week appeared to pay off over the weekend as the sci-fi flick debuted with an estimated $37 million, outdistancing most analysts’ predictions of around $30 million. Following a low-key marketing campaign aimed at keeping the plot of the movie under wraps, Paramount set up a Twitter site that would allow users to get a sneak preview of the movie — plus free popcorn with any other concession purchase — on Thursday night. The studio clearly hoped that word-of-tweet would spread by Friday. It seemed to work. “Word of mouth doesn’t take weeks to spread anymore,” Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore told Daily Variety. “It takes hours.” The film also beat out 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: First Class, which dropped 55 percent to second place with $25 million. The film had been expected to hold on to first place. The kids’ flick Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer performed as expected with an opening take of about $6.3 million to place seventh.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. Super 8, $37 million; 2. X-Men: First Class, $25 million; 3. The Hangover Part II, $18.5 million; 4. Kung Fu Panda 2, $16.6 million; 5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, $10.85 million; 6. Bridesmaids, $10.2 million; 7. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, $6.27 million; 8. Midnight in Paris, $6.1 million; 9. Thor, $2.37 million; 10. Fast Five, $1.7 million.

UPDATE
Final Figures for the Top Five Films
1. Super 8, $35,451,168
2. X-Men: First Class, $24,128,986
3. The Hangover Part II, $17,667,329
4. Kung Fu Panda 2, $16,543,166
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, $10,945,764