'The Hangover Part II' Smashes Through Box Office

5/31/2011 11:26 AM ET

(RTTNews) - With a three-day intake of $86 million, "The Hangover Part II" became the second biggest R-rated opening of all-time and ended up with a phenomenal $105 million for the four-day holiday weekend. Also posting strong overall numbers was "Kung Fu Panda 2," though it didn't do as well as distributor Paramount/Dreamworks had hoped considering the commercial success of the original. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" also posted another big weekend, bringing its 11-day worldwide total to a year-best $634 million.

After "The Hangover" became the highest grossing R-rated comedy ever in 2009, a sequel was all but guaranteed. With its $86 million three-day opening, "Part II" trailed only the $91 million that "Matrix: Reloaded" hauled in back in 2003 to make it the second biggest R-rated opening in history. Backed by a per theater average of $23,799 for "Part II," it looks like the audience has grown considerably since the opening of the original and it will likely continue to do big-time business at the box office throughout the rest of June. Some of the audience for "The Hangover" will end up at "X-Men: First Class" next weekend, though there isn't any substantial comedy competition until late June.
Unlike most comedies, "The Hangover Part II" also has significant worldwide appeal, helping to bring its worldwide total to $196 million already. Even though it has mostly negative critical reviews, which could hamper other releases, "Part II" has so much momentum that it's not going to matter. "Part II" should continue to dominate with adult audiences and end up with easily enough revenue to encourage a third entry in the series.
Aimed at a much different demographic was "Kung Fu Panda 2," an animated release that took aim at the enormously lucrative family demographic. While it still managed a nice domestic opening total of $64 million for the four-day holiday weekend, "Kung Fu Panda 2" had just enough audience overlap with "Pirates of the Caribbean" to prevent it from posting the huge opening that Paramount/Dreamworks would liked to have seen.
But even though the domestic numbers for the weekend were less than spectacular, "Kung Fu Panda 2" also has a tremendous amount of appeal outside of the U.S. The original grossed an eye-popping $631 million worldwide, a great total for a non-sequel or remake. "Kung Fu Panda 2" should continue to do very well with the family demographic until "Cars 2" opens a few weeks from now, which should be enough time for it to post another big worldwide total.
Meanwhile, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" continues to have significant appeal to the broad mainstream action audience. At the end of the Memorial Day weekend, "On Stranger Tides" pushed its domestic total to $163 million and worldwide total to $634 million, making it the top overall earner of the year so far. "Pirates" will have some significant competition from "X-Men: First Class" next weekend, though it's already a substantial commercial success for distributor Buena Vista/Disney.
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