Weekend Box Office: March 16 - 18
Sun, March 18, 2012 
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. 21 Jump Street - $35 million
2. The Lorax - $22.8 million
3. John Carter - $13.5 million
4. Project X - $4 million
5. A Thousand Words - $3.7 million
6. Act of Valor - $3.6 million
7. Safe House - $2.8 million
8. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - $2.4 million
9. Case de mi Padre - $2.2 million
10. This Means War - $2.1 million
Comedy ruled this weekend as 21 Jump Street, the big-screen version of the Johnny Depp-launching 80s TV classic took first place this weekend with an impressive $35 million. With surprisingly strong reviews, the film is now second only to Jackass 3D as the highest opening weekend for an R-rated comedy not released during the summer.
Universal's The Lorax continues to do very well, earning another $22.8 million and bringing its domestic total up to $158 million, making it the highest grossing film of 2012 so far. And to no one's surprise...a big screen animated version of Dr. Suess' The Cat in the Hat is now on the way.
As far as John Carter...well, anyone left hoping that a second-weekend surge would boost its domestic numbers are bound to be disappointed, as the Mars adventure film sputtered in third place with just $13.5 million, a 55% drop from an already lackluster opening weekend. At $53 million, the film is unlikely to pass the $100 million mark domestically, and its overseas total of $126 million isn't that great either, at least not for a movie as expensive to make as this one was.
The weekend's other new release, the subtitled Will Ferrell comedy Casa de mi Padre, debuted all the way down in ninth place (and behind Journey 2, which finished in 10th place last week)...however, that film opened in just 382 theaters, so that's actually not bad. Not great, but not bad. Jeff, Who Lives at Home, this weekend's other limited new release, underwhelmed with just $840,000 in 254 theaters.
Next week should see some box office craziness as the long-awaited adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel The Hunger Games takes over theaters.
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