Universal will be celebrating today after The Lorax didn’t just beat expectations, it absolute annihilated them. Most had thought it was looking at a opening around the $30 million mark, but it ended up with a fantastic $70 million, which is one of the best starts ever for an animated movie. It’s also amongst the best March openings and the top first three days for a film based on a book by Dr. Seuss.
Project X didn’t do too badly either. With no big stars and a ‘found footage’ feel, many were uncertain whether the film would find an audience as there aren’t many films to directly compare it to, but it made a more than respectable $20 million.
They were the only two new entries, although The Artist did get a bit of a post-Oscars bump, re-entering that box office top 10. Overall it was the best weekend of the year so far, which will have Hollywood being cautiously optimistic after a rocky few months.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of March 2nd-4th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax | $70.7 | $70.7 |
| 2 | Project X | $20.7 | $20.7 |
| 3 | Act Of Valor | $13.7 | $45.2 |
| 4 | Safe House | $7.2 | $108.2 |
| 5 | Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds | $7.0 | $25.7 |
| 6 | Journey 2: The Mysterious Island | $6.9 | $85.6 |
| 7 | The Vow | $6.1 | $111.7 |
| 8 | This Means War | $5.6 | $41.4 |
| 9 | Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance | $4.7 | $44.8 |
| 10 | The Artist | $3.9 | $37.0 |
It’s a bit of a seesaw at the US box office at the moment. Some weekends all the big releases massively underperform, while other weeks new movies make loads more than anyone expected. Both were true this week, as while the Top 12 film made 20% than they did on the comparative weekend last year, there were a couple of huge flops.