Box Office Recap: “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” opens strong in limited release while “Karate Kid” rules

Starting this week, Greg In Hollywood will be providing weekend box office recaps courtesy of Hollywood.com’s box office expert Paul Dergarabedian.

Paul reports that the Joan Rivers documentary, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, from IFC earned an impressive $171,500 in just seven theatres and a per-theatre average of $24,500.  Great reviews and Rivers’ high-profile made this a solid performer this weekend.

Now on to the top movies overall. Paul writes:

Who would have thought that the oft-maligned 80’s would come in and the save the box-office day with a pair of Phil Collins-era retro hits?  Well, if the much higher than expected gross on The Karate Kid is any indication, lovers of the 80’s are a much bigger group than anyone could have imagined.  With a whopping $56 million debut, Jaden Smith proves that the box-office apple does not fall far from the money tree.

Following perfectly in the time warp theme of the weekend, Fox’s The A-Team provided a solid second place finish with $26 million.  Good reviews and solid word-of-mouth should keep this one in the summer mix for the next few weeks.   With an ensemble cast that includes Liam Neeson and the ever-popular Bradley Cooper, look for “A-Team” to remain a staple of the box-office top five.

Shrek is living forever after in the top tier of the box-office chart that is at number three with another $15.8 million.  The Paramount/DWA release has earned $210 million to date and still performed well in its fourth weekend of release despite the pull of The Karate Kid for families.

At number four is Universal’s Get Him to the Greek with a second weekend gross of $10.1 million.  Debuting last week at number two, the film got a high profile boost from the MTV Movie Awards with a memorable appearance by the stars of the film.  With a domestic total of $36.5 million, the film is performing in line with comedies from this creative bloodline and should continue to do well in the coming weeks.

Rounding out the top five is Lionsgate’s Killers starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl with a weekend total of $8.2 million and a total to date of $30.7 million.  After a debut at number three last week, the film remains in the top five and offers a nice date night at the movies for couples looking for something they can both enjoy.