With little competition to date, “Thor: The Dark World” managed to remain in the top spot in its second week, making an estimated $36.6 million.

Overall, the film has grossed more than $145 million domestically and more than $480 million worldwide, already surpassing the total $449 million worldwide gross of its prequel. Based on its current pace, “Thor: The Dark World” should gross anywhere between $225-$230 million during its domestic run

While the Marvel Entertainment film was No. 1, it certainly wasn’t the top story. That title goes to Universal Pictures’ “The Best Man Holiday,” which, aside from being the only new nationwide release this weekend, greatly exceeded expectations with its strong second-place $30.1 million debut.

The film is the sequel to the original “The Best Man,” which opened in 1999 with just $9 million. That begs the question: How can the follow up to a film released 14 years ago — which had no big stars and opened to just mediocre results — greatly exceed expectations and have an impressive debut?

First, Universal was able to recognize its target demographic: African-American women.

More importantly though, the studio was able to reunite the film’s writer and director Malcolm D. Lee with all nine of the original cast members. This contributed to the success of the film because, while the original 1999 film was a modest hit, its fan base has grown during the years as a result of endless replays on cable and home video. Thus, in this 14-year span, the film’s original cast members (including the likes of Taye Diggs and Terrence Howard) have gone on to become bigger stars.

Through advertisements and television spots, Universal’s marketing team was able to effectively showcase the film’s all-African-American cast and focus on relatable issues dealing with midlife romance, careers and family. More importantly, marketing was able to portray the film as a reunion rather than just another sequel, which was effective given the film’s Christmas setting and the upcoming holiday season regarded as a time to reconnect with old friends.

Another reason the film did so well was because of sheer good luck. After all, two other competing movies that were supposed to open this weekend dropped out and changed release dates. Thinking it would do better in limited release, 20th Century Fox pushed “The Book Thief” to the week before, and Paramount pushed “The Wolf of Wall Street” to a Christmas day release. It also did not hurt that audiences seemed to enjoy the film, as evidenced by its good reviews, outstanding word of mouth and impressive “A+” rating on Cinemascore.

Finally, rounding out the top five was CBS Films’ “Last Vegas,” with $8.4 million; Relativity Media’s “Free Birds,” with $8.1 million; and Paramount Pictures’ “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa,” with $7.4 million.

Published on November 20, 2013 at 12:12 am