‘Hall Pass’ pulls past ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ in final box office count

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The Farrelly brothers won the box office race after all.

On Sunday, it looked like the filmmakers’ latest comedy ‘Hall Pass’ would come in second behind the animated 3-D film ‘Gnomeo & Juliet,’ according to estimates from their respective distributors Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios.

But when the final box office totals were tabulated on Monday, ‘Hall Pass’ eked out a win, grabbing $13.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend. Disney’s ‘Gnomeo,’ which was in its third week of release, ended up slightly behind with $13.4 million.

Disney had estimated on Sunday that its animated film would finish the weekend with $14.2 million, based on the past performance of family movies on Oscar Sunday.

While ‘Hall Pass’ will now likely tout its No. 1 placement in advertisements, it was still a soft start for a picture that cost $38 million to make and fell below estimates heading into the weekend that it would collect close to $20 million.

Nonetheless, the film marks the first time the Farrelly brothers have had a movie debut at the top of the box office charts since their 2000 comedy ‘Me, Myself and Irene’; the opening is similar to the directors’ last disappointing release, ‘The Heartbreak Kid.’

-- Amy Kaufman

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