'Horrible Bosses' Scores One of The Top Box Office Openings of All Time for Raunchy, R-Rated Comedies

1:53 PM PDT 7/10/2011 by Pamela McClintock

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John P. Johnson/New Line Cinema

The Warner Bros. and New Line feature compares well against others in its genre at the domestic box office.

Bring on the raunch.

Box Office Report: 'Horrible Bosses' Opens to Strong $28.1 Mil As 'Transformers' Becomes Year's No. 1 Movie

Warner Bros. and New Line’s Horrible Bosses is the latest raunchy R-rated comedy to prosper at the domestic box office, opening to a better-than-expected $28.1 million.

The movie did well enough to score one of the top openings of all time for its genre, a list that also includes recent additions Bad Teacher and Bridesmaids.

Directed by Seth Gordon, Horrible Bosses features an all-star ensemble cast led by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. The storyline revolves around three employees who plot to kill their respective bosses.
Brett Ratner’s company Rat Entertainment produced Horrible Bosses, which appealed heavily to moviegoers between the ages of 18 and 24.

Males made up 51% of the audience, and gave the pic an A- CinemaScore. Females gave it a B+. All told 64% of those buying tickets were over the age of 25.

Horrible Bosses, costing a modest $37 million to produce, played well across the U.S., including in small markets.

Here’s how the debut Horrible Bosses stacked up against other raunchy, R-rated features, not accounting for inflation:

The Hangover Part II ($85.9 million, Warner Bros.)

American Pie 2 ($45.1 million, Universal)

The Hangover ($45 million, Universal)

Wedding Crashers ($33.9 million, New Line)

American Wedding ($33.6 million, Universal)

Superbad ($33.1 million, Sony)

Bad Teacher ($31.6 million, Sony)

Knocked Up ($30.7 million, Universal)

Horrible Bosses ($28.1 million, Warner Bros./New Line)

The 40-Year-Old Virgin ($26.2 million)