Weekend Wrap-Up

Dark Knight Biggest Opener Ever

By John Hamann

July 20, 2008

At this point, Warner Bros. does have money to burn.

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
Fourth spot goes to Journey to the Center of the Earth, New Line's attempt at the 3-D genre. Journey earned $11.9 million and was also down 43%, but was again propped up somewhat by 3-D showings at about 900 venues. So far, the $45 million film has already earned $43.1 million.

Plunging from the number one spot last weekend all the way down to fifth this weekend is Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Despite an 87% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes, Hellboy lost all his fan boys to The Dark Knight and the gross got hammered. After debuting to $34.5 million last weekend, the Guillermo del Toro flick could only manage a gross of $10 million, giving it an ugly percentage drop of 71%. Hellboy II now has a total of $56.4 million and is suddenly in danger of not reaching its $85 million production figure at the domestic box office.

Sixth spot goes to Pixar's WALL-E, as the computer animated kids flick got competition from not only Batman, but also Space Chimps this weekend. WALL-E earned $9.8 million and falls 48% compared to last weekend. WALL-E has seen some of the biggest drops in Pixar history, and has a current total so far of $182.5 million.




Advertisement



Fox's Space Chimps is our number seven flick this weekend. Looking like it was made on my Commodore 64, audiences caught on, and Space Chimps debuted to a meager $7.4 million. Fox was smart and put this one out to only 2,511 venues.

The also-rans fill out the last three spots on the chart. They include at number eight, Wanted, which earned $5.1 million and has a running total of $123.3 million; at number nine, Get Smart, which found $4.1 million and has a total of $119.6 million; and at number ten, Kung Fu Panda, which earned $1.8 million and moves its total up to $206.5 million.

Overall this weekend, we are again into record breaking territory. The top 12 films at the box office, thanks almost completely to The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, earned a massive $249,593,011, a new record by a country mile. This is up over last year's total of $146,739,263 by 70%. The previous record was held by the July 7, 2006 weekend (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), when the top 12 films earned $208 million. That total has been annihilated by 20%.


Top Weekend Box Office for 7/18/08-7/20/08 (Actuals)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Actual Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 The Dark Knight Warner Bros. Pictures $155,340,000 $158,411,483 New $158,411,483
2 Mamma Mia! Universal $27,605,376 $27,751,240 New $27,751,240
3 Hancock Sony/Columbia $14,000,000 $14,040,178 - 56.2% $191,543,979
4 Journey to the Center of the Earth Warner Bros. Pictures $11,910,000 $12,340,435 - 41.3% $43,504,712
5 Hellboy II: The Golden Army Universal Pictures $10,037,500 $10,117,815 - 70.7% $56,526,885
6 WALL•E Walt Disney Pictures $9,813,000 $10,070,396 - 46.4% $182,732,709
7 Space Chimps 20th Century Fox $7,350,000 $7,181,374 New $7,181,374
8 Wanted Universal $5,097,135 $5,072,805 - 57.7% $123,322,635
9 Get Smart Warner Bros. $4,085,000 $4,125,021 - 42.7% $119,608,695
10 Kung Fu Panda DreamWorks $1,750,000 $1,860,854 - 57.8% $206,616,381
11 Meet Dave Twentieth Century Fox $1,635,000 $1,659,424 - 68.4% $9,398,409
12 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Paramount $970,000 $955,846 - 57.7% $312,569,461
  Also Opening/Notables
  Kismat Konnection Utv N/A $282,122 New $282,122
  Transsiberian First Look Studios $35,216 $34,615 New $34,615
  Before i Forget Strand N/A $9,676 New $9,676
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
Continued:       1       2       3

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.