Daily Box Office Analysis for August 12, 2008
By David Mumpower
August 13, 2008
With regards to the rest of the top ten, there isn't a whole lot going on. Step Brothers had the second biggest week over week drop from last Tuesday at 44.3%. Another $1,371,580 puts it at $83,944,269, though. It should be at $90 million after Sunday, putting it in position to slowly creep toward the $100 million milestone. I ran the calculations earlier today, and I think it's just going to get there but it's not a mortal lock by any stretch.
Similarly walking that fine line is Journey to the Center of the Earth, a film whose post-opening weekend success is truly remarkable in this day and age. $788,482 yesterday is an increase of 5.7% from Monday, second best among the top ten. It is also the best week over week holdover of any top ten title. With a running tally of $83,310,107, it has earned almost as much as Step Brothers despite the fact that the latter film opened roughly $10 million higher on opening weekend. We discussed final multipliers last week with an explanation that they are a film's final box office tally divided by its opening weekend performance. In this day and age, films aspire to have 3.5 final multipliers. That's a sign of good legs. Journey to the Center of the Earth passes 4.0 tomorrow and still has a lot of life in it. Is it possible that word-of-mouth is carrying this thing? Probably not. Instead, it's a strong indication that the novelty of Real D's 3-D technology is appealing to a lot of people willing to sit through a mediocre movie to experience it. That's a good sign for the dozen or so upcoming releases that will also utilize this style of filmmaking.
The other storyline in play is that WALL•E earned $564,512 yesterday. That's a 0.6% increase from Monday and a decline of only 28.3% from last Tuesday's $786,793, second best among the top ten. What's most important, however, is that a similar performance today will put it around $211.8 million. That will be good enough to surpass Kung Fu Panda, currently at $211.5 million, to become the most successful animated film of the year. Simultaneously, it will supplant the Panda in the top five for the year in terms of domestic box office. Next up would be Hancock, which is currently sitting at $222,625,918, but given that there is only about $90,000 difference between them right now, Pixar won't be winning that battle.
Box office receipts for the top ten combined for $15,689,415, down 4.7% from Monday's $16,460,262. Tomorrow, we will see a spike with the introduction of Tropic Thunder into the marketplace. We will, however, still be down from last week since there were two solid Wednesday openers then. Now, let us all celebrate the glory that is: "What do you mean by 'you people'?"
| 1 |
The Dark Knight |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$3,515,389 |
- 6.1% |
- 37.9% |
$448,886,084 |
| 2 |
The Pineapple Express |
Sony/Columbia |
$3,281,459 |
- 14.7% |
N/A |
$48,449,167 |
| 3 |
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor |
Universal |
$1,947,500 |
- 1.8% |
- 48.2% |
$74,979,875 |
| 4 |
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$1,782,417 |
- 6.0% |
N/A |
$23,297,910 |
| 5 |
Mamma Mia! |
Universal |
$1,550,550 |
+ 11.6% |
- 31.1% |
$107,084,445 |
| 6 |
Step Brothers |
Columbia Pictures (Sony) |
$1,371,580 |
- 4.8% |
- 44.3% |
$83,944,269 |
| 7 |
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
$788,482 |
+ 5.7% |
- 23.9% |
$83,310,107 |
| 8 |
WALL•E |
Walt Disney Pictures |
$564,512 |
+ 0.6% |
- 28.3% |
$211,332,152 |
| 9 |
Hancock |
Sony/Columbia |
$455,949 |
+ 2.9% |
- 34.3% |
$222,625,918 |
| 10 |
Swing Vote |
Touchstone Pictures |
$431,577 |
+ 5.3% |
- 42.7% |
$12,862,196 |
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Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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