Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
August 4, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises
With $10.4 million on Friday, The Dark Knight Rises is assured a third weekend at the top, despite dropping 42.5% from last Friday, a good rebound from its last weekend's drop. It has righted the ship somewhat, though it continues to fall further behind the pace of The Dark Knight, as that movie added $12.7 million on its third Friday, having earned $363 million to this point, while The Dark Knight Rises has now earned $328.4 million. Christopher Nolan's third Batman film had a rather strong 3.5 multiplier last weekend, showing that any Olympics effect only negatively affected Friday thanks to the opening ceremony. The Dark Knight Rises continues to chug along and looks to have a third weekend of $34.3 million.
Total Recall
The Arnold Schwarzenegger action remake starring Colin Farrell checks in with $9.2 million on Friday. It's hard to find any reason to get excited about this remake (or its box office), though it does provide a more explosive alternative to The Dark Knight Rises, and sheer curiosity is likely responsible for a few bucks as well. It will fall further behind The Dark Knight Rises when the weekend estimates come in, as it should have a weekend of $24.8 million.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
The third entry in the tween lit series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days earned $5.9 million on Friday. This is less than the previous two entries opened with, but both the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid ($7.3 million) and Rodrick Rules ($7.2 million) opened in March, not the middle of the summer. You can also factor in the fact that a portion of its audience has gotten older and moved on. The two previous Wimpy Kid films also had decent weekend multipliers (3.0 and 3.2 respectively), and it stands to reason Dog Days will perform similarly. Dog Days should have a weekend of $18.2 million.
Notable Holdovers
Last weekend's openers, The Watch and Step Up: Revolution drop 58% and 64% respectively. Both films are going to come in with about $5.5 million each.
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