Daily Box Office Analysis
By David Mumpower
August 15, 2012
For the 34th day in 2012, Jeremy Renner starred in the number one movie in North America yesterday. Only three years ago, Renner starred in a television show, The Unusuals, that lasted only ten episodes and averaged fewer than five million viewers. The Hurt Locker fundamentally changed his life.
Yes, The Bourne Legacy finished in first place yesterday. This was its fifth day at the top of the box office. Its $4,344,200 total represents a solid 13% increase from Monday’s $3,857,355. The fourth Bourne movie has now earned $46,344,380 after five days.
Since this is a Bourne movie that does not feature Jason Bourne, I have avoided direct comparisons to the previous titles in the franchise thus far. In case you are curious, The Bourne Identity earned $33.8 million, The Bourne Supremacy grossed $65,039,000 and The Bourne Ultimatum accrued $85,881,790 in the same time frame. While yesterday’s revenue was slightly better than I expected, the film is still pacing to be the worst performer of the four or, at best, marginally ahead of 2002’s The Bourne Identity, not accounting for ten years of box office inflation.
Yesterday was a wonderful day at the box office, even for Tuesday. Every film in the top ten increased from Monday including all three of last week’s openers. The second place film, The Campaign, actually experienced the worst growth of any top ten title, growing 9% from Monday’s $3,141,082 to Tuesday’s $3,436,196. Generally, Will Ferrell movies do extraordinarily well or bomb. The Campaign is heading toward the rare middle ground of more than $60 million but less than $100 million. Bewitched and Old School are the only two movies in which he has starred in the 2000s that fell in this range. He really is a feast or famine actor. The Campaign has a running total of $33,165,738.
The third place title is The Dark Knight Rises. The Christian Bale movie experiences its largest Monday to Tuesday increase thus far, gaining 14% from Monday’s $2,344,003 to Tuesday’s $2,674,360. The big winner today, however, is the fourth place film, Hope Springs. It gained 33% from Monday, earning $2,092,723. After seven days in theaters, it has grossed $22,767,522 or a factor of 10 more than its opening day box office of $2,265,292. Yes, the Tuesday total of Hope Springs is only 8% less than its earnings last Wednesday. That’s rarefied box office air right there. Films are supposed to depreciate over the course of seven days.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days fell 44% from Monday, August 6th, to Monday, August 13th. This trend did not hold yesterday, though. Dog Days had the second strongest hold of only total in the top ten with a 35% increase. Tuesday’s $1,505,755 is down only 34% from the $2,291,205 grossed on Tuesday, August 7th. After 12 days in theaters, Dog Days has managed $32,975,688, which is still only 83% of the $39,537,088 Rodrick Rules earned in the same timeframe sans the benefit of summer weekdays.
Combined revenue for the box office top ten year was $17.9 million. This represents a wonderful 20% increase from Monday’s paltry $14.9 million. There will be a new entrant in the marketplace tomorrow as Disney hopes to follow the triumphant model of Hope Springs with their own Wednesday release. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a Jennifer Garner movie that plays up Disney’s beloved Cute Kid business model. The tracking on this title is atrocious but I think that the trailers look interesting. Historically, this is especially bad news for a movie’s box office potential.