"The Incredible Hulk" smashes box office

Hulk secured the No.1 spot last weekend but below my expectation of USD75million to grab only USD54Million, while 'The Happening' was quite near to my projection of USD35million to grab USD30,500,00.00 on its first opening weekend. Watched 'The Incredible Hulk' last Saturday and I'm fully satisfied with it, which was far more better than the Ang Lee's version instead which release on 2003. Awesome dude!! This is what comic based character should be made for the big screen. Well done 'Marvel' for your biggest correction that had been made, to reprise Hulk. I give Edward Norton a thumbs up for his great acting and reaching the standard of Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man ~ Ibrahem.S
Overall Grade Recommended !

The Incredible Hulk Red Carpet Premiere:



Two new releases that were both follow-ups to widely hated summer films from recent years rocked the North American box office and were each embraced by moviegoers who spent a combined $85M on the pair. The comic book actioner The Incredible Hulk smashed its way to number one with a solid debut while M. Night Shyamalan's latest thriller The Happening soared above the industry's pessimistic expectations to land in third with a sturdy opening of its own. The overall marketplace remained sizzling hot thanks to five consecutive weekends of $50M+ openers which have given multiplexes a wide range of popular holdovers for their customers.

Five years after Ang Lee gave it a go, Marvel and Universal tried a second take at the angry green man with The Incredible Hulk and generated an impressive first-place debut with an estimated $54.5M. Leaping into 3,505 theaters, the PG-13 film from director Louis Leterrier averaged a fantastic $15,561 per site. It was still below the level of 2003's The Hulk which bowed to $62.1M ($73M at today's ticket prices), but the new Hulk was not expected to soar that high. With so many fans feeling cheated the first time around, it was known that some would take a wait-and-see approach with this reboot of the franchise.

Budgeted at roughly $150M, The Incredible Hulk stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner with Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt co-starring. Reviews were mostly good and were much better than those for Lee's film. Initial audience reactions have been encouraging too as the actioner's CinemaScore rating was an A-. Studio research showed that The Incredible Hulk skewed male, as expected, with men making up 60% of the crowd. 52% were 25 and older and an ethnically diverse audience came out as 54% were non-Caucasian. Friday got off to a potent $21.7M start, Saturday fell an unsettling 15% to $18.4M, and Universal is estimating an unusually low 22% Sunday decline to $14.4M.

Marvel listened to the complaints of fans and made the new Hulk more action-packed and kept it under two hours in length. Plus Universal's marketing department took no chances and even used shots of Robert Downey Jr.'s cameo as Tony Stark in the television commercials to tap into Iron Man's current popularity.

Dropping down to second place was the animated comedy Kung Fu Panda with an estimated $34.3M for a moderate 43% decline. After ten days, the Paramount-DreamWorks title has amassed an impressive $118M. So far the Jack Black pic is matching the performance of the Disney/Pixar offering Cars almost dollar for dollar. That film opened on the same early June weekend in 2006 with a nearly identical $60.1M before dropping 44% to $33.7M on the sophomore session for a ten-day cume of $117.1M. Cars went on to gross $244.1M. A similar final tally for Kung Fu Panda may result.

Fox scored a better than expected opening for the M. Night Shyamalan thriller The Happening which landed in third with an estimated $30.5M. Attacking 2,986 locations, the director's first-ever R-rated film averaged a sensational $10,214 per theater. It was the second biggest debut of the year for a R pic after Sex and the City's $56.8M. Negative buzz and horrible reviews did little to scare away audiences from the supernatural eco-thriller and tickets buyers responded to the studio's marketing campaign which highlighted the Friday the 13th release date as well as the rating. Shyamalan's built-in audience of fans also were a main reason for the strong start. [Source from: boxofficeguru.com]

#	Title	Jun 13 - 15				Weeks		Cumulative	Distributor
1	The Incredible Hulk	$ 54,540,000				1		$ 54,540,000	Universal
2	Kung Fu Panda	34,321,000				2		117,998,000	Paramount
3	The Happening	30,500,000				1		30,500,000	Fox
4	You Don't Mess With the Zohan	16,400,000				2		68,790,000	Sony
5	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom...	13,547,000				4		275,329,000	Paramount
6	Sex and the City	10,185,000				3		119,919,000	New Line
7	Iron Man	5,130,000				7		297,428,000	Paramount
8	The Strangers	4,100,000				3		45,363,000	Universal
9	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian	3,004,000				5		131,744,000	Buena Vista
10	What Happens in Vegas	1,700,000				6		75,788,000	Fox