Another surprise hit from Pixar with 'Wall.E' gaining USD62.5Million to capture the No.1 spot for the US box office crown and also 'Wanted' unexpectedly above all the critics expectations grabbing the No.2 spot with USD51.1Million. Wow!! Those two movies are above my expectations 1) Wall.E USD50Million and 2) Wanted USD25Million. There are miles to go for Wall.E as it gets a very wide attention not only from the critics but also one of the most talk about movie as the Oscar winner for Best Animation Movie. Surpassing USD200Million will be no problem for Wall.E but it's going to be a tough task for Disney to maintain the No.1 spot next week as Will Smith hitting the theaters for the Independence Day weekend with the superhero actioner 'Hancock'. - Ibrahem.SMetal ruled the North American box office as the robot adventure WALL•E and the assassin thriller Wanted featuring a gun-toting Angelina Jolie rocked the multiplexes hauling in an eye-popping $114M in combined ticket sales. It was the first time in history that two films opened with more than $50M each on the same weekend. Powered by the explosive openings of the pair of new releases, the weekend box office climbed to its highest point yet in 2008.
Robot love was in the air as moviegoers powered WALL•E into the number one spot with an estimated $62.5M in ticket sales. Playing in 3,992 sites, the G-rated space adventure averaged a sizzling $15,656 per theater and gave Pixar its ninth consecutive top spot debut. It was the eighth largest opening ever for an animated film and the fourth highest for Pixar after The Incredibles ($70.5M in 2004), Finding Nemo ($70.3M in 2003), and Monsters, Inc. ($62.6M in 2001). It was the third best bow for a G-rated film after (Nemo and Monsters) and WALL•E also gave Disney its biggest opening in over a year. Film critics were in awe with the computer-animated pic giving it some of the best reviews of any film this year.
Pixar's last film Ratatouille opened to $47M this weekend a year ago and was equally loved by critics, but featured a premise involving a rat cooking in a kitchen which turned off some audiences. The company's previous effort Cars bowed to $60.1M in early June 2006 and featured a better premise, but got mixed reactions from critics. This time around, WALL•E successfully delivered a story that could be universally loved and was applauded by reviewers. It even overcame the liability of having very little human dialogue. With a CinemaScore grade of A plus a major holiday weekend coming up for Independence Day, long-term prospects look solid as positive word-of-mouth is sure to spread.
The lonely robot kicked off its weekend with a potent $23.1M on Friday, Saturday sales dipped by 5% to $22M, while Sunday was estimated to drop by 21% to $17.4M. The Saturday decline was a bit unusual, but could be attributed to the upfront demand on Friday when most children were out of school. Studio research showed that 51% of the audience was female while 59% was under 25. Disney did report a high number of couples without children indicating that WALL•E is not only playing as a family film but as a date movie too.
Angelina Jolie's latest high-octane action vehicle Wanted may have settled for second place, but the Universal release scored a sensational debut that soared above all expectations. The R-rated pic launched with an estimated $51.1M over the weekend from 3,175 locations for a scorching average of $16,100 per theater.
The tale of an ordinary office worker recruited by a secret group of elite assassins was sold as a stylish action picture and was backed by a slick marketing campaign that accented the visual effects in the film. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Day Watch) put his unique stamp on the $75M production and word of Jolie's nude scene certainly did not repel any ticket buyers. According to studio research, males made up 52% of the crowd while 51% was under 30. Friday started with a bang with a $19.2M opening day, Saturday slipped 8% to $17.6M, and Sunday is projected to fall 19% to $14.3M. Wanted also generated the third best opening for an R-rated summer film behind only The Matrix Reloaded ($91.8M in 2003) and Sex and the City ($56.8M last month). [Source from: boxofficeguru.com]
| # | Title | Jun 27 - 29 | Weeks | Cumulative | Distributor | ||||
| 1 | WALL•E | $ 62,500,000 | 1 | $ 62,500,000 | Buena Vista | ||||
| 2 | Wanted | 51,118,000 | 1 | 51,118,000 | Universal | ||||
| 3 | Get Smart | 20,000,000 | 2 | 77,266,000 | Warner Bros. | ||||
| 4 | Kung Fu Panda | 11,746,000 | 4 | 179,330,000 | Paramount | ||||
| 5 | The Incredible Hulk | 9,226,000 | 3 | 115,508,000 | Universal | ||||
| 6 | The Love Guru | 5,440,000 | 2 | 25,322,000 | Paramount | ||||
| 7 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom... | 5,030,000 | 6 | 299,936,000 | Paramount | ||||
| 8 | The Happening | 3,850,000 | 3 | 59,063,000 | Fox | ||||
| 9 | Sex and the City | 3,770,000 | 5 | 140,132,000 | New Line | ||||
| 10 | You Don't Mess With the Zohan | 3,200,000 | 4 | 91,215,000 | Sony |
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