Guillermo Del Toro brings Hellboy 2 as the box-office champ last weekend with USD$ 35.8million [my prediction USD$42.5million] while 'Journey To The Center of The Earth' grabbed USD$20.5 million [my prediction USD$18million] and as expected 'Meet Dave' crashes so badly - 'Flop of The Summer' only settling for USD$5.3million [more lower than my prediction of USD8.5million] eventhough more than 3,000 plus cinemas showing this movie, Eddie Murphy is so easily to resist nowadays. - Ibrahem.S
A week before The Joker unleashes chaos, moviegoers passed the time by driving the comic book sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army to a number one debut while also showing up in solid numbers for the 3D adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth. On the other hand, Eddie Murphy's new comedy Meet Dave was totally ignored and suffered a dismal debut becoming the summer's biggest flop. Holdover pictures in the top ten performed well with each dropping by less than 50%.
One superhero with an attitude problem replaced another in the top spot as Universal's actioner Hellboy II debuted ahead of the pack with an estimated $35.9M in its first weekend of release. Directed by Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth), the PG-13 film opened 55% better than the $23.2M bow of its 2004 predecessor which Sony released. It went on to gross a mediocre $59M but grew its audience on DVD and cable. Golden Army averaged a sturdy $11,200 from 3,204 theaters. Budgeted at $85M, the new Hellboy took advantage of a built-in audience of fans and the starpower that its director has generated after winning three Oscars for Labyrinth. Reviews were very favorable and the studio is keeping the door open for a sequel, even though del Toro will spend the next three years in New Zealand making back-to-back Hobbit films.
Close behind in second place was Will Smith's latest blockbuster Hancock which dropped 47% to an estimated $33M to boost its cume to a robust $165M after twelve and a half days. That's an exact match to the total that 2005's sci-fi action offering from Independence Day weekend War of the Worlds took in after its second session. The Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise collaboration suffered a bigger drop of 53% and a smaller sophomore take of $30.5M, but did not have the extra revenue from night-before-opening previews like Hancock.
It was a strong hold for Smith especially with the solid debuts of two new action films. Hancock also gave the superstar actor his fifth consecutive $150M+ blockbuster further cementing his status as the most bankable star in Hollywood. The road ahead could be a rough one though given Friday's eagerly-awaited launch of the competing superhero juggernaut The Dark Knight, but a final domestic tally in the neighborhood of $250M could result. Overseas, the badass crimefighter soared to $180.2M in sales catapulting the worldwide cume to an eye-popping $345M in less than two weeks. The $150M production could fly to $500-600M globally.
Opening well in third place was the 3D adventure tale Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser with an estimated $20.6M. The New Line/Warner Bros. film launched in 2,811 theaters and averaged a solid $7,321 per site. However, the grosses from 3D and traditional 2D theaters were like night and day. A whopping 70% of the total venues did not have equipment to offer the film in 3D and those theaters averaged only about $2,000 each. But the 854 sites that did screen the PG-rated film in 3D averaged close to $20,000 per playdate and accounted for more than 80% of the weekend business. Most of those charged higher ticket prices too which helped to boost the grosses. Reviews were generally good for the $60M-budgeted project. Journey also had a limited international premiere grossing $4.2M from five markets led by $2.1M in the United Kingdom and $1.5M in Brazil.
Disney and Pixar followed in fourth with WALL•E which grossed an estimated $18.5M in its third frame dropping 43%. The decline was bigger than Ratatouille's 38% dip during its third session a year ago this same weekend. The robot pic opened $16M better than the rodent comedy, but now their third weekend tallies are nearly identical as WALL•E's legs have not been as sturdy. Still, look for this latest animation gem to roll its way to roughly $220M domestically.
Angelina Jolie had an eventful weekend welcoming in two new babies and also having twin films in the top ten. Her action thriller Wanted placed fifth with an estimated $11.6M, down 42%, boosting Universal's cume to $112M. The actress also voiced Tigress in Kung Fu Panda further down on the chart. Jolie has now upped her counts for both children and $100M career blockbusters to six each.
Get Smart came in sixth with an estimated $7.1M, down only 36%, and reached $111.5M after 24 days for Warner Bros.
Stealing the 'Flop of the Summer' title from Speed Racer, Eddie Murphy stumbled into seventh place with a disastrous opening for his new comedy Meet Dave which grossed just $5.3M, according to estimates. The PG-rated film landed in 3,011 theaters and averaged a puny $1,760. It was the third worst opening in box office history for a film released in more than 3,000 theaters and certainly the poorest for a pricey star vehicle. The only films to open worse were last year's The Seeker: The Dark is Rising ($3.7M from 3,141 sites) and 2006's Hoot ($3.4M from 3,018 playdates).
Carrying a budget of roughly $60M, buzz was always bad for Meet Dave and the concept of Murphy playing a human-looking spaceship operated by a mini crew inside of him, with a captain also played by the funnyman, did not fly with audiences. Competition also played a part as every film that ranked higher also offered action, comedy, or both. Dave's opening was a far cry from the solid $34.2M debut that Murphy's comedy Norbit scored last year and joins the Oscar-nominated comedian's hall of box office shame along with The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Holy Man, and Best Defense. [Source from: boxofficeguru.com]
| # | Title | Jul 11 - 13 | Weeks | Cumulative | Distributor | ||||
| 1 | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | $ 35,885,000 | 1 | $ 35,885,000 | Universal | ||||
| 2 | Hancock | 33,000,000 | 2 | 165,034,000 | Sony | ||||
| 3 | Journey to the Center of the Earth | 20,580,000 | 1 | 20,580,000 | New Line | ||||
| 4 | WALL•E | 18,509,000 | 3 | 162,772,000 | Buena Vista | ||||
| 5 | Wanted | 11,586,000 | 3 | 112,045,000 | Universal | ||||
| 6 | Get Smart | 7,105,000 | 4 | 111,468,000 | Warner Bros. | ||||
| 7 | Meet Dave | 5,300,000 | 1 | 5,300,000 | Fox | ||||
| 8 | Kung Fu Panda | 4,300,000 | 6 | 202,043,000 | Paramount | ||||
| 9 | Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | 2,357,000 | 4 | 11,047,000 | Picturehouse | ||||
| 10 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom... | 2,250,000 | 8 | 310,477,000 | Paramount |
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