The Box Office Drops Bombs Left and Right with Battleship and 2 More Newbies

Aside from The Avengers, this year’s summer box office has been a giant disaster. Last week, Dark Shadows opened to disappointing grosses and this week, all three new released bombed big time. Opening in second was Universal’s dreadful alien action picture Battleship which barely grabbed $ 25 million. The film which reportedly cost $209 million (before marketing and distribution costs) has made a good deal of money outside the U.S., but will end up a big liability when all is said and done. And unfortunately, that gives Taylor Kitsch two big box office bombs in a row after John Carter… Debuting in 3rd was the poorly received new comedy from Sacha Baron Cohen, The Dictator, which nabbed $17 million for a total of $24 million since Wednesday which is way under studio expectations. Looks like another money loser… Tanking in fifth was the romantic baby comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting featuring Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock and more which pulled in a sad $10 million… So, with those four films all giving us the summer movie blues, it was up to The Avengers to continue to shatter records and please audiences as it grossed another $55 million for a gargantuan $457 million total and $1.18 billion worldwide. This is one for the record books. Also doing well is the delightful geriatric comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which rose to 6th place and will expand even farther next week…. For more on all these films and The Avengers records, head to Box Office Mojo here, and check out the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 1 Marvel’s The Avengers BV $55,057,000 -46.6% 4,249 -100 $12,958 $457,078,000 $220 3
2 N Battleship Uni. $25,300,000 – 3,690 – $6,856 $25,300,000 $209 1
3 N The Dictator Par. $17,415,000 – 3,008 – $5,790 $24,456,000 $65 1
4 2 Dark Shadows WB $12,770,000 -57.0% 3,755 – $3,401 $50,908,000 $150 2
5 N What to Expect When You’re Expecting LGF $10,500,000 – 3,021 – $3,476 $10,500,000 – 1
6 8 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel FoxS $3,250,000 +21.6% 178 – $18,258 $8,257,000 – 3
7 4 The Hunger Games LGF $3,000,000 -33.4% 2,064 -467 $1,453 $391,631,000 $78 9
8 3 Think Like a Man SGem $2,700,000 -53.6% 1,722 -330 $1,568 $85,888,000 $12 5
9 5 The Lucky One WB $1,765,000 -57.0% 2,005 -834 $880 $56,921,000 – 5
10 7 The Pirates! Band of Misfits Sony $1,450,000 -53.9% 1,840 -1,239 $788 $25,362,000 $55 4

Cars 2 Zooms to the top of the Box Office

It’s no surprise that Pixar’s Cars 2 opened on top of the box office. It’s an animated film from Disney and Pixar, the animation giant. What is surprising is that it did better than the original pulling in $68 million despite bad reviews (a first for a Pixar feature) and middling word of mouth. (The original Cars opened to $60 million.)  However, it seems families are eating this one up and it should hold well in the weeks ahead… Another film exceeding expectations this weekend was the Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher which pulled in a great $31 million considering the film only cost around $20 million. Looks like audiences are really embracing their naughty ladies this summer with Teacher and the smash Bridesmaids which continues strong in the top ten having taken in a massive $146 million. (Hello, most pundits thought this one would top out at $65 million!)… And now to the bad news, Green Lantern plummeted in its second weekend falling 65% to $18.3 million which now looks like it will become a big money loser for Warner Brothers. At least that studio has the incredibly successful Hangover Part 2 to fall back on. That film has now become the top grossing R-rated film in history worldwide with a whopping total of $527 million. For more on these films and all the numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here… And check out the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Cars 2 BV $68,000,000 – 4,115 – $16,525 $68,000,000 – 1
2 N Bad Teacher Sony $31,000,000 – 3,049 – $10,167 $31,000,000 – 1
3 1 Green Lantern WB $18,350,000 -65.5% 3,816 – $4,809 $89,311,000 $200 2
4 2 Super 8 Par. $12,100,000 -43.6% 3,424 +16 $3,534 $95,186,000 $50 3
5 3 Mr. Popper’s Penguins Fox $10,300,000 -44.2% 3,342 +3 $3,082 $39,448,000 $55 2
6 4 X-Men: First Class Fox $6,600,000 -44.7% 2,633 -742 $2,507 $132,815,000 $160 4
7 5 The Hangover Part II WB $5,865,000 -41.8% 2,755 -705 $2,129 $243,943,000 $80 5
8 7 Bridesmaids Uni. $5,372,000 -24.3% 2,031 -542 $2,645 $146,659,000 $32.5 7
9 8 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides BV $4,702,000 -29.3% 2,244 -498 $2,095 $229,060,000 $250 6
10 9 Midnight in Paris SPC $4,481,000 -8.3% 951 -87 $4,712 $28,580,000 $30 6

Two Times the Timberlake

Grammy winning pop star turned A-List actor Justin Timberlake (The Social Network) is about to take over your summer. The Emmy winning performer (Saturday Night Live) has 2 big summer comedies headed your way and both have the makings of big hits. First hitting theatres is Bad Teacher which features Cameron Diaz as the titular character in what looks like her funniest performance in ages. Timberlake shows up as a new teacher who sparks her interest and possibly helps her turn around her bad behavior. I’m betting this wacky comedy could be the big surprise hit of the summer when it hits theatres on June 24th… A month later Justin returns to the silver screen in his first romantic comedy opposite recent Golden Globe nominee Mila Kunis (Black Swan) in Friends with Benefits. Ok, sure, the film looks and sounds a whole lot like the recent Natalie Portman/Ashton Kucther movie No Strings Attached. But, I say there’s one big difference. This one actually looks funny. Plus, it gives us JT’s first big sex scene so swoon away people. You can check that one out on July 22nd…. Now, I wanna hear which one you’re more excited about. Watch trailers for both films below and enjoy two times the Timberlake!

Bad Teacher trailer

Friends With Benefits trailer

Box Office~ Toys Trounce Tom!

Tom Cruise better start thinking about a career in TV as his movie star cache continues to shrink with the disappointing opening of his latest film, Knight and Day, this weekend. The romantic action comedy took in a lackluster $20 million at the box office getting pummelled by the fantastic second weekend of Toy Story 3 which nabbed $59 mill and even the latest idiotic Adam Sandler movie, Grown Ups, which tallied $41 mill. This does not bode well for Tom’s future cinematic endeavors, and on a personal note, the movie is pretty awful. Even a delightfully game Cameron Diaz couldn’t help this plodding, ludicrous, predictable and stupid mess of a movie. It looks like audiences are picking up on that with its poor performance. We’ll see if it can hold up in the weeks to come but with another Twilight on the way, things don’t look too promising. For all your box office needs, click BoxOfficeMojo here. And take a look at the weekend’s top 10 below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 1 Toy Story 3 BV $59,000,000 -46.5% 4,028 – $14,647 $226,552,000 $200 2
2 N Grown Ups Sony $41,000,000 – 3,534 – $11,602 $41,000,000 – 1
3 N Knight & Day Fox $20,500,000 – 3,098 – $6,617 $27,789,000 – 1
4 2 The Karate Kid Sony $15,400,000 -48.5% 3,740 +77 $4,118 $135,641,000 $40 3
5 3 The A-Team Fox $6,000,000 -58.3% 3,242 -302 $1,851 $62,843,000 $110 3
6 4 Get Him to the Greek Uni. $3,010,000 -50.7% 2,188 -404 $1,376 $54,486,000 $40 4
7 5 Shrek Forever After P/DW $2,875,000 -48.8% 2,340 -867 $1,229 $229,313,000 $165 6
8 6 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time BV $2,801,000 -49.7% 1,851 -754 $1,513 $86,177,000 $200 5
9 8 Killers LGF $2,000,000 -60.3% 2,271 -348 $881 $44,000,000 $75 4
10 7 Jonah Hex WB $1,600,000 -70.3% 2,825 – $566 $9,144,000 $47 2

Seth Rogan, the Super Hero?

Seth Rogan has been called a lot of things~ funny guy, schlub, slacker, the guy next door~ but he’s about to add a rather surprising moniker to that list… super hero. Yes, Seth Rogan is about to take on the comic book legend in the new film, The Green Hornet. The slimmed down actor will star in the action comedy alongside Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, recent Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as the big villain, newcomer Jay Chou as Kato, and Cameron Diaz as his love interest. It all sounds interesting on paper, but will it translate. Given the somewhat strange release date of Jan 14 next year, I’m not sure. Apparently, it’s not going to be a tent pole for its studio, Sony, but it could be fun. See for yourself as you watch the trailer below.

The Green Hornet trailer: