“The Dark Knight Rises” Continues to Crush the Competition

After quickly disposing of The Watch and Step Up Revolution last weekend, The Dark Knight Rises took out two more new releases as it crushed the competition with $36.4 million in its third weekend. That brought its domestic total to a big $354 million and I see at least another $80-100 million to come… Unfortunately with Knight continuing to do so well, the remake of Total Recall and the third film in the Wimpy Kid series faltered. Opening to $26 million, the uber-expensive remake of Recall with Collin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel landed under expectations and will have a real hard time making even half its production cost back. (I’m not surprised. I saw the film and give it a “C+” grade. It’s a humorless pointless remake that isn’t even fun or campy like the original. Beckinsale does kick some serious ass though and Farrell is pretty delish)… Luckily for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the family film had a low production cost and its opening of $14.7 million wasn’t too bad. It just isn’t likely to match the success of its predecessors…. For more on all these 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 1 The Dark Knight Rises WB $36,440,000 -41.3% 4,242 -162 $8,590 $354,638,000 $250 3
2 N Total Recall (2012) Sony $26,000,000 – 3,601 – $7,220 $26,000,000 $125 1
3 N Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Fox $14,700,000 – 3,391 – $4,335 $14,700,000 $22 1
4 2 Ice Age: Continental Drift Fox $8,400,000 -37.1% 3,542 -327 $2,372 $131,863,000 – 4
5 3 The Watch Fox $6,350,000 -50.2% 3,168 – $2,004 $25,363,000 $68 2
6 5 Ted Uni. $5,479,000 -25.5% 2,767 -362 $1,980 $203,414,000 $50 6
7 4 Step Up Revolution Sum. $5,300,000 -54.8% 2,606 +39 $2,034 $23,097,000 $33 2
8 6 The Amazing Spider-Man Sony $4,300,000 -35.8% 2,425 -735 $1,773 $250,640,000 $230 5
9 7 Brave BV $2,890,000 -32.9% 2,110 -441 $1,370 $223,324,000 $185 7
10 8 Magic Mike WB $1,380,000 -47.3% 1,202 -873 $1,148 $110,894,000 $7 6

“The Dark Knight” Steps on “Step Up” and “The Watch”

Despite competition from the Olympics and moviegoers still trepidatious about heading to the theaters following the Aurora, CO tragedy, The Dark Knights Rises still took in a huge $62.8 million at the box office over the weekend for a big total of $287.8 million. The film is in third place in terms of movies getting to that bit a total so quickly following The Dark Knight and The Avengers. I expect Rises will rise to the $500 million range when all is said and done…. Opening in the wake of Batman was the latest dreadful comedy from Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill, The Watch, which tanked big time with only $13 million (on a nearly $70 million budget~ that’s baaaaaad!). Also getting squashed by the Caped Crusader was the fourth installment in the Step Up franchise, Step Up Revolution, which managed a disappointing $11.8 million. Luckily for that film, it didn’t cost much to produce and is a big-ticket outside the U.S., so it should end up profitable in the end… For more on 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 1 The Dark Knight Rises WB $62,840,000 -60.9% 4,404 – $14,269 $287,851,000 $250 2
2 2 Ice Age: Continental Drift Fox $13,300,000 -34.9% 3,869 -17 $3,438 $114,847,000 – 3
3 N The Watch Fox $13,000,000 – 3,168 – $4,104 $13,000,000 $68 1
4 N Step Up Revolution Sum. $11,800,000 – 2,567 – $4,597 $11,800,000 $33 1
5 4 Ted Uni. $7,353,000 -26.6% 3,129 -85 $2,350 $193,619,000 $50 5
6 3 The Amazing Spider-Man Sony $6,800,000 -37.5% 3,160 -593 $2,152 $242,053,000 $230 4
7 5 Brave BV $4,237,000 -29.7% 2,551 -348 $1,661 $217,261,000 $185 6
8 6 Magic Mike WB $2,580,000 -39.9% 2,075 -531 $1,243 $107,587,000 $7 5
9 7 Savages (2012) Uni. $1,753,000 -48.4% 1,414 -922 $1,240 $43,899,000 $45 4
10 9 Moonrise Kingdom Focus $1,387,000 -24.3% 853 -42 $1,626 $38,396,000 $16 10