“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

Underworld Awakening Wakes up the Box Office

For a fourth installment in an action franchise, Underworld Awakening, reversed a downward trend and opened up bigger than the last film with $ 25.4 million. That was enough to hold off a surprisingly strong Red Tails which opened way above expectations at $ 19 million. Both pictures did well despite bad weather in many parts of the country and football competition. I’m sure it helped Underworld to have the original star, Kate Beckinsale, back in the series and the African-American fan base gave a great boost to the fighter pilot pic Tails…. Not faring well in fifth place was the Steven Sodebergh action pic Haywire which only opened to $9 million and was bested by the expansion of the post 9-11 picture Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close which nabbed $10.5 million. That was a pretty good number for a film with difficult subject matter. However, the movie starring Critic’s Choice winner Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks is benefitting from strong word of mouth (I gave the film an “A” grade mind you) and may have decent legs in the weeks ahead… 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 N Underworld Awakening SGem $25,400,000 – 3,078 – $8,252 $25,400,000 – 1
2 N Red Tails Fox $19,100,000 – 2,512 – $7,604 $19,100,000 $58 1
3 1 Contraband Uni. $12,200,000 -49.9% 2,870 +7 $4,251 $46,100,000 $25 2
4 36 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close WB $10,545,000 +11,484.2% 2,630 +2,624 $4,010 $11,237,000 – 5
5 N Haywire Rela. $9,000,000 – 2,439 – $3,690 $9,000,000 $23 1
6 2 Beauty and the Beast (3D) BV $8,556,000 -51.8% 2,625 – $3,259 $33,364,000 – 2
7 4 Joyful Noise WB $6,075,000 -45.9% 2,735 – $2,221 $21,903,000 – 2
8 3 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Par. $5,540,000 -52.6% 2,519 -827 $2,199 $197,349,000 $145 6
9 5 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows WB $4,805,000 -44.1% 2,485 -670 $1,934 $178,611,000 – 6
10 7 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) Sony $3,750,000 -43.7% 1,907 -767 $1,966 $94,775,000 $90 5