1. The Dark Knight Rises - $64M - $289M
2. Ice Age: Continental Drift - $13.3M - $114.8M
3. The Watch - $13M - $13M
4. Step Up: Revolution - $11.8M - $11.8M
5. Ted - $7.4M - $193.6M
6. The Amazing Spider-Man - $6.8M - $242M
7. Brave - $4.2M - $217.2M
8. Magic Mike - $2.5M - $107.5M
9. Savages - $1.8M - $43.9M
10. Moonrise Kingdom - $1.3M - $38.3M
Something of a shorter report than last weekend's epic Batman-themed
one. Two new films joined the fray on Friday, but all eyes were on the
second frame of The Dark Knight Rises. Events in Colorado left many
wondering how it would affect the film's debut and opinions were mixed,
though few could deny that its $160M start wasn't impressive on a number
of levels. Looking ahead to next week, we have the costly Total Recall
remake, followed seven days later by The Bourne Legacy, and then we're
all but done with summer blockbuster season - unless a last minute
sleeper turns up like The Help did back in August of 2011.
The Dark Knight Rises had been look upon as the last big blockbuster of
summer 2012 but found its opening overshadowed by tragedy. Reports
differed as to how much its performance had been affected - some felt it
had come up short, others thought it had made as much as could be
expected, but most agreed that not being in 3D cost the film at least
$30M in potential takings. While the jury was still out, eyes turned
towards its weekday totals and further ahead, to its second frame -
would there be a recovery, if indeed, one was needed. Comparisons with
The Dark Knight are inevitable - and by the end of the first weekend,
the predecessor had made $158M, while TDKR was on $160M. That would be
the only point that the new film would be ahead in takings. Monday saw
Christopher Nolan's new picture make a solid $19.3M, against the $24M
figure made by The Dark Knight. A day later and the gap in takings was
slightly reduced, but by Wednesday, when The Dark Knight Rises hit $200M
(making it the fifth fastest to hit the figure), the difference in
total grosses was $11M. Take out the comparisons and again, one can't
help but be impressed that the film hit $200M in six days. Come Thursday
evening, 'Rises' was sitting on a $224M total, and wasn't expected to
have much trouble from new film, The Watch. While the gap between the
new and old movie was now more pronounced, it seemed a little off to say
it was disappointing, just simply underwhelming. What was needed now
was a strong second frame - and WB would have been looking for around a
50% drop. Alas, it seemed the front-loading was initially worse than
many had expected, with the feature dropping a sharp 76% on a Friday to
Friday basis, making $18M. The desire to see the picture that first
frame was obviously a factor, as was the shadow cast by Colorado, but
one can't rule out the effect the Olympics opening ceremony may have had
too - something that would continue to be an influence throughout the
remainder of the weekend. However, that figure also means The Dark
Knight Rises had already made more money in eight days than The
Amazing Spider-Man had amassed in its entire run to date (this was its
fourth weekend).
The picture did recover over the remainder of the weekend, seeing a
stronger Saturday, to finish up with a second frame total of $64M, down
60% overall. This brings its ten day total to $289M. Once again, a very
strong total figure but underwhelming when compared to The Dark Knight
(and obviously, some way short of where The Avengers was, even if we
remove 3D surcharges). You can also bet WB were hoping it would have
crossed $300M this weekend. At this point, the second picture of the
series was sitting on $313M, having been witness to a 52% frame to frame
drop (and a $75M second weekend total). Evidentially the aforementioned
front-loading of that first weekend (indeed, that first day) was in
effect, as was the Olympic factor, meaning TDKR is acting more like a
typical sequel this frame (The movie had been the most anticipated
sequel/prequel possibly since The Phantom Menace). That, combined with
slightly lower weekday figures (along with a weaker second weekend) has
widened the gap between the Dark Knight flicks. Like we saw with The
Amazing Spider-Man, if we take away comparisons with earlier films, The
Dark Knight Rises is a near-$300M feature after only ten days on release
-and few can argue with that kind of success. There should be a better
hold next frame but the picture isn't going to have the sort of legs
witnessed by its predecessor and looks to be heading to around a
$425-450M finish, though that largely depends on how much trouble the
new films present it. Overseas the picture has already hit $175M and
expanded into many more territories this weekend. Expect the
international gross to ultimately surpass that of the domestic.
Most had predicted new release, The Watch would drop into second place,
but as we'll see, that didn't happen. Ice Age: Continental Drift dropped
hard last frame, despite no new direct competition, but did at least
cross the $100M marker on Thursday. Come the weekend, the animated
feature hung on to second position thanks to the lacklustre performance
of the new releases, making $4M on its third Friday. Comparisons with
Dawn of the Dinosaur are pretty telling with how this new film is
performing - by its third Friday, 'Dawn' was up to $139M, a figure Ice
Age 4 will be lucky to see during its entire domestic run. All told, the
picture made $13.3M this frame, to give it a domestic gross of $114M.
Yet again, it is the overseas numbers that are making the news - $514M
and still going strong. ParaNorman is the only direct competition on the
horizon, and that isn't released until mid-August. By that point, given
the amount of new releases coming up, Ice Age 4 may well have already
exited the top ten anyway.
The Watch stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and The IT Crowd's
Richard Ayoade as neighbours who decide to form a neighbourhood watch
group as a method of spending time away from their respective families
and humdrum lives. All appears to be going well until the gang uncover
an alien invasion right on their doorstep. The movie actually began life
in 2008 as a sort of teenage Ghostbusters-style comedy, under the
guidance of director/producer Eugene Levy, with a screenplay by Jared
Stern. By May 2009, Will Ferrell had expressed an interest in starring
and director David Dobkin began revising the script. However, by August
of that year both had left the project, while later negotiations with
Peter Segal also amounted to nought. In December 2010, Levy decided a
different tact was needed, which saw Seth Rogen and his writing partner
Evan Goldberg hired to completely rewrite and re-imagine the script as
an R-rated feature, with older lead characters. This new angle got the
greenlight, with Hot Rod director Akiva Schaffer signing on to helm the
flick. When marketing began, the first trailer made no reference at all
to an alien invasion or any other sci-fi elements - instead showing the
gang cruising in their car, pretending to shoot at people on the street.
This was quickly changed after a real life incident in Florida, in
which a neighbourhood watch captain shot and killed an unarmed man. This
caused Fox to alter the title of the film from Neighbourhood Watch to
simply The Watch. Accompanying this change was a new trailer, playing
down the one angle and introducing the alien element. Further trailers
followed, both standard and R-rated, and a release date of July 27th was
set, a week after The Dark Knight Rises.
Stiller's last live action film, Tower Heist, disappointed domestically
and overseas, making $78M and $74M respectively, while Jonah Hill is
coming to this picture after a very successful turn in 21 Jump Street
(and the Oscar nomination for Moneyball). Vaughn was last on screen in
2011's The Dilemma, which failed to make much of a dent at the box
office, while newcomer to Hollywood, Richard Ayoade, secured the gig
after working on directorial debut, Submarine, which was produced by
Stiller's production company. Reviews were very poor, with only 14% of
critics finding something to enjoy. Apart from The Dark Knight Rises,
there was no direct competition save for the five week old Ted. While
the studio never expected a shot at the top spot on Friday, they would
have at least hoped for second place, something that eluded them thanks
to Step Up Revolution making around $350K more. Given the amount of hype
and star power attached to this flick (not to mention its $68M budget),
$4.5M must have been quite a disappointment - and set it up for a
worrying weekend of less than $15M. By Sunday night, The Watch had to
settle for third place, ending up with a very poor $13M. Word of mouth
won't do it any favours going forward and there's a very real chance it
could finish below $45M in North America. While not an outright flop, it
isn't far off, and The Watch now has a hell of a task to even be
relevant in two weeks time.
The only other major release this frame is the fourth movie in the Step
Up series - Step Up Revolution. The first film opened back in 2006 and
starred Channing Tatum (it was the star's fourth feature) and went on to
make over $65M in North America. Tatum would return in a reduced
capacity for the sequel, Step Up: The Streets, which would go on to be
almost as successful, ending its run with $58M. Furthermore, the second
film broke out in the international market, making $92M. A couple of
characters introduced for the sequel would return for Step Up 3D, though
Channing Tatum would pass - by 2010 the star had began to make a name
for himself in pictures such as G.I Joe, Public Enemies and Dear John.
The third movie would struggle domestically, becoming the lowest
grossing of the series to date with $42M in takings, but overseas the
film did blistering business, making over $115M. By the time a fourth
feature was announced, the Step Up series had made $424M in total global
ticket sales - from a combined budget of less than $60M. Step Up
Revolution would again be in 3D and would follow Emily, the daughter of a
wealthy businessman who falls in with the leader of a dance crew
style-flash mob. Trouble rears its head when Emily's father decides to
re-develop the crew's historic neighbourhood. Director of the third
flick, John Chu, returns in a producing capacity here, his main
commitment being to the G.I Joe sequel, Retaliation.
The best opening weekend for a Step Up flick lies with the first picture
and $20M, and given its main demographic, this new flick would
encounter only minimal competition. Critical opinion on this fourth
picture is better than that of the first two (20% and 27% respectively)
but weaker than Step Up 3D's 46%. As we've already seen, Step Up
Revolution caused something of a minor upset on Friday when it beat The
Watch into second place. That said, its $4.8M take is the lowest first
day of the series, and pointed to a subdued weekend overall. By Sunday
evening, the dance feature had made only $11.8M, which puts it as the
weakest opening of the series. With a $33M budget attached, the Summit
release won't lose any money in the long term and will have a good life
on the home market. Its potential success abroad will have more bearing
on whether we'll see a fifth Step Up movie, than its domestic showing.
With the R-rated competition not up to much this weekend, Ted added a
further $7.4M, to bring its five week total to $193M. The Seth
MacFarlane comedy could hit $200M by next Sunday, heading to a $215M
domestic finish. Ted has been the summer sleeper of 2012, and has yet to
open wide around the rest of the world, where its current total is
$39M.
Peter Parker and his alter ego, Spider-Man, took the full brunt of the
Batman's launch last frame, dropping an eye-watering 69% on the previous
frame. Any hopes of a recovery a week later quickly faded with a $1.9M
Friday take (lower than Ted), leading to a fourth weekend figure of
$6.8M ($242M overall). $250M should come within the next week or so, and
as a stand alone feature, The Amazing Spider-Man has done very well
indeed, and will almost certainly end up as one of the biggest domestic
earners of 2012. Comparisons with the Sam Raimi movies continue to
highlight how this new film has underperformed, but with a global total
approaching $650M, Sony will be more then content to push forward with
the 2014 sequel.
Brave is now the most successful animated feature of 2012, surpassing
the Madagascar sequel. After a decent start, there were fears of a quick
downturn that never really materialised, even with the release of Ice
Age 4. This weekend, its sixth on general release, the Pixar release
added $4.2M for a running total of $217.2M. At this stage, it is the
ninth most successful release for the studio, and should beat Wall-E's
$223M domestic total within the next ten days.
The Channing Tatum stripper drama, Magic Mike, has now made $107M,
adding $2.5M this frame to bring it to that total. The picture had a
very strong opening day, yet seemed to burn out quickly, only to recover
as time passed on. It should see at least one more weekend in the top
ten, finishing up with about $120M - not a bad return on its $7M
production costs.
Savages has now become Oliver Stone's eighth most successful film,
surpassing the $43.8M made by Wall St (obviously, without inflation
factored in). This frame the Taylor Kitsch thriller added a further
$1.8M. A finish of around $50M is on the cards.
Moonrise Kingdom once again manages to hold on to a top ten placing,
even with only 853 locations to its name. This frame the picture added a
further $1.3M to bring it total to $38.3M
Finally, at just three theatres, the NC-17 rated Killer Joe managed
$38K, giving it one of the best screen to dollars-taken averages of any
film on general release.
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