1. Man of Steel - $113M - $125M
2. This Is The End - $20.5M - $32.8M
3. Now You See Me - $10.3M - $80M
4. Fast & Furious Six - $9.4M - $219.6M
5. The Purge - $8.2M - $51.8M
6. The Internship - $7M - $30.9M
7. Epic - $6M - $95.4M
8. Star Trek Into Darkness - $5.6M - $210.4M
9. After Earth - $3.7M - $54.2M
10. Iron Man 3 - $2.9M - $399.6M
Welcome
back to the weekly U.S box office report. This weekend brings the
release of one of the most anticipated films of 2013, Zack Snyder's Man
of Steel. Would it be able to shake off the ghost of Superman Returns?
Elsewhere, Seth Rogen & Co. faced the apocalypse in This Is The End,
while The Purge hoped to build further on its impressive start. Ahead
to next weekend, we have Pixar's first prequel, Monsters University, and
the Brad Pitt zombie epic, World War Z.
Superman's origins stretch right back to 1933, when he was created by
high school students Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. The duo conceived
him as a bald villain with telepathic powers, who would make his first
appearance in the short story "The Reign of Superman", in the fanzine
Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization #3. A year
later, Siegel re-envisioned the character into a hero, basing his look
around that of Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and Harold Lloyd (the latter being
the basis for Clark Kent). The character would eventually be sold to
Detective Comics (who would become DC) and Superman made his official
debut in their new publication, Action Comics No.1, in 1938. From that
point on, he has appeared consistently in all manner of media; comic
books aside, this includes radio serials, TV shows, videogames, cartoons
and in 1978, a major feature film and its numerous sequels. He is also
credited as being the first superhero to have appeared on the big
screen, in the 1951 picture Superman and the Mole Men, which starred
George Reeves. The character, his values and actions, have been an
influence (directly or indirectly) on almost every superhero created
since his inception.
Richard Donner directed the 1978 Superman
movie, to great acclaim and success. Producers Ilya and Alexander
Salkind had opted to shoot a sequel at the same time, but tensions
between them and Donner soon reached critical mass, and work on the
second movie was halted while the original picture was completed.
Despite having shot around 75% of Superman 2, the director would not
return to finish the film, resulting in Richard Lester being drafted in
to rework and complete what Donner had already shot. [The full history
behind the situation would require a report many times larger than this
one]. The sequel was eventually released in 1980, and two further films
would follow, Superman III in 1983, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
in 1987 (A Supergirl movie would also see release in 1984). Neither of
the latter two films saw great success, and Part IV essentially killed
off the franchise. In the intervening years, the studio would try
numerous times to bring the character back, notably in Tim Burton's
Superman (with Nicholas Cage), but all amounted to nought. It would not
be until 2006, and Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, that the original
superhero would be back on the silver screen. Singer's movie sought to
ignore the third and fourth picture, and pick up events after Superman
2. While the film would received positive notices, and make $391M
worldwide, Warner Bros. were still disappointed, stating that it should
have made closer to $500M. Still, work began on a follow up, with Singer
claiming that the action missing from Returns (one of the major
critical sticking points) would be front and centre in the sequel.
Despite development beginning, with a mid-2007 shooting date on the
cards, constant delays resulted in Singer opting to direct Valkyrie
instead, with a view to returning to the picture later.
In 2009,
Warner Bros. announced they would be rebooting the Superman franchise,
with an all new cast. This was for a number of reasons but primarily to
satisfy a rights issue - if the studio did not begin production on a new
film by 2011, then the estates of Shuster and Siegel could sue for lost
revenue (this was only one part of a bigger court case, which saw
Siegel's family recapturing a percentage of the rights to the character
and his origins). Singer chose not to return, focusing instead on Jack
The Giant Slayer (there were also rumours he had hoped to return to
direct X-Men: First Class, having left the franchise after X2 to direct
Superman Returns). In an interesting move, Warner Bros. opted to take
pitches from comic book writers and directors on how to restart the
franchise. Various ideas were put forward, including a proposal from
Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughn to create an epic 8-hour trilogy of
movies, but little progress was made overall. Some time later, while
working on ideas for The Dark Knight Rises, screenwriter David S. Goyer
pitched an idea for a Superman movie to director Christopher Nolan, who
was impressed enough to then pitch it to the studio. Having seen
incredible success with The Dark Knight, WB signed up Goyer to script
Man of Steel, with Nolan acting as producer. The new story would be a
complete reboot, taking in (and expanding) the origins of Kal-El, his
departure from Krypton and his life growing up on earth. Goyer was also
quick to add that while he respected the work Singer had done on
Superman Returns, Man of Steel would have no link to that, or the
original film series. With Nolan tied up on the third Batman movie, the
hunt was on for a director.
As one can imagine, the list of
potential candidates to helm the flick covered all bases, including a
number of newcomers, established talent and veteran directors. Guillermo
Del Toro was offered the job, but turned it down to work on At The
Mountain of Madness (which would not move forward, Del Toro ultimately
boarding the July 2013 release, Pacific Rim). Also mentioned were Ben
Affleck (who had coincidentally portrayed George Reeves, the TV version
of Superman, in the 2006 film, Hollywoodland), Matt Reeves, Darren
Aronofsky and Duncan Jones. Old hands Tony Scott and Robert Zemeckis
were also said to be in discussion. However in October 2010, Watchmen
director Zack Snyder was officially announced as director on Man of
Steel. Snyder had begun his career as a cinematographer and director of
TV commercials, and made his feature debut on the well received Dawn of
the Dead remake in 2004. He then saw huge success with his adaptation of
300, based on Frank Millar's comic mini-series (he also produced the
sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire, due March 2014). More than pleased with
the performance of 300, WB offered him the chance to direct his dream
project - an adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen. Despite being a fairly
faithful version in many regards (too faithful some claim), the film
struggled at the box office, taking $185M from a budget of around $130M.
Undeterred, Snyder and the studio pushed forward with an original
project, Sucker Punch, the tale of a group of girls held in a mental
institute, and the fantastical adventures they embark upon in order to
escape. All the hype and set-pieces in the world couldn't save the
picture, and it made only $89M from a budget of around $82M. The failure
of Sucker Punch led many to question if Snyder was the right person for
Man of Steel (which he had signed on to direct a few months prior to
Punch's release). Warner Bros. were quick to play up Nolan's
involvement, reminding everyone of his amazing work on Batman's rebirth.
In
November 2011, Snyder had Goyer's script, and was ready to start
casting. As on the original series and Singer's Superman Returns, a
relative unknown was sought for the role of Kal-El. After screen testing
a number of candidates, British actor Henry Cavill (who was arguably a
little more 'known' than Reeves or Routh had been) was cast in the title
role. The actor was known primarily for his role in the TV show, The
Tudors, but had appeared in a number of features, including Stardust,
The Count of Monte Cristo and Tarsem's Immortals. In an odd turn of
events, it was revealed that Cavill had previously already been cast as
Superman, in McG's aborted project, Superman: Flyby in 2004 (Singer
replaced Cavill with Brandon Routh, when he began casting for Superman
Returns). At one point, the actor was dubbed the unluckiest man in
Hollywood, having missed out on the role of Cedric Diggory (Goblet of
Fire), Edward Cullen (Twilight Series) and James Bond (Casino Royale),
along with the aforementioned Superman role. Joining the Brit actor
would be Amy Adams (as Lois Lane), Laurence Fishburne (as Perry White)
alongside Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as The Kents. In the role of
antagonist, Michael Shannon was cast, though his role as General Zod was
kept under wraps for a short period. One further star to join the
project was Russell Crowe, who would play Jor-El, the true father of
Superman, famously played by Marlon Brando in the original film series.
With everything now in place, Snyder began shooting on August 1st 2011,
with a view to complete principal photography in the following February.
The director opted not to shoot in 3D, but convert the film in post
production.
The first shots of Cavill in character appeared not
long after shooting had commenced and given the scale of the
production, on-set shots soon began to emerge. The first actual footage
from Man of Steel debuted in July 2012, with the first full trailer
appearing online in November of that year. Subsequent trailers, clips
and a viral marketing campaign all followed and as the film's release
date neared, more and more footage began to show up online (as seems to
be the norm these days). Early word was very strong, but since the
review embargo was lifted on Monday, a slightly different picture has
emerged. While the good reviews outweighed the bad, many cited a lack of
chemistry between Cavill and Adams, while others took exception to the
CGI-battlefest that makes up much of the film's last 45 minutes. At the
time of its release, Man of Steel sat on a worrying 57% approval rating
(as an aside, Superman Returns scored 76% upon release). For a tentpole
movie such as this, reviews are often of little concern, rather word of
mouth going forward is the bigger issue. Estimates for its opening
weekend had been quite varied, and rival studios have been quick to call
out WB for low balling their estimate of a $75M opening frame (the
issue being the studio are certain it will make more, but by
under-estimating, it has the potential to look an even bigger success).
Should the studio need to put a spin on lower than expected numbers,
they could claim, as Sony did with The Amazing Spider-Man, that this a
brand new franchise, and should be judged as such. Whichever way one
approached the film's potential success, the studio had a lot riding on
it - if Man of Steel hit big, it would pave the way not only for a
sequel (which is already rumoured to be underway), but also the future
of the fabled Justice League movie.
Man of Steel opened at 4,207
locations, the second highest count for a non-sequel, and got off to a
flying start. Midnight screenings and a ticket tie-in with Walmart
helped the picture clear $21M by early Friday morning (Split $12M for
the Walmart offer and $9M in standard midnight ticket sales - for
clarity going forward, many sites recorded the ticket offer figure as a
Thursday take, while the midnight figure was factored into Friday, even
though there was some overlap between the two). That overall figure of
$21M put MoS in a stronger initial start position than The Avengers,
Iron Man 3 and The Hunger Games, and set it on a path for an opening
well above $100M. Its overall Friday figure came in at a very impressive
$44M (That includes midnight sales, but not the ticket offer figures)
giving the film the record of the biggest 'June Friday' in history,
surpassing the $41M made by Toy Story 3 in the same time period. There
are numerous comparisons that could be made at this point with other
comic book flicks, but the most important would be how it faired against
Superman Returns. That picture opened on a Tuesday and had made $48M by
the end of Friday, a figure Man of Steel managed to surpass with just
over a day's worth of ticket sales.
The superhero flick held
fairly steady during Saturday, adding a further $36.3M to its tally,
helped in part by the strong word of mouth (highlighted by its A-
Cinemascore). The studio will be hoping that momentum continues in the
weekends ahead. By Sunday night, Man of Steel was sitting on a three day
total of $113M, ($125M since release), marking it as the biggest June
weekend opening in cinematic history, again besting Toy Story 3's
record. In comparison, Superman Returns had made $84M ($98M in 2013
dollars) in its first six days, comprised in part of $52.5M in Fri-Sun
ticket sales. Overseas the news was equally good, with the movie making
$71.6M from twenty four markets (its major international roll-out takes
place next weekend). Factoring in its US tally, that put Man of Steel on
a global total of $196M after only four days on general release. All
eyes now look ahead to weekend two, and its clash with World War Z and
Monsters University. Its performance in that frame will give us a much
clearer picture as to where Man of Steel might ultimately end up. As it
stands, this is a fantastic victory for Warner Bros. and gives gravity
to the plan of creating a Marvel-style universe of films, based on their
DC Comic properties. Man of Steel is our number one film this weekend.
Hoping
to avoid the onslaught from Superman, Sony opted to release the R-rated
comedy, This Is The End on Wednesday. The film, written and directed by
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg sees a group of actors (Jonah Hill, Craig
Robinson, Jay Baruchel and the aforementioned Rogen) attending a party
at James Franco's house and suddenly finding themselves dealing with
what may very well be the apocalypse. As Hollywood actors, this isn't
something they were trained to deal with, and a siege mentality quickly
takes hold as the world comes apart at the seams. The twist is that
everyone in the film, which includes numerous other actors in major or
cameo roles, is actually playing themselves (or an exaggerated version,
one assumes). The idea for the picture came from a short that Rogen and
Baruchel made in 2007 entitled Jay and Seth vs.The Apocalypse. Goldberg
and Rogen (with co-writer Jason Stone) expanded the story to feature
length and opted to make it their directorial debut. Bringing in
numerous friends they'd collaborated with in the past, the duo shot the
film in the spring of 2012, with a view to release in the summer of
2013. Originally entitled The Apocalypse, the movie received a name
change, This Is The End, prior to the first teaser going online at
Christmas.
Early screenings were very positive,
with a number of critics saying it was potentially the funniest film of
the year. This strong word carried on up to the picture's release and
thanks to some attractive tax breaks and a limited location shoot, the
studio were safe in the knowledge that a good opening weekend would
cover the picture's $32M production budget. An 84% approval rating
certainly did the movie no harm and saw it open to a solid $7.8M
Wednesday. The flick was off 42% on Thursday, adding $4.4M, which gave
it a running total of $12.3M overall. Up against the full brunt of Man
of Steel, This Is The End found itself struggling, and could only manage
a $6.8M Friday haul (in a way, that figure justifies the studio getting
a head start on Wednesday). Over Saturday and into Sunday, the R-rated
comedy made a further $13.7M, bringing its weekend tally to $25M, and
$32M since Wednesday. That figure is probably around what Sony had been
expecting given the competition, and they'll be hoping now that the
strong word of mouth catches on and turns This Is The End into a decent
sized hit.
The magic heist ensemble Now You See Me managed to
hold off After Earth a fortnight ago, and stayed ahead of The Purge and
The Internship this weekend, adding another $10.3M. The film, which
stars Jesse Eisenberg and Morgan Freeman cost $75M to bring to screens,
and has so far made $80M. At this stage, $100M is certainly a
possibility, though it may take a few weeks to hit that mark. Now you
See Me has yet to open in any major capacity overseas, but should
perform equally well, if not better, than its domestic showing.
The
sixth entry in the Fast & Furious series lost a little ground to
the new releases this weekend, but still managed an ok $9.4M. It had hit
$200M on the previous Sunday (day 17 of its release) and became the
most successful film of the series in North America on Thursday, when it
surpassed the $209M made by Fast Five. It currently sits on a $219.6M
domestic total. Overseas Fast & Furious Six is still going strong,
having crossed $400M. Fast & Furious 7 is already in production for a
May 2014 release.
Two releases currently in the top ten that
weren't covered by last weekend's recap are The Purge and The
Internship. The former stars Ethan Hawke as a security expert in a near
future America where one night each year, the citizens are free to
commit any crime they want, without any repercussions. Expected to
perform ok at the box office, The Purge exceeded even the most
outlandish estimates when it opened to $34M. Given the fact it cost only
$3M to produce, one can see why Universal were quick to announce a
sequel was already in the works. A week on and the film dropped a very
nasty 83% on its second Friday, making $2.9M. While a big fall was
expected given the picture's $16.7M opening day and the new competition,
this was still very high. For its entire second frame, the thriller saw
$8.2M, bringing its total after ten days on release to $51.8M. The big
fall in takings is largely academic given the picture's tiny production
budget, not to mention the fact that Universal now have a potential
franchise on their hands. Expect The Purge to top out at around $70M.
The
Internship stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as two salesmen who find
themselves redundant in a tough economy. When Bill (Vaughn) decides to
sign them up for a summer internship at internet giant Google, the two
end up as part of a team of underdogs competing with other groups for a
full time job. Despite the re-teaming of The Wedding Crashers duo, with
direction from Shawn Levy (Real Steel, Date Night), The Internship took
just $6M during its first Friday on release, being overshadowed by The
Purge. It ended up making $17.3M for the weekend, and was all but cast
aside by the public when This Is The End was released on Wednesday. In
its second weekend, the picture made $7M, bringing its total figure to
$30.9M against a high budget (for a comedy) of $58M.
Epic gets
just a few more day to make magic happen before the arrival of Monsters
University. The animated family film cost around $100M to make, a figure
it should just about cover domestically. This frame, its fourth on
general release, saw the Blue Sky Studios production make $6M, bringing
its cumulative gross to $95M. In the international market, Epic is
performing slightly better and currently sits on a $117M total.
Elsewhere,
Star Trek Into Darkness hit $200M on Monday, and is looking to finish
up with around $230M in its coffers by the end of its run, just shy of
what the 2009 Star Trek movie earnt domestically. Oversea the picture is
not quite as strong, but should still clear $200M - a much better
showing than the $127M earnt by its predecessor in the international
arena. This weekend the JJ Abrams sequel made $5.6M, to bring its total
to date to $210.4M
Even at this relatively early point, it's
looking likely that M.Night Shyamalan's After Earth will end up making
little more than The Happening ($64M finish) at the domestic box office.
Made for $130M, the movie sees Will Smith and son Jaden, crash landing
on a long abandoned earth and facing off against a deadly new species in
a race against time. This weekend, only its third, saw the release make
$3.7M ($54.2M overall). Overseas, where Smith senior is incredibly
popular, After Earth has made $91.1M.
Rounding us out is the
superhero flick that kicked off the summer season. Iron Man 3 is now
less than half a million dollars from $400M, a figure it should see by
Tuesday of this week. The smash hit has now taken an astounding $1.2
billion dollars worldwide.
With competition from The Internship
and now This Is The End, it is all but over for The Hangover Part 3 (it
dropped over 1200 locations this frame, and slipped out of the top ten).
While its current domestic total ($107M) must come as a disappointment
considering the $277M and $254M made by Parts 1 and 2 respectively, overseas this third picture has already hit $200M.
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