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Box Office Breakdown: Dark Knight Struck Down by Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder

Despite a somewhat disappointing opening last Wednesday ($6.5 million), actually managed to surpass the four-time box office winner. The comedy grossed $25.8 million over the past three days, nearly $10 million more than its caped competitor.

And while Ben Stiller should be happy by his movie’s accomplishment, the Dreamworks/Paramount film still left a lot to be desired. Recent comedies such as Get Smart ($38.6 million) and Step Brothers ($30.9 million) debuted to better numbers. But then those two films didn’t have a distraction like Michael Phelps to contend with.

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Variety


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In Theaters This Week: August 13, 2008

Tropic Thunder

Once again, theatergoers will have new options to choose from this Wednesday:

Sequel News: Hairspray, Anchorman, School of Rock

Hairspray

Here’s the latest scoop on the sequel buzz spreading across Hollywood:

The film that inspired a Broadway show and an update may soon spawn another creation: a sequel. New Line Cinema, obviously encouraged by the success of the High School Musical franchise (and last week’s debut of Mamma Mia!), has asked John Waters to begin writing a treatment for a follow to .

According to Variety, the studio hopes to reunite members of last year’s cast in time for a 2010 release. The story would again be set in the 60’s, just where the Turnblad family left off.

While no actors have yet been lined up, most of the musical’s key players - including director/choreography - are scheduled to return.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: Record-Breaking Weekend for The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Okay, let’s not beat around the bush. We all know was huge. But how big exactly was it? Let’s break the numbers down:

  • The film grossed approximately $158.3 million, beating the record set by ($151.1 million) last year. The total already comes within reach of Tim Burton’s Batman. (The $251.2 million grosser has been the best earner in the franchise so far.)
  • Knight pulled in $18.5 million during its Friday midnight screenings alone. The previous record holder was 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($16.9 million).
  • The movie had the best Friday total ever: $67.8 million.
  • The sequel earned $6.2 million from IMAX showings alone. That number, again, beat Spider-Man 3 ($4.7 million).
  • In one weekend, The Dark Knight grossed more than the last three Batman installments made in their opening weekends combined.
  • The Christopher Nolan feature, along with the strong performance from , helped the industry attain the best box office weekend ever. Mamma‘s $27.6 million outperformed last year’s Hairspray ($27.5 million) to become the biggest musical opener ever.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: The Golden Army Raises Hell

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Apparently moviegoers were simply not interested in meeting anyone named Dave.

This past weekend, Eddie Murphy’s latest effort debuted in a disappointing 7th place. Fox’s pulled in only $5.2 million, the third worst opening total for the comedian. (Holy Man pulled in $5.1 million in 1998; The Adventures of Pluto Nash scraped up $2.2 million in 2002.)

Dave‘s poor performance gave two other entries plenty of room at the top of the charts. earned approximately $11 million more than the original 2004 film. The sequel’s $34.5 million haul also narrowly edged out last week’s winner, Hancock, and gave director Guillermo del Toro a first place berth. Meanwhile, the Journey to the Center of the Earth‘s $21 million was good enough for third place.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: Hancock Soars to #1

Hancock

For theatergoers, the Fourth of July holiday has come to mean fireworks, barbecues….and now . This past weekend, the powerhouse’s latest blockbuster, , took in over $62 million giving Smith his eighth straight #1 debut. In total, the Sony Pictures production grossed nearly $104 million during a 5 1/2 day period.

In addition to being Will’s second-best opener ever ( set his record), Hancock was the actor’s fifth movie to reach first place over the same holiday weekend. (Men in Black, Men in Black II, Independence Day and Wild Wild West were the other four.) The Peter Berg film also became the third best July 4th grosser behind Transformers and Spider-Man 2.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: Wall-E and Wanted Both Winners

Wall-E

Although we haven’t yet reached the 4th of July weekend, theatergoers apparently had plenty of time and money to spend over the past three days. And while a cute robot had the honor of placing first, also came out a winner herself.

When the final numbers were tallied, Wall-E and each wound up grossing over $50 million since Friday. The Disney/Pixar film edged out the action flick by nearly $13 million dollars, but the comic book adaptation had the best per screen average for any entry in the Top Ten ($16,040). Meanwhile, both films forced a few rewrites in the history books.

  • had the third largest debut for a Pixar film. It’s total fell behind The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.2 million).
  • The animated comedy also had the best Friday open for any Pixar release.
  • The James McAvoy feature topped all R-rated premieres during the month of June.
  • Wanted also gave Jolie her largest first weekend ever.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: Steve Carell Outsmarts Mike Myers

The Love Guru

What was being billed as a huge comedy showdown turned out to be a pathetic fight. The debut of easily outperformed Mike Myers’ live-action return to nab the #1 spot this past weekend.

Smart, starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson, picked up $38.6 million over the past three days - nearly $20 million more than . The big-screen adaptation of the ‘60s television series also averaged $9891 per screen, over twice as much as Guru ($4617) did.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: The Incredible Hulk Pulls in the Green

The Incredible Hulk

It looks like ticket buyers are willing to give some things a second chance after all…

Despite horrible reviews for 2003’s Hulk, wary theatergoers turned out in big numbers for the latest big-screen version of . The newest rendition, starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, came in first place after earning $55 million during the past three days. While that total falls behind Ang Lee’s version (that movie debuted with $62 million), it did better than expected. The 2008 update had the best showing for any film over Father’s Day weekend (passing Silver Surfer‘s $58 million) and should also have a longer shelf life thanks to favorable word of mouth.

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Variety


Box Office Breakdown: Kung Fu Panda Fights Off Competition

Kung Fu Panda

Theatergoers in need of more family-friendly fare pushed to the top of the charts this past weekend. The comedy - and its $60.2 million take - was the third best animated opener for DreamWorks Animation (behind the first two Shrek films) and the 8th of all time (just ahead of Cars). Panda was also the first time a Jack Black film debuted at #1.

Meanwhile, another laugher was raking in impressive numbers of its own. - the latest production from Adam Sandler - grossed $38.5 million to take second place. Zohan‘s total falls in line with the rest of Sandler’s films from the past 10 years. Since 1998, the actor’s comedic projects have all seen $30+ million opens. (Last year’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry took in $34.2 million.)

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Variety


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