| Film | Weekend | Per Tht | Cum. Total | ||
| 1 | Captain America |
$65,058,524 | $17,512 | $65,058,524 | |
| 2 | Harry Potter 7.2 |
$47,422,212 (-72%) | $6,364 | $273,539,281 | |
| 3 | Friends With Benefits |
$18,622,150 | $5,772 | $18,622,150 | |
| 4 | Transformers 3 |
$12,051,735 (-43.5%) | $3,571 | $325,841,185 | |
| 5 | Horrible Bosses |
$11,884,319 (-33.1%) | $3,829 | $82,566,703 | |
| 6 | Zookeeper |
$8,702,055 (-29.4%) | $2,707 | $59,206,255 | |
| 7 | Cars 2 |
$5,655,857 (-32.7%) | $2,120 | $176,375,295 | |
| 8 | Winnie The Pooh | $5,162,046 (-34.3%) | $2,146 | $176,375,295 | |
| 9 | Bad Teacher |
$2,610,925 (-49.3%) | $1,284 | $94,365,688 | |
| 10 | Midnight in Paris |
$1,804,662 (-3.8%) | $2,906 | $44,783,206 |
I waited a little longer than usual to do the wrap-up because frankly, I was more than little suspicious of a studio estimate for Captain America that left it precisely 100k above Thor‘s opening earlier in the summer. That’s literally the minimum amount need to register higher, so estimating $65.8 over the $65.7 of Thor was just enough to get that Sunday night “biggest Superhero of the Summer” ink, even if the actuals knocked them down 3/4th of a million bucks. I don’t begrudge them their estimate, especially when you consider that less of Cap’s total came from 3D than Thor, meaning overall attendance was better in a weekend where competition was steeper. There are rumors though that Paramount didn’t hand over all of its 3D screens from Transformers to the new hero, so had they been less stingy then it might have actually sprinted across the line to be summer’s #1 hero, but being they’re only the distributors… Regardless, it’s a win for Marvel, and a nice setup for The Avengers, which deftly picked up Captain‘s momentum this weekend at Comic Con.
General reaction to Cap seems to be positive if not fervent, so I wouldn’t expect it to collapse or show extraordinary legs. Acting like Thor would put it at $180m, but let’s see that second weekend. Overseas will likely be a better picture than some are expecting, though not so massive as to be another Pirates/Hangover story of a good domestic total being spun into phenomenon by global numbers.
Potter fell and fell hard, but only because it was so intensely front-loaded. That what happens when you get every person that’s ever enjoyed a Potter film so riled up that they brave madness they wouldn’t have faced for any other film. It didn’t beat The Dark Knight for the 10-day record, but it’s a strong number two ($313.8m vs $274.2m). Globally it’s well past $800m in its second weekend (fuck) and it has pushed the franchise as a whole past $7 billion worldwide returns.
The second fuck-buddy film of the year didn’t break into the $20s, and didn’t pull past the first one of the year, No Strings Attached. They pushed it hard, and I definitely saw coverage of it that almost seemed on par with Captain America, but every bit of it seemed match with sarcastic remarks of being another movie about screwing a friend from a Black Swan lead.
Transformers is acting like the other two films acted at this point in their run, though shrunk a little bit from the second. Wizards and Robots are going to be neck and neck when all is said and done.
Next week is a triple-header with Cowboys & Aliens, Crazy, Stupid Love, and The Smurfs breaking out. Oddly its the romantic-comedy among them that makes me not want to cut pieces of myself off of myself. Let’s meet here again Friday, shall we?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topics at hand. Tweet at me: @rennbrown, or drop a great load in the comments or message boards!