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SUNDAY AM: Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight continues to power drive the North American box office and grossed a whopping $23.2 million Friday and $28.2 million Saturday from 4,366 theaters. That’s down only 65% and 41% respectively from its record-smashing debut a week ago. With a $75.6 million weekend, down only 52% from the best-ever Fri-Sat-Sun, the Christian Bale-Heath Ledger actioner directed by Chris Nolan broke the record not just for the best first week of all time, but also the biggest 2nd weekend of all time. The PG-13 pic will make $314.2M in just 10 days, the fastest ever (beating Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest which did it is 16 days). All anybody can do at the studios is keep repeating the word, “Amazing”. And it is. There are even whispers starting whether Dark Knight can beat the incredible worldwide numbers posted by the all-time $1.8 billion benchmark of Titanic. ”It can be the first movie that has a real shot,” one rival studio bigwig told me cautiously. Because not only do people like the movie, but it’s getting incredible repeat business. Even occasional moviegoers are curious to see what all the fuss is about.
Once again Sony Pictures is able to open a low-brow comedy big at the box office – this time the Judd Apatow-produced Step Brothers from the Talledega Nights team. The Adam McKay-directed reunion of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly made $11.9 million Friday and $10 million Saturday in 3,094 venues for 2nd place and a serious $30M this weekend. The opening weekend audience was 54% male/46% female and 66% was under 25. The film, financed by Relativity Media, was made for about $65M.
No. 3 was Universal’s Mamma Mia! which only fell 44% from its debut a week ago to earn $5.5M Friday and $6.5M Saturday from 2,989 runs. With $17.8M FSS, down just 36% from its opener, it had one of the best second week (non-expansion) holds for the summer after Memorial Day weekend. Its new cume is now $62.7M.
It was surprising that this TV series-based sequel, The X-Files 2: I Want To Believe, was made a decade since the first installment came out. Especially after all that litigation. Still, rival studios thought the pic could make high teens/low 20s since the gangs all there: Chris Carter, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson. Instead, the 4th place sci-fi pic underperformed by a wide margin after opening to only $4 million Friday and $3.4 million Saturday from 3,185 plays and only a $10.2 million weekend. (Fox claims the negative cost on the film is $30 mil. “Movie was made for a price and will be more than profitable with overseas b.o.,” one of the filmmakes emails me.)
No. 5 was close behind: Warner Bros’ Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D made $2.7M Friday and $3.6M Saturday from 2,688 theaters and finished the weekend with $9.4M and a new cume of $60.1M. In 6th place, Sony’s Will Smith starrer Hancock will pass the major $206.3M mark after an $8.2M weekend from 2,550 dates and surge past $500M worldwide by August 1st. Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E is in the 7th spot and just days away from its $200M cume after earning a $6.3M weekend from 3,044 plays. The toon will end up the #5 film of the summer behind Dark Knight, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Hancock. No. 8 is Universal’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which eked out another $4.9M weekend from 3,018 dates for a new $65.8M cume.
At #9, Starz/Fox’s Space Chimps squeezed out a $4.3M Fri-Sat-Sun (-39%) from 2,538 theaters and a $16M new cume. And rounding out the Top 10 is Universal’s Wanted in 1,754 venues: it had a $2.7M weekend and new cume of $128.6M.
For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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If it’s still making $20M+ in its 8th weekend, then we can talk about whether or not it has a shot at Titanic. The benchmark for TDK should be $500M domestic to see if it can become the second movie ever to do that. If it makes it to $1 billion globally, there’s just no way it makes ANOTHER $800M. Titanic should still be considered well out of reach.
“If it’s still making $20M+ in its 8th weekend, then we can talk about whether or not it has a shot at Titanic.”
It’s major bullsh*t. Titanic reached 200 million in its 48th day. Dark Knight in its 5th.
Did anyone read this in Rupert Murdock’s Wall Street Journal?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121694247343482821.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .
Oh, wait a minute. That’s not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a “W.”
There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.
Shame to hear about the X-Files doing poorly. I was a fan of the show when it first came out. It probably could have done better with a later summer/early autumn release to avoid the pretty direct competition with The Dark Knight, but that’s just some Monday morning quarterbacking.
The fact that “The Dark Knight” has made 23 million on friday should be seen a sign that it isn’t going to surpass “Titanic”‘s record. The moment it reaches 300 million, numbers are going to decrease, as it always does, especially considering that August is the month where box office numbers are at its lowest.
Wow, Dark Knight $70m+; X Files 2 doesn’t even make the teens.
Hopefully this idiot won’t trouble us again http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/rival-studio-dark-knight-48m-saturday/#comment-93343
Still very diifcult to see Titanic being de-throned, but TDK should be the closest since and break $500m domestic, $1.4bn intl. a fantastic result whichever way you look at it.
Runaway production victory! I’m surprised though pleased that X-Files 2 is bombing. Any film whose setting is in the U.S., that can afford to pays its actors tons of dough, but then shoots in Canada to save below-the-line crew and production costs should bomb. I boycott them all. I wish the general public cared as much. Fox is more guilty of this than any other studio. This is also one of the reasons why us IATSE folks don’t like actors. Their multi-million dollar salaries are rarely ever sacrificed and who can work all over the world, but it’s us who have to go on unemployment here in LA while they take our jobs in Canada or Bulgaria.
Even I, who absolutely loved Dark Knight, and want badly to see it beat Titanic, must admit to myself that there is absolutely no shot of it doing so. Titanic was just some sort of crazy anomaly that will probably never be matched until the day when movie tickets cost 20 bucks a piece.
As for this weekend, I expect DK to pull off a great multiplier and beat Shrek 2′s record for second weekend gross.
And last week on these very message boards, someone made a bet with me saying that X-Files was going to gross 70 million this weekend. Good thing for him we never discussed what the loser would have to do…
I saw The X-Files yesterday, and I loved it. I was actually surprised at how complex the storyline was. The parallels between the A and B plot and the layers to the story made for a fascinating movie. I was actually shocked to then read some reviews by journalists who just didn’t get it (or didn’t try to– maybe if they had used explosions it would have worked for them). Seemed like the audience I saw it with did get it though, since they actually applauded at the end. Excellent film!
I got a chance to catch The X-Files movie yesterday afternoon with 4 other people in the theater. To my surprise I really enjoyed the film. It’s a well crafted little thriller that is a good choice for a movie goer who enjoy’s a solid detective story. Why Fox released it one week after The Dark Knight is anyone’s guess. It should have been held back till the end of August were it would have had a shot to find an audience.
Even with “only” $11M opening weekend, X-Files will still make a good profit. Budget was only $30M (no big star salaries to pay, no particularly elaborate effects), there doesn’t seem to have been tons of saturation TV stuff, DVD revenue will be solid, and the original did 105M overseas to 83M in the U.S.–I expect that’ll be lower ratio this time since the iron isn’t hot and this film is much “talkier” than the previous one, making it less appealing internationally.
The Batman movies typically don’t do well overseas. I can’t see it beating the global number.
Three pro X-Files comments in a row, minutes apart, early in the morning, trying to put a positive spin on the bomb that the film is…on every conceivable level. Hi Tom Rothman!
I’m glad some of you folks liked X Files. I was reading those mixed reviews on it but actually really enjoyed it. I was a major xfiles fan from the very beginning and I liked how this went back to its roots. Bummer that it didn’t do so well this weekend.
I saw the Xfiles movie last night. There were only 30 people in the theatre, all of whom applauded at the end. I was prepared to be disappointed after reading the reviews…but was pleasantly surprised instead. It was a nice little murder mystery with just enough of the old for fanatics, but not so much as to be confusing. But they really have no shot going against Batman. Bad timing…and they waited too long. If they make another, they need to do it soon, not wait another 5 years.
I saw the new X-files movie as well and loved it. I think a lot of people are reading the negativity and writing it off before they even attempt to see it. With a production budget of only 30 million, I am sure that the movie will make that figure back, plus more once the movie is out worldwide.
My brother was saw the X-files — he said it was horrible.
With a 31 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (almost as bad as George Bush), a rotten title, bad marketing campaign, and stars who are apparently not supporting the film – oh, and that runaway production thing – it’s funny to see some of the Fox employees and their highly-paid spinmeisters cram this comment board with all kinds of crap. Since when is Fox News running the film division too?
I was an X-Files fanatic while it was on the air and enjoyed the first movie, but I have to admit, I’m just not all that interested in seeing this movie. I’ll definitely rent it on DVD, but it’s not worth the ticket price/hassle of going to the theater.
Now I’d get myself out to the movies if they made an “Alias” movie that looked decent…
The Dark Knight is on pace to gross $450-$550. A huge range I know but alot depends on its legs from the 4th weekend on out. There are alot of people who want to see this film once the crowds die down so expect good business throughout August and September. The question remains whether The Dark Knight can beat the inflation adjusted figures for Spiderman (2002) and Shrek 2 (2004)
Spiderman ($492m)
Shrek 2 ($503m)
Before we get caught up on The Dark Knights boxoffice hype, remember that the above films put up huge numbers as well and they came out only a few years ago.
I had a great time watching Step Brothers. Clearly a lot of thought went into making it seem so stupid. But you really get a sense for just how talented this crew is with improvising the most inane lines. Some people will absolutely hate it, but I sure enjoyed it.
does anyone really believe the negative cost was 30M? The dollar exchange sucks in Vancouver. The three stars had to put at least 15-20M in their pockets alone. Would be amazed if they brought the picture in under 50M. The good part about this franchise is the bulk of the costs will be covered by greater than normal worldwide DVD sales. Still, hard to believe this picture will open at 10M.
How do so many “fans” know how much the X-Files cost in the first place? I didn’t know this many people scanned the IMDB pro database like that. Come on guys, just take the L and move on. This was a bomb.
I am an X FILES fan and rushed last night to see the flick. I was surprised it was playing at one of the smaller AMC screens the theater was half full, a bad omen as well.
I was quite disappointed with the film, a dreary, pedantic relationship drama with serial thriller overtones, obviously the film – though strikingly shot – was aiming for an existential, faith versus science motif, it seemed just over 90 minutes and lacked any action, tension or interesting set pieces.
A far cry from the original which made over $100 million and played the larger screens, don’t expect any FBI buildings exploding, massive saucers hidden under ice caps, swarms of bees attacking our principals, and the other big setpieces in the original – this is a very intimate, small film revolving around an uninteresting premise.
It’s a real pity, because Gillian Anderson is amazing in it. Duchovny however was surprisingly glib and weak in this film, relegated to puns, getting his ass kicked several times…
Exhibitors aren’t stupid, they saw this flick and realized it didn’t deserve the largewr auditoriums, flick is way too cerebral and tedious for the summer masses. Fox couldn’t have opened this no matter how much money they threw at the marketing.
Pretty sad really.
I don’t even think even rabid X-Files fans will enjoy this.
The new X-Files movie is getting exactly what it deserves. I don’t think it would have performed much better if released earlier or later in the year. Viewers became very disillusioned with the show once they realized that Carter was stringing them along with a completely nonsensical “mythology” of storylines that were never going to be properly resolved, were never planned out properly in advance, and were being made up on the fly — poorly — by a hack who probably spent more time surfing than writing. Some of the monster-of-the-week episodes were well-done and exciting. People liked those because they usually had CLOSURE and proper resolutions. But you can’t get viewers to watch a show for nine seasons and never wrap up your storylines properly and then expect them to come out for a stand-alone movie six years later. Also, once the show’s quality plummeted downhill after its 5th season, and especially after its terrible 8th and 9th seasons, very few fans were still on board. The show’s ratings in those last two seasons were miserable. It is still a mystery why Fox renewed the show for a ninth season.
In its favor, the show had excellent film-quality cinematography (errrr, teletography?) when it was being filmed in Vancouver, but after it moved to L.A., it never recovered a lot of that eerie, strange, unsettling atmosphere. It used the Vancouver settings perhaps more effectively than any other show ever has. (Sorry L.A.) I might watch this movie when it reaches cable, because that element of it should work well. But as a whole, the X-Files is over. The public at large just doesn’t care any more. Even many of its fans don’t care any more. They’re done being ripped off by Carter and his anti-closure, anti-resolution writing attitudes. It hasn’t been off the air long enough to build up any sense of nostalgia, either.