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SUNDAY AM: Today’s numbers show that Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight is the No. 1 movie in North America for the 3rd weekend in a row. All the Hollywood studios agree that the Batman mega-blockbuster’s Friday, Saturday and estimated Sunday total take of $43.8M bested the $42.4M opening weekend of Universal’s The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor which had finished in 1st place on Friday with $15.3M but decreased 4% Saturday to $14.7M. It’s called the threequel curse, but the Brendan Fraser actioner lost its mojo after a 7-year delay and terrible reviews to run well behind its hoped-for $50M. But the pic did well overseas, opening No. 1 in 26 of the 28 territories launched beginning Thursday for $59.5M for the weekend — 3 times what the previous versions did. In this country, exit polls showed Mummy 3 moviegoers were 44%/56% under vs over 25 years of age, 52%/48% male vs female. More than 93% had seen previous Mummy pics. The main reason given for choosing to see the film was the “action” (62%) and the “story” 49%. As for Dark Knight, its domestic gross of $17.4M on Saturday went up 38% from Friday’s $12.7M and down only 42% from a week ago. Meanwhile, Dark Knight is about to set another record for the fastest approach to $400M domestic with its cume now at $396M.
Sony’s holdover Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers dropped only 47% from a week ago to finish #3 with a $16.3M weekend and $62.9M cume. That’s great for an R-rated comedy under mogul Judd Apatow’s banner. Universal’s 3-week-old Mamma Mia! was 4th with a $13.1M weekend and $88M cume. Warner Bros’ month-old Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D came in No. 5 with $6.9M and a new cume of $73M. But Disney’s Kevin Costner starrer Swing Vote opened stillborn with an embarrassing $6.3M weekend, falling to 6th place after earning just $2M Friday and $2.6M Saturday. Hollywood saw this bomb coming. So why in the world make this pic with box office poison Kevin Costner? Well, Costner claimed to reporters he put up $20+ mil of his own money to finance it. Ouch!
At No. 7, Sony’s Hancock did another $5.2m this weekend and is now at $216M domestically and on its way to over $600M worldwide. In 8th place, Pixar/Disney’s Wall-E ended the weekend with $4.7M and surged over the $200M mark on Friday for a new cume of $204.2M now. For 9th, Fox’s X-Files 2: I Want To Believe fell 66% from last weekend to make $3.4M for a sad cume of $17M. And, rounding out the Top 10, Starz/Fox’s Space Chimps earned $2.8M over the weekend for a $22M cume.
SATURDAY PM: It’s still neck-and-neck between The Mummy 3 and The Dark Knight. Both look like $42M-$44M for the weekend. Dark Knight is down only -35% from last Saturday. This could come down to Sunday’s take.
SATURDAY AM: North American box office numbers show that, despite a 7-year-absence and a locale switch fom Egypt to China, Universal’s The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor opened No. 1 with a sizeable $15.3 million Friday from an enormous release into 3,759 theaters. Obviously, the adventure pic’s good marketing campaign trumped dreadful reviews — only 27% positive among top critics. And while the Brendan Fraser starrer won’t hit the $50 million that the studio thought was possible, it could finish the weekend with a solid $43.6 million. (That’s even steven with the first Mummy weekend of $43.3M in 1999. But far less than the sequel The Mummy Returns’ opening of $68.1M in 2001. And let’s not forget that 2002 spin-off The Scorpion King‘s $36M.) As one analyst asked me about the $145M negative cost pic: “How many times can Uni go to the well and manage to pull it off? It’s certainly possible for it to lose its mojo.” (But not overseas. See below.)
That’s why Warner Bros thinks Mummy 3‘s Saturday will dip a lot and its own mega-blockbuster The Dark Knight could stay on top post-Sunday after earning $12.6 million Friday from its still record release into 4,366 venues. Even falling -46% from last weekend, the latest Batman installment will still take in $41 million gross this weekend from the U.S. and Canada combined. “But if Dark Knight is down less than 45% it could give Mummy a run for the money,” a rival studio exec told me. Of course, Warner Bros is sitting pretty while every day the Batman pic sets speed records on its fast approach to $400M cume.
Meanwhile, The Mummy 3 opened No. 1 in 26 of the 28 territories launched overseas beginning Thursday for an estimated $59M for the weekend — 3 times what the previous versions did — making it an instant global hit. The pic still has 38 territories to release including the U.K., France and Germany next weekend. In this country, as if NBC viewers weren’t bombarded enough about the August 8th start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, moviegoers to Universal’s pic were assailed by a series of co-branding theater ad spots promoting sister company NBC’s coverage.
Sony’s Will Ferrell holdover Step Brothers finished Friday #3 with $5 million, down 57%. It should end the weekend with a $15.5M weekend and new cume of $62M. Universal’s Mamma Mia! placed 4th on Friday with $3.8 million for probably another $12.5M Friday-Saturday-Sunday and new cume of $87.5M. Warner’s Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D also starring Brendan Fraser continues doing business Friday with $1.8M. It should earn a $6.5M weekend and new cume of $73M — good enough for No. 5 by Sunday. That means Disney’s Swing Vote starring Kevin Costner which opened in the 5th spot Friday after making just $1.9 million from 2,213 theaters should drop to 6th place by weekend’s end with a humiliating $5.6 million.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The curse strikes again on Trilogy. Only few have managed to escape it, the likes of LoTR, Bourne Indiana Jones, to name a few.
The ones that was ‘cursed’ were the likes of Matrix, Rush Hour, Spiderman, PoTC and joining the ranks is Mummy 3
Saw it yesterday and wish they were back in Egypt, for atleast there were a kind of real history with the mummy and all that. This was just simply too painful to swallow with the dragon and all that.
Dk tops for 3rd straight week. No surprises there. Given how good it is.
I know how these things work, but still, it’s 12:30 pm here on the East Coast. Let’s wait until the day is HALFWAY through before “declaring” anything the winner.
SWING VOTE did not “bomb.” This is a money business. Costner put up $20M. The film will gross enough at the box office (foreign and domestic) to get to get close to break even. When you add in PPV, DVD and TV, the movie will make money. Perhaps not a lot of money, but very few films do.
SWING VOTE may be a lousy movie, but Costner will make money on it. He’s a mediocre (at best) actor, but a very good business man. That’s why he has $20M to invest in a movie.
SWING VOTE is a huge success compared to movies like PLUTO NASH, TOWN & COUNTRY, etc. each of which lost over $100 million for their studios. Everything’s relative.
Anybody that paid to see the mummy needs to have their head examined. Rob Cohen should never be able to direct another action film again. He’s in the Paul W.S. Anderson and Uwe Bole category. Unlesss you’re a 14 yr old boy. It’s in Razzy atmosphere.
Looking at the latest figures, which seem to indicate the Mummy only slightly below Dark Knight in number of theaters, but far behind as far as cost of production versus domestic gross, I’m led to notice one, Brideshead is number three overall in gross per theater, two Wanted was a big success as far as budget versus gross ( as was Dark Knight, Get Smart and a couple of others; Hulk being an example of an exp[ensive movie which has not earned its oats Shouldn’t be judging these movies not only by their domestic and foreign grosses, but by the cost of producing them? Also, why was Wanted so cheap – it only cost 10 million more than Mamma Mia? Did the bloated salaries of the Mama Mia stars weigh on the profits? Conversely, died Angelina, despite being the star p[ower, work relatively cheap, since the special effects for Wanted had to cost more than Mama Mia, which as far as I can tell had no special effects at all.
If you actually knew how things work you’d know that these are fairly accurate most of the time. TDK is absolutely #1 again for the third weekend in a row. And I think it will be another close one next weekend between TDK and The Pineapple Express.
Oh, and Dave, TDK and Wall-E are both worth driving across the country just to see. If that doesn’t make you want to drive 70 miles, I can’t see anything making you want to go.
While perusing the current box office figures I noticed some anomolies not related directly to Dark Knight -v- Mummy. One, Wanted had as good a return on investment as Dark Knight and Get Smart. It cost only 10 million more to make than Mama Mia. Question: Mama Mia must have had almost no special effects, while Wanted was a special effects action movie. Maybe Mama Mia cost so much because of the star power. But Anjelina was the onlty star power on Wanted, and yet the budget was only slightly above movies like Mama Mia. Did she take a pay cut, or is she just not paid as much as other notable stars? By the way, Mummy is still not being released in as many theaters as Dark Knight. Also, Brideshead is Number Three in attendance per theater.
you know for all the people who “hated” Hancock, the movie is holding up remakably well. SOMEBODY out there likes it!
When you think about it over the long tail, Swing Vote was a smart move for Disney…theatrical is not for re-couping, just for goosing DVD, where it will flood Wal-Mart come November elections and probably do well…harmless family flick with a bit more substance than Hanna Montana…Disney will run on ABC Family from here to perpetuity. May be the model of the future for mid-range pics…
I think a lot of “older” people delayed seeing TDK until this weekend to avoid the crowds and the kids. I went to a Saturday late-morning “matinee,” and the audience definately skewed older. There were no children in the theater. So I think that’s why it topped The Mummy. There was still pent-up demand from people who had delayed seeing it.
That said, I was disappointed with the film. It seemed like a rough cut, 30 minutes too long, and Heath’s death may have left some transitional scenes unshot. Did the Joker just leave the celebrity ball when Batman jumped out the window, for example? The film felt poorly paced, which some more editing time might have dealt with.
I also think that bringing Two-Face into the picture was unnecessary and added needlessly to the length. Does every Batman movie need three villains?
(Scarecrow made an appearance as wel1.)
Of course, with the picture about to cross the $400 million mark, it’s critic proof, but I had hoped it would be better.
Comment by trey — August 3, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Indeed you are right! I mean, if it was truly that horrible, wouldn’t have bombed on its opening weekend (and to think it had opened 3 days prior to the weekend, thus would have plenty of bad word of mouth to kill it)
Enough already with Hancock being bad. You want bad ones? See Narnia and its sequel or even Salsa Dancing Spidey
Saw the SWING VOTE trailer and knew it would stink.
My partner said ‘how bad could it be?” and so as moviergoers, writers and political junkies, we went to see it.
Thankfully I went on a corporate discount coupon; I can’t imagine wasting $12 a piece to see that load of garbage.
The political message is watered down, the ‘humanistic’ message is cliched, the writing is bland and the acting passable. Even the camerawork is distracting (how many times does the camera need to sweep over a car as it’s traveling down a highway, enough already!)…. then there’s the moment where we’re suddenly in a domestic drama when Mare Winningham shows up for what might be the only five valuable minutes of the film. But that subplot is whisked away in exchange for an implausible sequence where Costner’s character does an all nighter to learn all about every political issue.
As drama it fails. As farce it fails.
And the fact that we were at a Manhattan theatre on an early Sunday evening with about six or seven other people tells me that others think so too.
It’s not political movies that don’t do well, it’s crappy movies that don’t do well. Do a great movie and people will come.
The little girl was good though, she’s got a career ahead of her. The rest? Leave it off your resume!
This weekend’s below expected domestic Boxoffice take combined with weak reviews and already poor word of mouth will end the MUMMY franchise for Universal.
I also agree that something just does not smell right with the majority of critics giving Spielberg’s latest Indiana Jones movie positive nods. The Kingdom Of the Crystal Skull was a flat out dissapointment for me and many people I know, and that comes from a true fan of the original trilogy.
As for the success of Warner Bros. The Dark Knight- it’s a case of the right film for the right time as director Chris Nolan tapped into the public uneasiness of our country living in a post 9/11 world and the film has hit a real nerve with moviegoers who are paying to see it two or three times!
I’m expecting W. to take a real hit this fall when its released. Why? With the presidental elections in the fall the timing of this release is well off.And the public sentiment toward leftist TinselTown and some fall blocksbusters,I expect W to take a real hit at the box office. Honestly timing for movie is everything at the box office. Correct me if I’m wrong here ok?
Did Swing Vote not get enough PR at all? It has fine cast in it from what I saw on the trailer.
I saw The Dark Knight and its simply best. And this is the response of many of the viewers in India who have seen Batman and Mummy. But with the latest news it seems that Mummy is giving a neck to neck race to Batman in the first week. So is this the same situation world wide? Source: http://utvi.myrecourl.com
It’s too bad I’m starting to hear the same nonsense about Kevin Costner that was spewing through the industry for almost a decade until “Open Range.” First, Costner is not box office poison: Since “Open Range,” everything he’s done, except for “Rumor Has It,” which had its own problems, has made a profit at the box office. He’s not going to be the $100 million man anymore if weekend box office tastes run to the likes of superheroes and gross-out films. Of course, he’s a very different kind of filmmaker – and thank goodness.
Second, I went to see “Swing Vote” yesterday. I saw an intelligent, charming film. I went to an afternoon showing that attracted a lot of other people, of all ages. Hopefully, “Swing Vote” will make back some money during weekdays, when grownups go to the movies.
Third, since “Open Range,” he’s become far more nuanced and layered as an actor, with all sorts of different elements to show, in different types of films.
I first became a Costner fan when Field of Dreams came out. I let the “Waterworld” media hype scare me away during the mid-1990s, but I came back when he made “For Love of the Game” and “Thirteen Days,” and I’m glad I did. For those who choose to do so, there’s much to appreciate about this filmmaker, and about how he sticks his neck out for his films.
Sounds like Tomb of the Dragon Emperor met everyone’s expectations… Brendan Frasier tries too hard to act, so you can tell he’s acting
The mummy and batman do not appeal to me. I go to the movies almost every weekend, and the obvious choice for me was swing vote. It looked like a good comedy and the cast was awesome, especially Kevin Costner and that little girl Madeline Carroll. I laughed a lot and even teared up at a couple of the scenes. If you like a movie that tells a story, go see Swing Vote. If you wnat action and special effects and more of the same, go see the other ones.
I cant believe no one sees the political message in the Mummy 3!! The outrageous insults and warnings towards China, and the obvious cry for co-operation with China is the whole reason this movie was made! Rachel Weiss knows a bad script when she sees one, thats why she isnt in it.
I thought Dark Knight too dark. l felt negative on leaving the movie theater. And thats after I payed a zillion dollars for my popcorn and soft drink. Mummy 3 went all out with lavish sets, but lacked the character development of its previous versions. And where was Brendan Frasiers boyish humor in this sequel. Overall I still enjoyed it.