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SUNDAY AM: Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight is still smoking hot at the box office, winning its 4th straight weekend after taking in $26 million from 4,025 North American venues. The last film to do this was 2003′s Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King. Sony’s stoner comedy Pineapple Express was in 2nd place with $22.4 million from 3,072 runs. The Batman installment’s win was fueled by Friday’s $7.5M and Saturday’s $10.3M (+37% gross compared to Friday’s), while the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen laugher earned $7.9M Friday but fell -3% for Saturday’s $7.7M. The two pics fought for U.S. and Canadian supremacy all weekend, with Hollywood exec emails flying fast and furiously to me as Sony claimed victory for Friday while Warner Bros touted its better Saturday and weekend totals. The Chris Nolan-directed comic book caper starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger Dark Knight has taken in a staggering $441.5 million domestic gross in less than a month and is now the 3rd highest grossing film of all-time for North America – and climbing. The incredible repeat business for Batman is mostly the work of fanboys who want their fave pic to keep setting movie records. But it’s still a long way behind Titanic‘s best-ever $600.7M.
As for the well-reviewed Pineapple Express, it was hampered at the box office by debuting on Wednesday (earning a surprisingly good $12.1 million) which cut into its opening weekend figures. And it’s also R-rated. Still, Sony was more than pleased with its 5-day debut of $40.4 million – especially considering the film’s negative cost is only $27M. ”The executives at Sony are as high as the characters in the movie over the strong opening for the film,” one studio insider quipped. Exit polling showed the opening weekend audience was 58%/42% male-female.
It’s unclear what effect the Beijing Olympics will have on moviegoing for the next two weeks. Total box office looks to be down 17% from last year, but that may be due to two Wednesday openings rather than any Olympics impact. The No. 3 movie was Universal’s Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor which did $16.1M from 3,780 plays, down 60% from its debut a week ago. Its new cume is $70.6M. Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2 opened Wednesday and managed 4th place for Friday-through Sunday with $10.7M from 2,707 runs and a 5-day cume of $19.7M. Sony’s other R-rated comedy was No. 5, the Will Ferrell laugher Step Brothers made $8.9M this weekend for a new $80.9M cume.
Universal’s Mamma Mia! came in #6 with $8M this weekend and passing the $100M marker for a new cume of $104M. The 7th spot went to Warner Bros’s Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D with a $4.8M weekend and new $81.7M cume. Sony’s Will Smith starrer Hancock was No. 8 with $3.3M for the weekend and a $221.7M new cume. The 9th spot went to Disney’s Swing Vote with a $3.1M weekend and paltry new cume of $12M. And, rounding out the Top 10, Pixar/Disney’s Wall-E amade $3M over the weekend for a new cume of $210.1M.
- ‘Pineapple Express’ Wins Friday: ‘Dark Knight’ Too Smoking Hot For Weekend
- Wed Opening: ‘Pineapple Express’ $12.1M
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The real question: Was Sony greedy by opening on Wednesday or smart? The 5-day total for Pineapple Express would have been an astounding 3-day weekend total. Obviously the interest in the film was there for a blockbuster weekend where it would’ve single-handedly knocked Batman to #2.
I am soooooooooo sick of Apatow and his disgusting crew of vulgar, ugly man-childs! I’m thrilled ‘PE’ is far underperforming ‘Superbad’, hopefully his films will just go straight to DVD in a few years.
I think movies may have opened on Wed. because the Olympics started Friday so its win win?
::Obviously the interest in the film was there for a blockbuster weekend where it would’ve single-handedly knocked Batman to #2.::
There is no guarantee PE would have grossed it’s five-day take in three days. Keep in mind the film had the bottom drop out on Thursday and it never really recovered for the weekend. It’s very likely that it’s three-day total from opening Wednesday would have still been about what it grossed for an opening weekend.
Stoner movies are nitch movies and they never have a good hold over.
I guess Pineapple Express didn’t have the ‘mass appeal’ that I thought it might have…but it has had a pretty sweet 5 day run…and I’m pretty sure it’ll get plenty of good word of mouth for a nice total after all is said and done.
As for TDK…amazing!
I think Sony made a wrong move by opening on Wednesday. It would have bumped The Dark Knight to #2, it had opened on Friday as bragging rights.
DHD poster Armand will be very happy TDK won.
He had a lot of ego and self esteem wrapped up in the film’s success this weekend.
Hope your Mom let you wear your Batman pajamas to the movies this weekend Armand.
The Dark Knight won because Pineapple Express is a train wreck. I saw it yesterday and it was a miserable experience. It ran too long and was short on laughs. I guess Apatow isn’t infallible after all.
Single-handedly, huh? Is there any other way for a movie to claim the number one spot? Or is there a new rule that says that if two movies gross more combined than another movie, then they earn the # 1 spot?? LOL. Just playing. Its fantastic that TDK has earned the top spot 4 weeks running. But, it would have been more useful if TDK had managed to gross around or over $30 mil so that it could keep some ppl’s hopes alive that it could surpass Titanic. But, now it is almost a mathematical certainty that it won’t. Too bad. But it accomplished all that I asked, which was for it to outgross Indiana Jones 4. What a sorry excuse for a sequel that garbage was. It didn’t deserve the money it made. I like Harrison Ford, but the plot in that movie belonged in an X-Files show. And Harrison Ford is definitely no David Duchovny. Not that this latest X-Files experiment was a success. Not even close. Whew!! And now I am slightly dizzy from the abrupt change in topic and I must regain my equilibrium.
Happt Gilmore is what I am feeling right now for DK2 stayed number 1 for another wknd at the B.O
Can’t recall the last time another movie stayed number 1 for 4th wknd straight. A feat that only a true blockbuster can achieved. Not even Shrek, PoTC nor Silly-Spidey trilogies can lay claim to that.
40yearoldstitzer
I guess Sony wasn’t aiming for the weekend record but to collect as many dollars as they could for the 5 days showing and certainly they succeeded their aim.
Kudos for Sony for amassing the dollars for PE but years from today, we will remember the record holder DK2.
So what will that bring the domestic total to? And what is the current international tally do you know – box office mojo’s int column has been down for a few weeks.
Not really sure why they chose to open on Wednesday, but at least next weekend’s drop of over 50% will look better than the 60% drop that would have resulted had they opened on Friday.
I think TDK’s reign will end next weekend. Not that I have much faith in TT (I’m interested in seeing if it can top PE on Wednesday), but Clone Wars is the film everyone’s underestimating… I predict an opening upwards of $20-$25 million, while TDK will finally fall to second.
Wouldn’t it be fitting for Clone Wars to unseat TDK on the same weekend TDK replaces Star Wars as the second highest-grossing film of all-time?
Awesome. And nobody believed me.
40yostitzer– I don’t think it was a greed issue. I think it was because of The Olympics and all that. Plus, why not open it mid-week– stoners don’t have jobs so a Wednesday is just like a Saturday, right?
Congrats to Apatow & Co though for a nice 5 day turnout, though.
I think they released it on Wednesday because they anticipated Friday numbers would be low due to the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.
It would appear that the (deserved) Dark Knight hype train hasn’t slowed down yet. But now that the film won’t hit 600m at the US box office, where will it land?
Is 550/575m a good shout? I think that Tropic Thunder and Clone Wars will have too much for it next weekend. The bubble finallt bursts and it drops to third place.
And considering that WB still have House Of Lies, Yes Man and a Harry Potter film no less for the Fall, can we give WB the year end marketshare winners medal now?
But what does this all mean for Sony’s frankly bizarre decision to let Seth Rogen write and star in a big budget film version of The Green Hornet?
After all, wasn’t Pineapple Express the subtle experiment to see if audiences would see Mr Rogen in a comedy film with action?
Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s everything.
Saw P.E. last night because DK had only crappy seats avail only at the Univ IMAX. The kids got some less crappy seats, so we were stuck.
Figured P.E. couldn’t be THAT bad… but it was WORSE.
It makes Superbad look like a masterpiece, and i never thought i’d use those two words in the same sentence.
Who are the execs that keep giving these guys green lights?
With each film released they fall farther away from the comedy gold they struck with 40 Year Old…
It was a disgrace to stoner films!
There was no question in my mind that DK was going to win the weekend after seeing the nearly empty PE theater, compared to the packed houses DK is still playing to across the city. What a great feeling to see a movie hold onto the top spot for a month.
It’s been too long!
Will Tropic Thunder and Robt Downey, Jr. be the movie to take over the top spot?
couldnt agree more with the earlier poster. I like Apatow-gangs movies, but you can just see the egos of these young folks being blown out of the water. Was hoping it would tank a little more.
My prediction that TDK will cross the 500 million mark at a record pace seems to be a sure thing at this point. It may not beat Titanic, but it may come pretty close. And that’s amazing when we’re told internet pirates are destroying the film business. I think not.
The truth is, if they make a good movie, people will flock to see it in the theaters, The problem is, too many movies these days are rentals.
This week TDK will beat Blazing Saddles and become the highest grossing Warner Bros. film ever, including inflation.
Quoth Nikki: “The incredible repeat business for Batman is mostly the work of fanboys who want their fave pic to keep setting movie records.” Ha! As if fanboys are purposefully engineering this. Nikki, Occam’s Razor suggests simply that repeat business is from people who liked the movie and want to see it again. And let’s not forget that there is still a lot of first-time viewership from people who avoided the movie at first, due to crowds or lack of interest, but whose curiosity is finally bringing them to the theaters.
That said, the buzz over “Tropic Thunder” absolutely dwarfs the built-in cult following for “Pineapple Express”, and I’d put money on Thunder being #1 next weekend, with “Clone Wars” a possible #2 but probably more like #3. (It just doesn’t look good; even Star Wars fans aren’t excited about it.)
“Dark Knight”‘s final domestic total? I’ll guess $520M.
Well said , “L Moss” :
I am soooooooooo sick of Apatow and his disgusting crew of vulgar, ugly man-childs! I’m thrilled ‘PE’ is far underperforming ‘Superbad’, hopefully his films will just go straight to DVD in a few years.
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It’s hilarious how the losers are so emotionally invested in Apatow succeeding – gives hope for their pathetic lives perhaps.
Meanwhile, the 42% female audience had to be dragged along by BF’s. What woman would waste her time on Apatow movies – there’s not even good looking guys to look at to make the unfunny stupidity more bearable.
I think it’s an incredible misnomer to attribute all of the repeat viewings of TDK to fanboys. I am in no way a fan boy and I have seen the film multiple times. It’s a damn fine piece of cinema and a great experience on the big screen. A lot of people who don’t exactly fall into the fanboy category are going back and seeing this film again. Honestly, there aren’t enough fanboys in North America to account for the staggering numbers this film has produced. True Story.
I love how people are acting like a film almost doubling its budget in 5 days is some huge flop that is going to take down Apatow. It will probably eclipse the box office take of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” in a week. I thought Pineapple Express was hilarious, a great send-up of action films. Sorry that so many other people went in looking to hate it.
There is no way Pineapple Express’ negative cost was $27M! Sony had to have just made this up. Plus, the reviews weren’t that good and the audience I saw it with clearly got bored once all the gun battles took over the story. So I’m quite certain it’s going to have a big drop next weekend. I gotta say, I’m getting a little tired of the Apatow formula. He needs to stretch himself a bit before people get bored of it.
Speaking as someone who still hasn’t seen TDK and may not see it for another few weeks, it’s NOT doing this well only because fanboys keep seeing it to boost its total. It’s also doing well because it’s stretching beyond its intended demographic to bring in folks to the theater who normally wouldn’t go see a Batman movie. The real life people I’ve talked to say that they’re now seeing more seniors and families in the theaters, two groups which probably went to see what all the fuss is about.
I can’t understand why PE didn’t do better, or even why Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants didn’t do better. I’d blame the Olympics but do either stoners or pre-teen girls really care about the Olympics?