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August 17-19 Weekend Actuals
1. The Expendables 2 (Millenium/Lionsgate) NEW [3,316 Runs] R Friday $10.5M, Saturday $10.2M, Sunday $7.9M, Weekend $28.6M
2. The Bourne Legacy (Universal) Week 2 [3,753 Runs] PG13 Friday $5.3M, Saturday $7.1M, Sunday $4.7M, Weekend $17.1M (-55%), Cume $69.6M
3. ParaNorman 3D (Focus Features) NEW [3,429 Runs] PG Friday $4.6M, Saturday $5.4M, Sunday $4.1M, Weekend $14.1M
4. The Campaign (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,255 Runs] R Friday $4.1M, Saturday $5.3M, Sunday $3.7M, Weekend $13.1M (-51%), Cume $51.4M
5. Sparkle (TriStar/Sony) NEW [2,244 Runs) PG13 Friday $4.5M, Saturday $4.3M,Sunday $2.8M, Weekend $11.6M
6. The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros) Week 5 [3,157 Runs] PG13 Friday $3.1M, Saturday $4.6M, Sunday $3.3M, Weekend $11.0M (-42%), Cume $409.8M
7. The Odd Life Of Timothy Green (Disney) Week 1 [2,598 Runs] PG Friday $3.4M, Saturday $4.3M, Sunday $3.1M, Weekend $10.8M, Cume $15.1M
8. Hope Springs (Sony) Week 2 [2,361 Runs] PG13 Friday $2.8M, Saturday $3.9M, Sunday $2.5M, Weekend $9.1M (-38%), Cume $35.1M
9. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Fox) Week 3 [2,737 Runs] PG Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1.6M, Sunday $1.1M, Weekend $3.8M (-52%), Cume $38.7M
10. Total Recall (Sony) Week 3 [2,434 Runs] PG13 Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.4M, Sunday $980K, Weekend $3.5M (-57%), Cume $51.8M
SUNDAY AM, 2ND UPDATE: Late start this morning. Full analysis coming. Here’s the Top Ten based on weekend estimates:
1. The Expendables 2 (Millenium/Lionsgate) NEW [3,316 Runs] R
Friday $10.5M, Saturday $10.2M, Weekend $28.7M
2. The Bourne Legacy (Universal) Week 2 [3,753 Runs] PG13
Friday $5.4M, Saturday $7.1M, Weekend $17.0M (-55%), Cume $69.5M
3. ParaNorman 3D (Focus Features) NEW [3,429 Runs] PG
Friday $4.5M, Saturday $5.4M, Weekend $14.0M
4. The Campaign (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,255 Runs] R
Friday $4.1M, Saturday $5.2M, Weekend $13.3M (-50%), Cume $51.6M
5. Sparkle (TriStar/Sony) NEW [2,244 Runs) PG13
Friday $4.5M, Saturday $4.3M, Weekend $12.0M
6. The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros) Week 5 ]3,157 Runs] PG13
Friday $3.1M, Saturday $4.5M, Weekend $11.1M, Cume $409.9M
7. The Odd Life Of Timothy Green (Disney) Week 1 [2,598 Runs] PG
Friday $3.4M, Saturday $4.3M, Weekend $10.9M, Cume $15.1M
8. Hope Springs (Sony) Week 2 [2,361 Runs] PG13
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $3.8M, Weekend $9.1M (-38%), Cume $35.0M
9. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Fox) Week 3 [2,737 Runs] PG
Friday $1.1M, Saturday $1.5M, Weekend $3.8M, Cume $38.7M
10. Total Recall (Sony) Week 3 [2,434 Runs] PG13
Friday $1.0M, Saturday $1.3M, Weekend $3.5M, Cume $51.7M
SATURDAY AM UPDATE: What a crazy Friday. First came that morning’s bomb scare phoned into the Carmike Cinema chain. Then a consulting firm Screen 
Engine poll finds 17% of filmgoers are still reluctant to head to theaters, only slightly better than the 21% recorded four weeks ago right after the Aurora movie theater shooting. (The surveys found that teenagers, particularly females, were most reluctant to go to the movie now.) At least there’s no more Olympics. But post-10 PM screenings were still weak after I first reported the phenom last weekend. The result is that domestic box office grosses were all over the place. Matinee trends and early evening numbers were no longer a reliable predictor of Friday outcomes. When I saw weekend estimates swing from up to down nearly $10M in just a few hours, I waited for clarity which never came. So last night’s numbers had to be revised downward this morning. There are unusually good CinemaScores for the newcomers which will help word-of-mouth: Millenium/Lionsgate’s #1 film The Expendables 2 snags ‘A-’ from audiences and better scoring reviews but still can’t beat the original’s $13.3M Friday/$34.8M weekend opening. Sony/TriStar’s #3 Sparkle gets an ‘A’, and Focus Features’ #4 Paranorman in 3D scores ‘B+’. Add in strong holdovers The Bourne Legacy from Universal in #2 place and The Campaign from Warner Bros in #5 (both had very acceptable drops from last weekend), and it’s a crowded but good $125M weekend – +5% from last year.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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So Expendables 2 is getting good word of mouth? I suppose that’s good, but then A- is the same score Amazing Spider-Man supposedly got, and it is the weakest superhero film of the summer.
Let’s call on Sony again to sell the rights to Spidey back to Marvel Studios. They will be glad they did, and can use the money to finance new franchises that will better fit their studio.
Being the weakest superhero movie of the summer isn’t really saying much, dude. Last I checked, there was only 3 of them and at least one of them was going to be an extremely difficult act to follow. You act like we got 15 superhero flicks during the summer months. And the consensus for it was that TASM was fairly good. For most that’s all they need in a superhero blockbuster movie.
And seeing that the movie will end up between 700 and 800 million worldwide, why would Sony give up the rights? They didn’t make an astronomical amount of profit with the movie like the Avengers, but they certainly didn’t lose money on it and will make some solid cash instead. And Sony is working on a sequel already, so give up on those dreams of them selling the rights back to Marvel. Let Marvel worry about managing the properties they currently have a hold on.
I agree with you, very good points my friend.
I’d even disagree that ASM was the “weakest” of the summer. For me that would be DKR, which was by far the weakest of Nolan’s trilogy.
Actually, wonk, TDKR was quite good, and was miles ahead of Spiderman. Nice try, though.
Back up your claim, sir.
B/C, while I didn’t love Amazing Spider-Man — feeling the directing was aimless and certain plot points were glossed over — there were not nearly as many plot holes as in either of Nolan’s last 2 DK films. If you can accept that almost nothing makes sense from scene to scene in either DK movie, both are quite enjoyable, but let’s not pretend these are high art films that are “miles ahead” of other popcorn fare.
The Watcher, why so bitter over Sony/Spidey situation? Sony aren’t giving up those rights unless Sony pictures is in sheer turmoil and last I checked, that particular portion of Sony was healthy.
Spider-Man will make around $260m domestic and $800m worldwide, before blu-ray/DVD sales. So they aren’t selling it, and people who saw it invariably liked it (a slightly higher IMDB score than any of the Raimi movies, which I think is too high, but c’est le vie).
I won’t see Expendables 2, but I can understand why people would.
Thank you for that thinly-stretched (i.e. non-existant) link between The Expendables 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man. I don’t suppose you’re looking to endgender yet another conflict on this threadbare subject, are you? People like you, who flood these boards with unrelated debate on John Carter and The Avengers and Spider-Man months after the fact, give the superhero fan community a bad name.
All the superhero films this summer were great…
They we’re indeed, i certainly got my money’s worth from the 3 of them.
*snicker*
Hey Sony… I know Spider-Man is your top franchise, and that his films count as your top 4 unadjusted domestic earners, and that none of your other franchises have come close to earning as much, AND that he’s helped you cross the yearly billion mark faster than you have since 2002…
… but I really have to recommend you trade him to a company that makes enough money without him, so you can keep making those other films that aren’t nearly as successful.
It is a shame with all the stressful things going on in this world that a favorite, relaxing pastime has become stressful too! I went to the movies a couple weeks ago and found myself looming behind me every 5 min. The people that do these things have a special place waiting for them!
You do realize that the gunman behind the Colorado shooting is in prison, correct? There is no possibility of him appearing at your screening in Wherever and shooting you. This country truly has become a nation of sheep, fearful of shadows.
Except for the fact that, you know, someone did come into a movie theater just a few scant weeks ago and started randomly shooting people.
I absolutely agree with you. As much as I didn’t think I would be bothered at the theatre, I also found myself turning back every 5 minutes or so. It was a lot more disturbing that I expected.
Gimme a break, Heather. You’re the type of person that saw 9/11 and said, “OMG!!!! Terrorists are coming to Lincoln, Nebraska!”
Guess what? They ain’t. You can not stop a psycho from walking into any place anywhere in the world, for whatever purpose and start hurting people. It’s a big world.
If it’s any relief, there are over 300 million people in the USA and last year 9,000 homicides by gunfire (mostly domestic/perp knows victim). You have more chances of winning the lotto TWICE than being shot by a psychopath.
You wanna be scared about something, Mit Romney might actually become president and bye-bye medicare…
politics even here. how sad to be such a worry wart when talking about films.
I for one saw DKR 3x and thought it was a great time.
all super hero films this year were gr8.
Well said, Jack. There have been mall and McDonald’s shootings and people still go to the mall and McDonald’s. Like those sad tragedies, this too will pass. I’m certainly not worried about it when I go see a movie.
A bit of a shocker on Exp 2. I guess the old saying – nobody knows anything – is more apt than ever these days…
But at least I can finally go to bed now… Thanks Nikki!
People like their “Expendables.” I thought the first one was a joke, so I won’t be seeing this until video release, at the earliest.
Yep, totally surprised that people really wanted another one. Outside of the cool feeling seeing all these iconic action heroes of past and present teaming up, the flick was pretty bad, IMO.
Yeah. Joe. Pretty much like that 2and one half hour slog “The Avengers”. Actually, this “Expendable 2″ was fun and humorous entertainment. Cool, the way they threaded all those oldies but goodie songs into the movie.
Dude you’ve pretty much made it clear of your disdain or so called disdain for “The Avengers”. Man this article’s not even about that film, it’s about “Expendables 2″ which i did enjoy myself. If you don’t like a particular film fine, say what you gotta say and keep it moving man. But you dude, seem to go out of your way every chance you get at taking envious shots at “The Avengers” which means one of three things. A)You like to put it down to pump up the mediocre films you like, B)Deep down you really like this film and just ain’t man enough to admit it or C)a combination of both. You’ve been poppin’ off running at the mouth long enough about this, some original thoughts and comments please. At the end of the day “The Avengers” is the most successful comic book film ever, and nothing you think or say is going to change that fact.
Prepare to freak out, orlando, because I didn’t like The Avengers all that much either. Time for another long paragraph from you informing us that The Avengers was commercially successful, as if that indicates quality.
80′s Cartoons. 80′s Toys. 80′s Movies. 80′s Actors.
Is there anything from the 1980′s that isn’t being exhumed and pillaged by the industry?
Oh, you forgot 80′s music. And wait for extreme shoulder pads.
No, not the Shoulder Pads again!!!! I lived through them once. Don’t know if I can survive them once more!
Argh!!!!!!!
They already pillaged 80s music this summer. Rock of Ages.
Really surprised at Expendables’ cinemascore. I was so disappointed with it. Whereas the first film it felt like they were professional soldier of fortunes, this one they acted like boy scouts. I lost count on how many times they got ambushed and had their guard down. Come on, having their cell phone ring when they’re on a mission so they can get incoming calls from loved ones? Or making so much noise they could be heard miles away? Writing was really bad on this. And the cameos by Norris, Willis, and Arnold were really a joke. Also, Jet Li was only in the intro and was gone for the rest of the film only to be replaced by a female version of him. She was cute yes but Jet Li was missed. I guess he read the script and only agreed to have a small role this time. The first film was also much more fun.
Expendables 2 is a very expensive film, $100M budget. This is very disappointing.
Bourne Legacy is not doing as well as it would with Matt Damon.
The final gross for TDKR is going to be about $450M.
Total Recall is a flop.
Expendables 2 not beating the original’s opening numbers even with all the extra ‘starpower’ is a bit shocking.
Matt Damon had 3 movies to build a rep with the audience. We’re comparing apples and oranges here. TBL is holding up a lot better than people thought it would.
TDKR is about to run out of steam.
TR is truly a total flop.
The Bourne Legacy results from foreign markets will dictate the future of this franchise. It is probably going to be a close call as the production and marketing costs probably exceed 175 million, so to break even not counting dvd’s, television, cable, etc. the film needs to gross upwards of 400 million plus.
There is no way that movie will make $400 million.
TBL is grossing almost identical to U’s Cowboys and Aliens which earned 100 million US. TBL will be lucky to make a few million more at most. That’s less than half of TBU and it will likely do half OS which means a likely 200-225 million WW. Its budget was well over 125 million as it had considerable reshooting just weeks before opening, and as noted above, with promotion needs to make near 400 million to profit. It is a fail and U knew it, hence the constant over estimates. U had a huge action brand, but an untried action director unwilling to edit his own endlessly talky script, and a lead who is a good supporting character actor who has never carried a film.
Why such animosity over TBL? It was never going to do gangbuster numbers and It wasn’t as great as it should have been but it’s nowhere near as bad as some of you are making it out to be. It’s held reasonably well this weekend, which is better than predicted. Considering the movie with the ‘supporting actor’ as you so quaintly put it opened bigger than a movie with a dozen “movie stars”, I’d stop bleating on about this so-called failure. Want to talk failure? Look no further than Total Recall.
Amen, sister. ‘The Bour-ing Legacy’ doesn’t deserves a place in the Bourne Franchise.
If, by “TDKR is about to run out of steam,” you mean “TDKR is about to cruise to $1 billion plus worldwide,” then yes, it’s totally running out of steam.
I read “run out of steam” bit as the poster referring to the domestic box-office. Why so defensive?
I honestly don’t understand Nikki’s silence on the utter debacle that was TOTAL RECALL. This is a flop on the scale of — even worse than — JOHN CARTER and BATTLESHIP. A 125M (if you believe that) project barely scraping past 50M in week 3. And sorry international grosses ain’t gonna save this sinking turd.
Can we finally say Len Wiseman has no clothes? The guy is Teflon. Makes one crappy movie after another and studios are still dying to hand him their biggest-budget movies.
Paranorman was mediocre. It had so much potential, and went nowhere with it. It was like an adult(s) sat down and tried to write a movie that parents wanted to take their kids to see. But not like early Pixar, where the movie was good. More of a, “geez, I need to kill 90 minutes, so what can I take the kids to see while I check my emails on my phone” scenario. Shameless cash grab targeted at an audience that is not at all discerning.
Agreed. A lot of brilliance in design and tone with a pretty dull effort in the script department. Laika’s a cool studio but they ought to take more than a few pages from Pixar’s script and focus on story.
Wow, after not only upgrading Arnold and Willis to big roles but also adding Van Daam and Norris to the cast, this film managed to lose 5 million of opening gross from the original?
I’ll be honest, that’s shocking to me. Especially considering this is basically Arnold’s return role. I couldn’t see anyway this film was going to come in under 40 million after the first did 35 million
Well, that’s your career as a BO prognosticator done. Do you work for Cinemascore?
Cinemascores tell us NOTHING. I don’t know why anyone continues to use them. They clearly have not been a reliable indicator of long term success — or failure. It is silly that they continue to be trotted out week to week (not just here but in other outlets) like they actually tell us something.
Cinemascores are heavily skewed by the ‘just-seen’ factor meaning that more films are right at the bottom of the sale and more right at the top. The other problem is that the events right at the end of the movie have a larger impact. That’s why The Box, The Devil Inside and Solaris got Fs, despite only one being a terrible mopvie.
Expendables is still strong for sequel, I guess LionsGate will be calling in Part 3 for Summer 2014.
I had no idea Sparkle came out this weekend! Why is it not all over the news? You’d think they’d be all ready to capitalize on Ms. Houston again.
Expendables 2 was the most fun I’ve had at the movies all summer.
Stuff all the bloated comic book takes, this was fast-paced, and incredibly fun – anchored by some really bright chemistry between the stars.
Where this is a MARKED improvement on the original is in the action choreography – which is much more refined, clear and satisfying this time around.
After a disappointing summer on the whole, kudos to Sly and the crew for delivering.
So now both Whitney and her film career are dead.
Well THIS is an idiotic post. How would her film career NOT have been dead after Sparkle? She’s not around to make another one, so no crap.
No, I think your post tops it.
Are you going to say the same about Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones.
There movie made about the same amount over 5 days. I don’t recall seeing headlines of failure for them. But this film made 14 million over the weekend. I find if interesting that some actors/actresses get attacked for BO number results and others not at all.
Expendables 2 got universally better reviews than Bourne and the audience reaction bears that out. Why is anyone surprised it’s #1? Looks like a bunch of commentators on here know less than they think they do.
In my area The Expendables 2 sold out of 10 showtimes more than a day in advance. With that I am very surprised it will come in less than 30 million. But these are only estimates so hopefully it can have a good Saturday and get closer to 35 million.
They should have called total recall by another name. Clearly the world didn’t want a remake. Even though it’s decent.
I do not understand why people on here cannot see the appeal of the Expendables franchise. My wife ( a hard core indie movie lover) wanted to see it. I’m keen too. And if I was 14 I’d LOVE that film. It’s a cartoon with real actors, and a parade of stars. Um, so was the Avengers folks.
I’m delirious that ‘Timothy Green’ is underperforming. That film is actually more cynical and insulting to the intellect than Expendables 2!
Also, we can bury Bourne Legacy and Total Recall now right?
Sparkle seems weak to me as well. I would have expected something over $20m with little competition and it being Whitney Houston’s last movie, it should have attracted a bigger African-American audience.
Huntley, you are SO correct and the question is why. filmmaking aside, there’s nothing in the film for AA’s to get excited about. People do not love Whitney the way they loved Michael Jackson. If the film had opened closer to her death, it may have been different. But now, we’ve all moved on and the prospect of seeing her is kinda sad.
If only there was a way to cultivate real AA talent in this town that’s so bigoted and condescending. Oh wait, there is but who want to dig up that old saw fairness?
Odd Life Of Timothy Green looked ok, but they started the marketing for that one way wwwwaaaayyyy too early. Should have either come out much sooner or they should have started the marketing later.
Damn, TDKR is about to cross the 900 million mark this weekend, internationally… This is without: China, Italy, Greece, and few other markets the film hasn’t opened yet! Not shabby for a film that unfortunately was overshadowed with the tragic shooting event and competing with the Olympics, and not capitalizing on 3D like Avengers did, and they had IMAX.
Tim Green seemed to be the big drawer at the theatre I was at last night in the flyover heartland. Wildly mixed reviews for that movie. Maybe WOM will make it a people’s champion.
Yes, I think opening in 7th place puts it in prime position to make huge bucks.
Listen guys. Somewhat disappointing to see the fun and entertaining “Expendable 2″ not do as well as the original because this entry is much better but it will do fine at the box office. Some trackers are already saying it will come in at around $90m when it ends its domestic run and just like the first film most of its money will come from the foreign market. “TDKR” is also doing just fine and still has push. Trackers are projecting the marvelous “TDKR” to do over $1B since they still have China and Italy to open. Trackers are estimating a final domestic run of $442-448m. If it holds that would put TDKR at #7 all time domestic box office and worldwide somewhere in the upper ten list all time. Not bad with the hurdles TDKR has had to overcome.
Expendables’ gross isn’t that surprising. Most fans knew in advance that the screentime of Arnold, Bruce, and Chuck wouldn’t amount to anything more than extended cameos. So aside from Van Damme, it’s essentially the same cast as the first movie.
The first Expendables was also considered a fairly big disappointment by a lot of action fans (both old and new). It was too modern for an 80s action flick and too silly for a modern thriller. Naturally, there was going to be a lot of skepticism for the sequel.
I suspect it will ultimately do as well as the first- particularly internationally. The Cinemascore is surprisingly high, but it also reflects the reaction of the crowd at my screening. Older fans won’t rush out on opening weekend but, as the legs of the first movie revealed, they will turn out eventually.
Expendables 2 gross was disappointing because it has more action and more actors. Was the will from the first film really that bad?
Paranorman is a tough sell considering the subject but still could have done more.
Sparkle should have done more because you think there would be more of a demand due to Houston’s death.
Odd Life is okay.
Odd Life is APPALLING. The market got this one right.
Just saw EXP 2. Not good, but not bad either.