The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
After three weeks of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises dominating the box office as other summer movies opened to disappointing results, three very different movies opened this weekend, each one performing decently.
Changing gears while trying to revive a franchise without its previous star, The Bourne Legacy (Universal), starring Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz and directed by Tony Gilroy, fared relatively well with $40.3 million in 3,746 theaters, averaging roughly $11,000 per site. That opening falls between the $27 million opening of The Bourne Identity in 2002 and the $52.5 million of its sequel The Bourne Supremacy two years later. The movie was originally going to open in the first weekend of August but was pushed back earlier this summer, which turned out to be a smart move, since it gave it more space after the release of the anticipated Batman sequel. Internationally, the movie opened in 13 territories in Asia and Eastern Europe adding another $7.8 million in 694 theaters to bring its worldwide total $48.1 million for its first weekend.
Offering solid competition, Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis squared off in Jay Roach’s political comedy The Campaign (Warner Bros.), which settled for second place with $27.4 million in 3,200 theaters, averaging $8,500 per venue.
After three weeks at #1, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.) gave someone else a chance, dropping 45% to #3 in its fourth weekend, bringing in $19.5 million to take its total to $390.1 million.
Another superstar pairing that paid off was bringing together Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep and Steve Carell for the adult comedy Hope Springs (Sony), which opened moderately on Wednesday, grossing roughly $4.4 million in its first two days, then added another $15.6 million over the weekend to take fourth place with $20 million in five days.
Showing how poor word-of-mouth was for Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall (Sony), starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale, the movie dropped a whopping 68% to end up beneath Fox’s family film Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days in their respective second weekends. The latter brought in roughly $8.2 million to take fifth place with a 10-day total of $30.5 million. Total Recall fell short with $8.1 million for sixth place with $44 million grossed so far. It added another $18.7 million overseas where it expanded to 38 markets, bringing its worldwide gross to $71.7 million.
The animated family comedy Ice Age: Continental Drift (20th Century Fox) continues to do well during its theatrical run, dropping just 22% in its fifth weekend to take seventh place with $6.7 million with a five-week gross of $144 million domestically. It has grossed $623.6 million overseas, making it the third-highest grossing animated film internationally.
Seth McFarlane’s comedy Ted took eighth place with $3.3 million and has reached an impressive total of $210 million.
In its third weekend, Step Up Revolution (Summit Entertainment) took in $2.9 million for ninth place, while the ensemble comedy The Watch (20th Century Fox) plummeted to 10th place with $2.2 million, down 66% in its third weekend. Both of them have grossed roughly $30 to 31 million.
After two weekends with the box office being down from last year, this weekend’s Top 10 grossed roughly $134 million, which was right on par with the same weekend last year when Rise of the Planet of the Apes (20th Century Fox) topped the box office with $27.8 million followed closely by The Help, opening in second place with $26 million.
Opening in 800 theaters on Wednesday, the MTV-featured stunt team of Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D failed to find the success of its big brother Jackass in theaters, grossing just $2.2 million in its first five days and just over half that amount over the weekend to end up outside the Top 12.
As far as the main limited releases, Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in New York (Magnolia), co-starring Chris Rock, opened in two New York City theaters to the tune of $27,000, while Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer (Variance Films) brought in $42,000 in four theaters.
Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.
