Box Office Roundup
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 3rd, 2008
After a strong Friday showing, it looked as if The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor might topple The Dark Knight from the top of the box office. However, mostly negative reviews seem to have scared enough people away so it opened at number two for the weekend. It took in a healthy $42,450,000, under Universal’s estimates, but was beaten by Batman, who brought an additional $43,800,000 to Gotham City. The film now has earned a total of $394,887,000 in just three weeks and will clear the $400 million hurdle any minute now.
Showing surprising durability, Brendan Fraser’s other summer film, Journey to the Center of the Earth finished its fourth week in fifth place, taking in $6,875,000, totaling $73,140,000.
Returning films did all right, led by Hancock, grabbing another $5,200,000, totaling a strong $215,995,000 after five weeks proving Will Smith’s audience remains loyal. Disney’s Wall*E compacted an additional $4,747,000 with $204,222,000 already in the bank.
Dropping to ninth place in only its second week is The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Fox’s latest disappointment. The 65.8% drop-off means the film will has been ignored by all but the diehard fans which are clearly not numerous enough. The take was just $3,425,000 and has just $17,060,000 to show for its efforts. The studio’s Space Chimps did $2,840,000 worth of business but its cumulative take of $22,091,000 is not what they had hoped for.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army, with another $2,527,000 earned, continues to chug past the original, showing $71,273,000 after four weeks. Finally slowing down is Universal’s other summer release, Wanted, nabbing $1,257,000 and a total of $131,338,000, certifying it as a hit although a modest one.
The May releases continue their gentle glide down the charts with Iron Man now in the second run theaters. It earned $561,000, pushing its total to an invincible $315,668,000. The Incredible Hulk is just now passing the mark earned by the Ang Lee version, totaling $133,289,000 after this weekend’s take of $484,000. Paramount should be pleased with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull earning $359,000, which brings its total to $314,331,000.
Lionsgate’s Midnight Meat Train opened on only a few screens and has an opening weekend haul of just $32,000 while the just-expanding Transsiberian is now up to $125,000 with a 13% uptick over last weekend.
