Box Office Roundup
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 10th, 2008
The Dark Knight continues to rule the box office as it takes the number one position for the fourth weekend in a row, the first time any 2008 release has achieved this. Its estimated haul of $26,030,000 pushes its domestic take to $441,541,000, faster than any movie in history.
In its second weekend Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped -60.2%, taking in just $16,113,000. With a total of $70,671,000, it chugs along although there has to be some concern that bad word of mouth, poor reviews and steep drop off may mean the franchise is running out of steam despite director Rob Cohen already talking a fourth film.
Brendan Fraser’s other film, Journey to the Center of the Earth, has continued to steadily add to its totals, taking in $4,855,000, totaling $81,759,000. It’s 27.1% drop off is modest especially given its five weeks in the theaters. Doing even better is Will Smith’s Hancock which added $3.3 million for a total of $221,709,000. This just demonstrates Will Smith’s staying power considering the impressive total despite zero buzz in the wake of its release. It has even outperformed Disney’s Wall*E, the family-friendly Pixar production. It opened a week earlier but has just $210,112,000 to show for it but we suspect it will easily outperform Hancock on home video.
Fox’s disappointing summer continues as The X-Files: I Want to Believe slips to 13th place after two weeks in release. The disappointing Space Chimps even outperformed it, taken eleventh place. X-Files found just $1,175,000 among believers while the animated chimp film grabbed $1,650,000.
In between those films sits Universal’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army which has clearly outperformed its predecessor; its total now $73,538,000 after adding 1,254,000 this weekend. The studio’s Wanted is just about finished, bringing home just $748,000, nearly finishing its run with a nice but unremarkable $132,616,000.
As for the super-heroes, Iron Man is nearly out of gas as it completes its second run in advance of its DVD debut September 30. Its $316,448,000 will likely make it one of the year’s top 10 films and the surprise hit of the season. The Hulk’s haul of just $133,823,000 puts it ahead of the Ang Lee film but clearly not what Universal had hoped for.
Brad Anderson’s Transsiberian now has $207,000 on just 14 screens nationwide while Lionsgate’s Midnight Meat Train saw just $14,700 from 79 screens. The lack of faith from the releasing company and the poor reviews clearly doomed the Clive Barker adaptation.
