Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder once again nabbed the top spot in the second to last weekend of summer, falling just 38% to $16.1 million in its sophomore frame. Anna Faris's The House Bunny took the No. 2 spot with a solid $15.1 million, while Jason Statham's Death Race disappointed in third with $12.3 million. Two other debuts barely made a dent, including Rainn Wilson's The Rocker. Overall, with one of the most watched Olympic Games in history finally coming to a close Sunday night, the top ten films mustered up $82.6 million, down 2% from last year's comparable frame when Superbad held onto the top spot with $18 million.
Ben Stiller and Co. held onto the top spot with a $16.1 million haul in its second week of release, falling just 38% from its debut. In 12 days the R-rated comedy has shown solid word of mouth on its way to $65.7 million. Budgeted at $90 million, look for the Paramount/DreamWorks release to break $100 million domestic.
Anna Faris's latest comedy The House Bunny beat industry expectations in finishing second with an estimated $15.1 million. Budgeted at a modest $25 million, the Sony comedy averaged $5,564 in 2,714 theaters. Unlike Faris's Scary Movie comedy franchise, a huge percentage of women came out for Bunny (Sony reported that 68% of the audience was female). It was Faris's biggest debut ever for a movie not named Scary Movie. Reviews were mostly poor.
Jason Statham's latest poorly-reviewed actioner, Universal's remake Death Race, opened in third with $12.3 million in 2,532 theaters, averaging $4,855. Based on Death Race 2000, the 1975 cult actioner starring Sylvester Stallone, the R-rated Death Race was Statham's best debut in nearly three years, when 2005's Transporter 2 bowed with $16.5 million. Budgeted at $45 million, Universal may have to look overseas and on DVD to turn a profit on the venture.
The Dark Knight continued its insane march towards $500 million, falling just 37% to $10.3 million in its sixth weekend, bringing its domestic cume to a whopping $489.2 million. At its current pace the $180 million superhero pic could easily surpass $530 million in North America. Internationally the film continues to perform strongly, adding another $34 million bringing its overseas take to $381.2 million. That puts the Caped Crusader's worldwide haul at $870 million. Only three films have ever crossed $1 billion worldwide, Titanic, LOTR: The Return of the King, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Look for The Dark Knight to join that exclusive company by the end of its incredible run.
George Lucas's abomination Star Wars: The Clone Wars fell a top ten worst 61% in its sophomore frame, finishing in fifth with $5.7 million. In ten days, the computer-animated release has grossed $25 million. Released by Warner Bros., the poorly-reviewed pic should finish with a disappointing $35 million domestic.
The Longshots, Ice Cube's feel good sports story about a girl trying out for the football team, rounded out the top ten with a $4 million bow, averaging $1,953 in 2,089 theaters. Reviews were mostly negative.
Rainn Wilson's new comedy The Rocker debuted out of the top ten at No. 12 with $2.75 million, averaging a frightful $988 in 2,784 theaters, posting one of the worst wide release debuts of the last couple of years. The $15m budgeted Fox release should go down as one of the biggest flops of 2008.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Robert Downey Jr. cracks me up... he's got a real knack for not taking himself too seriously
I went and saw The Rocker and really enjoyed it. Rainn Wilson over does it but the music is great and it is a good story of how life goes on and great things can still be in store for you.
Post a Comment