The box office results for the weekend of August 10th – 12th sees two newbies mustering up more than enough strength to knock off The Dark Knight Rises from its dominating 4-week perch. Also showing some promising Hope is a tiny dramedy (comedy/drama) starring three marquee performers. Here are the studio estimates:
1. The Bourne Legacy ($40.2 million)
2. The Campaign ($27.4 million)
3. The Dark Knight Rises ($19.5 million)
4. Hope Springs ($14.6 million)
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days ($8.2 million)
6. Total Recall 2012 ($8.1 million)
7. Ice Age: Continental Drift ($6.7 million)
8. Ted ($3.2 million)
9. Step Up Revolution ($2.8 million)
10. The Watch ($2.2 million)
Analysis
Universal Pictures finds itself on top after The Bourne Legacy managed a respectable opening. Going with a new set of characters and a promotional campaign that attempted to lure audiences in with an evolving storyline from the first three installments, the studio has to be pleased at this point; for it was a risk to continue this franchise with out its titular star, Matt Damon. Still, the flick rang up a $125 million production bill and will more than likely need a strong assist overseas, where it has performed well in the past. Next weekend will be telling since the lovely critics and word-of-mouth has been less than stellar.
The Campaign ended up being a pleasant surprise for Warner Bros. Produced for about $56 million, the tag-team comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis may have over-achieved when factoring in its R-rating and limited promotion. With Ted having run its course in theaters and The Watch bombing, moviegoers were feening for some straight-forward crude laughs. And with no direct genre competition on tap for a couple weeks, this could end up snagging more monetary votes than originally thought.
Speaking of Ted, it currently has the longest streak in the top ten with 7 weeks. Domestically, it is now up to $209.9 million.
The Dark Knight Rises dropped a bit more than expected probably, but that’s mainly due to Warner Bros. slowly pulling it out of theaters (552 this past weekend). But, it should be noted that its weekday grosses have been fairly strong and steady. Right now, it has jumped to $390.1 million, putting it at #15 on the all-time domestic chart.
Total Recall 2012 took a beatdown and dropped 68% in week #2. It’s not that bad, folks.
Hope Springs opened this past Wednesday and clearly banked on the star power of Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell. Now up to just over $20 million stateside, this week’s “little guy” should be able to hang around and not have to sweat too much about the production budget of $30 million.
This week, there’s an assortment of flicks dropping hoping to squeeze whatever dollars they can out of the last few weeks of the summer movie season. On Wednesday, Disney release The Odd Life of Timothy Green. The standard issued Friday docket has The Expendables 2, an animation in ParaNorman, a musical/drama titled, Sparkle, and a dark horse in the limited release called Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson. Reviews will be right here my fellow shockers!
