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Posted August 13, 2012 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Weekend Box Office: A Legacy Continues as The Bourne Legacy Opens On Top

Could the Bourne series survive without star Matt Damon? Quite possibly…though rising star Jeremy Renner has proven himself quite handily in other films (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Avengers), his The Bourne Legacy has not performed as well with critics as the previous Bourne films. It did have the third highest opening of the four films, earning an estimated $40.3 million, and held off the better received political comedy The Campaign, which ended up with an estimated $27.4 million. The Dark Knight Rises finally fell from its lofty position with an estimated $19.5 million, though a domestic total of $390.1 million in four weeks (and $835.4 million worldwide) is no cause for alarm. As it stands, The Avengers towers well above in the 2012 superhero arena, though The Dark Knight Rises remains head and shoulders above The Amazing Spider-Man, which landed in tenth place this week with an estimated $2.2 million (though at a worldwide gross of $690.6 million is no slouch, either).

For more mature audiences (but at a PG-13 rating, not mature in that way), Hope Springs opened on a Wednesday to some modest gains, but with an estimated $15.6 million over three days and $20.1 million overall, the title is apt for the $30 million-budgeted romantic comedy. To boot, it is getting decent enough reviews to put it into potential profitability soon. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days has survived its poor reviews, its estimated $8.2 million this weekend giving it $30.6 million domestically and putting it over its $22 million production costs. Not so good is Total Recall, the $125 million remake tumbling from its second-place spot last week for sixth and an estimated $8.1 million. Not even foreign box office is giving it the pep it needs, with its worldwide take amounting only to $71.7 million so far.

Ice Age: Continental Drift surpassed $144.1 million domestically with an estimated $6.8 million, but its success here is far outweighed by its foreign box office, its $764.6 million worldwide smashing its closest rival Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted by over $200 million. Ted, on the other hand, is doing just fine without its foreign box office (which is not too bad either), its estimated $3.3 million adding to a $209.9 million domestic box office, profitable well beyond its modest $50 million budget. Step Up Revolution cornered ninth with an estimated $2.8 million, and is highly unlikely to be as popular as its predecessors as it nears the break even point, only $3 million shy of its $33 million costs. And finally, The Watch has a tentative tie with The Amazing Spider-Man with an estimated $2.2 million, though it is hard to say which will come out on top in the end; though The Watch has the advantage of being a newer film, it also suffers from current box office performance and much, much poorer reviews than The Amazing Spider-Man.

Weekend Box-Office (August 10th – August 12th)

  1. The Bourne Legacy…$40.3 million
  2. The Campaign…$27.4 million
  3. The Dark Knight Rises…$19.5 million
  4. Hope Springs…$15.6 million
  5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days…$8.2 million
  6. Total Recall…$8.1 million
  7. Ice Age: Continental Drift…$6.8 million
  8. Ted…$3.3 million
  9. Step Up Revolution…$2.8 million
  10. The Amazing Spider-Man…$2.2 million
  11. The Watch…$2.2 million
Seth Paul

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."