CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box Office: Big Take for Marvel, McFarlane, and Pixar

Seth Paul

Talk about winning streaks…Marvel, already rolling in dough with its major success of The Avengers, opened The Amazing Spider-Man on an off-kilter Tuesday debut. Turns out they may not have needed it: even without that extra cash, it entered at number one on the list with an estimated $65 million. But besides breaking records for Tuesday openers, it actually managed to best its reported $230 million budget in worldwide gross, making $341.6 million in only one week (and while not a top earner compared to recent Marvel efforts or even the previous Spider-Man movies, it still managed to nearly do in one week what X-Men: First Class made in its theatrical lifetime). Not too far behind is the comedy Ted, Seth McFarlane’s tale of a talking teddy bear, which slipped only to second place with an estimated $32.6 million. Ted, in comparison, has been a phenomenal success, making $120.2 million domestically in two weeks over a much more manageable $50 million budget. Brave, the latest Pixar venture, still has ground to make up with its $185 million price tag, picking up third place and an estimated $20.2 million, but despite its popularity in the United States it has failed to take hold overseas, with a scant $36.6 million to show in its foreign box office receipts, making the film barely profitable overall.

Oliver Stone’s tale of sordid romance, drugs, and revenge, Savages, opened in fourth place to mixed reviews and a mixed box office…for such a reputed director and a star-laced cast, it made only an estimated $16.2 million, with little hope to gain better leverage as time marches on. Steven Soderbergh scored much better with his Magic Mike, which did okay in its second week with an estimated $15.6 million, but did so well in its opening weekend that the $7 million drama has already made $72.3 million domestically. And much like Magic Mike, the opening weekend was very good to Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection Program. Despite being blasted with negative reviews, the comedy made only an estimated $10.2 million this weekend, but has already made $45.9 million on a $20 million budget. It is currently the lowest earning film in Tyler Perry’s Madea series, but decidedly average in income when taking all of Perry’s efforts into consideration.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted remains a strong contender even after five weeks, the DreamWorks sequel performed better than might be expected, having topped the original Madagascar in unadjusted domestic gross thanks to its estimated $7.7 million this weekend and a worldwide take of $453.5 million. Katy Perry: Part of Me tried to cash in on the concert movie market, but while the Thursday opening may have made it break even, it has done little else: with an estimated $7.2 million for the three day weekend and $12.6 million in all including overseas box office, it has just barely covered its $12 million production costs. Moonrise Kingdom has done over and above its costs, with the Wes Anderson film making an estimated $4.6 million this weekend, and $38 million worldwide. And breaking into the top ten for the first time, Woody Allen’s new film To Rome with Love opened to wider release in its third week, and despite the estimated $3.5 million that more than doubled its income in the previous two weeks combined, it is still a low earner compared to Allen’s previous efforts, poor reviews notwithstanding.

Weekend Box-Office (July 3rd – July 8th)

  1. The Amazing Spider-Man…$65 million
  2. Ted…$32.6 million
  3. Brave…$20.2 million
  4. Savages…$16.2 million
  5. Magic Mike…$15.6 million
  6. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection Program…$10.2 million
  7. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted…$7.7 million
  8. Katy Perry: Part of Me…$7.2 million
  9. Moonrise Kingdom…$4.6 million
  10. To Rome with Love…$3.5 million

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."
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