CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box Office: The Dark Knight Need Not Rise; Stays Well Ahead of Competition

Seth Paul

While it was not the Avengers-killer that DC was hoping it would be, director Christopher Nolan still brought in big numbers with The Dark Knight Rises, which, with an estimated $36.4 million this weekend, puts its on solid footing as the third most domestically successful film of 2012, and at $733 million in worldwide sales is doing well pretty much everywhere it is being shown. Total Recall, the remake of the cult classic Arnold Schwarzenegger film, did little to dethrone it, its estimated $26 million not a good start to a film getting cold critical reception and cost $125 million to make. While no big winner either, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days had much less ground to make up. In a distant third with an estimated $14.7 million, it only has to make up a $22 million budget cost, which by the average weekly decline means that it is likely to make that back long before Total Recall does.

Ice Age: Continental Drift got pushed from the top three with an estimated $8.4 million, and while it has reached $131.9 million domestically, it has done phenomenal business worldwide, earning $715.9 million overall. To compare, Pixar’s Brave, a much better received film, is in ninth this week with an estimated $2.9 million and $223.3 million domestically, but languishes in the foreign market with only $118 million coming from overseas box office and remains Pixar’s most disappointing outing. In the fifth and sixth place spots, for-the-adults-only comedies The Watch and Ted earned estimates of $6.4 million and $5.5 million respectively. Overall, The Watch is doing poorly with $25.4 million (against a $66 million budget) in two weeks compared to Ted’s $203.4 million in six (on a $50 million budget).

Step Up Revolution is faltering at the box office, its estimated $5.3 million still keeping it well below its surprisingly modest $33 million budget, and even in worldwide sales has not come close to breaking into triple digits, which the rest of the Step Up franchise has done. The Amazing Spider-Man, too, still lags behind its predecessors, but with an estimated $4.3 million for the weekend and $677.7 million in worldwide gross, it is one of those times when being fourth does not seem quite so bad.

At the bottom, Magic Mike held onto the tenth spot with an estimated $1.4 million, but nobody is sad over its performance; even without a current foreign box office release, it has made back its money and then some, with $110.9 million made on a $7 million budget. It may not be director Steven Soderbergh’s most successful film, but it certainly can count itself among his most profitable.

Weekend Box-Office (August 3rd – August 5th)

  1. The Dark Knight Rises…$36.4 million
  2. Total Recall…$26 million
  3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days…$14.7 million
  4. Ice Age: Continental Drift…$8.4 million
  5. The Watch…$6.4 million
  6. Ted…$7.4 million
  7. Step Up Revolution…$5.3 million
  8. The Amazing Spider-Man…$4.3 million
  9. Brave…$2.9 million
  10. Magic Mike…$1.4 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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