chris_sc77

Well, the Dark Knight is of course opening to huge feakin' numbers. Not much surprise there.
$66+ million Friday opening and should end up with Over $150 million for the weekend.
Hellboy II looks to have a huge 70+% drop.
Mamma Mia turned out to be quite a successful counter-programming technique against Bats.
Friday numbers:

1. THE DARK KNIGHT $66,400,000
2.MAMMA MIA! $9,627,000
3. HANCOCK $4,550,000
4. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH $3,590,000
5. HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY $3,164,000
6. WALL-E $3,000,000
7. SPACE CHIMPS $2,450,000
8. WANTED $1,569,000
9. GET SMART $1,230,000
10. MEET DAVE $555,000

outcastja

I had a good feeling it would beat Spidey's record despite it's dark tone and long running time. What's more impressive it did this against a lot of competition. Imagine if it was the first summer movie released this year, it could have passed 70 mill opening day.

thelwig14

I would just like to thank Bale, Nolan, Damon, Liman, Greengrass, Craig, Apatow, etc... for making amazing, profitable adult audience oriented movies again.

Matthew Chmiel

Liman? Seriously?

Arpeggi

Liman? Seriously?

thelwig14

I totally agree with you, he is awful and has proven to be a 2 trick pony (imo), but I won't ever discredit what he did to usher in the era of Bourne and a serious, R rated action/adventure/etc... movie for adults that made a profit. He set the table for Greengrass to deliver the steak. I don't think anyone can dispute his contributions to the Bourne franchise and to adult oriented movies being wanted again.

mdc3000

^The Bourne movies are PG-13 affairs, not R rated action flicks. I don't hate Liman, but I thought the first Bourne flick was average at best and it was Greengrass who really brought something new and fresh to the plate.

thelwig14

Rating is irrelevant, the tone is more important. I disagree on the last part. Greengrass added, but they are all strong.

Matthew Chmiel

Greengrass didn't add. Greengrass re-established and made better.

And the only two solid, good films Liman has made has been Go and Swingers.

maingon

Too bad for Hellboy, Why did they release it now? Batman attracts the same audience that would see Hellboy. They made a mistake releasing it the week before Batman

Daytripper

Back to the box-office news, I'm disgusted that a piece of shit like "Hancock" (and yes, I saw it) continues to make money, and the gazillion times better and more imaginative "Hellboy II" fails to find an audience.


EXCLUSIVE FANTASY MOGULS EARLY 3-DAY ESTIMATES
1. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros) - $157M, $35,960 PTA, $157M cume
2. Mamma Mia (Universal) - $28M, $9,409 PTA, $28M cume
3. Hancock (Sony) - $14.3M, $3,787 PTA, $191.8M cume
4. Journey To the Center of the Earth (Warner Bros) - $11.15M, $3,940 PTA, $42.31M cume
5. WALL-E (Disney) - $11M, $3,325 PTA, $183.66M cume
6. Hellboy II (Universal) - $9M, $2,802 PTA, $55.4M cume
7. Space Chimps (Fox) - $8M, $3,186 PTA, $8M cume
8. Wanted (Universal) - $6.68M, $2,749 PTA, $124.93M cume
9. Get Smart (Warner Bros) - $3.8M, $1,780 PTA, $119.28M cume
10. Meet Dave (Fox) - $2.31M, $770 PTA, $10.05M cume

chris_sc77

Fox sure is hurting this month. Maybe X-files will change that next week but with that films advertising I dont know.

Artman

I knew HB2 didn't open big enough last wk... talk about a movie being given a free pass (both in reviews and declared BO success) In the end, it'll only end up with the same adjusted gross as the first, hardly worth a third movie imo.

Even if TDK falls fast, I think 350+ million is a lock. Awesome!

PopcornTreeCt

Is Craig, Daniel Craig?

mcnabb

I am so glad this movie is kicking ass, and I hope TDK finishes #1 this year. I hope this changes the summer blockbuster, especially comic book movies, so in the future they stop making these cheesy paint by numbers movies that try to appeal to the kiddies. You can make a good, exciting movie in this genre that kids can enjoy, but you don't have to cater to them. You think Studios would have realized this after the successes of Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders, Superman I, and Back to the Future all finishing #1 in their respective release years, but lately the studios have worried about whether the little kiddies were going to be able to see these summer movies.

mdc3000

I agree with this statement, but your first point was that he ushered in adult, R rated action...

raven56706

i hope Batman finishes ontop this year... its by far the best movie right now... with action and a very strong script.... its the total package

chris_sc77

^And PG rated kids movies have been some of the biggest bombs of the year I might add.
Speed Racer, Meet Dave and Space Chimps.

MartinBlank

Maybe to get the spill over from sold out screening of TDK? I almost hit the situation last night. Before they told me that they had 2 tickets returned I had contemplated going to see Hellboy.

Trevor

I don't think I've seen any advertising. I go to two or three movies a week, and have only seen the trailer once.

Seantn

I've seen the X-Files trailer twice in theaters and about 5 tv spots on television.

Mr. Cinema

Hellboy goes from #1 to #5 this week. OUCH.

Mr. Cinema

The Dark Knight is going to pass Batman Begins' theatrical total in a few days. Um, wow.

clemente

I don't want to pee in anyone's Kool-Aid - but HB2 was given a pretty sizeable marketing push (maybe more so than the first) and had the Del Toro halo - maybe that's the peak of Hellboy's B.O. appeal?

Seantn

There's no maybe about it. He doesn't have the appeal of Batman or bigger comic book guys. I like the movies, but I guess not enough people are into him to warrant further sequels. I'm sure it'll do well internationally and on DVD.