Fielding Mellish

The 75% drop for that p.o.s. Wolverine sure sounds about right...

movieguru

The Dark Knight only made that much money due to the death of Heath Ledger. Otherwise the total would have only been half what it was. The sequel to Star Trek may do better, but you can't compare it to the boost that TDK got from a fluke incident.

MBoyd

^ I don't believe that all. If that's the case the Terry Gilliam film is going to be a blockbuster.

invisiblegt

It most definitely was the case. With the Gilliam film, the death will be quite some time in the past, where in the instance of The Dark Knight, the death was still fresh in people's minds (and talk of an Oscar had people curious).

I, for one, know of multiple people who blatantly stated that, while they had absolutely no interest in seeing a Batman film, they were going simply because of Heath Ledger.

Without his death, the film would have been a blockbuster, but nowhere near the realm it achieved.

Patman

Puh-lease, Ledger's death might have spiked the attendance in the first few weekends, but not the long long box office legs TDK showed throughout the summer and into the fall of 2008.

RichC2

Ledger's death helped raise the profile of the movie a bit, but no his death is not what triggered it's massive grosses. That said, the legs bit is a little strange to mention, the movie made $350m by the end of day 14 and was at $415m by the end of day 21.

That said, it's pure speculation. If a horrible movie like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest can make $423m (w/ $135m opening) then a great movie like The Dark Knight is more than capable of making $533m with or without a major star dying. Similarly, Spider-man 3 which was just terrible made $151m opening weekend with nothing to go off of.

MBoyd

Heath Ledger just wasn't a big enough star for something like that. Now God forbid if something happened to Brad Pitt before Inglorious Basterds . . .

Hokeyboy

People who claim TDK made mega $$$ because of the Heath Ledger's death = People who claim Titanic made mega $$$ because of 14 year old girls.

i.e. using anecdotal observation as absolute fact. It's all horseshit.

fumanstan

14 year old girls helped Titanic make far more money then people watching TDK because of Ledger

cranberries fan

Man enough with The Dark Knight already back to Star Trek who's got numbers for today? or saturday please!

GuessWho

RichC2

Movie made $24 on Friday, $26 on Saturday, should make $68m for the 3 day, $75m for the 3.5 day (since the "Midnight" showings occured at 8pm Thursday they do not count for the weekend total. This is actually a huge disadvantage for records sake. But it's still money in Paramount's pocket so they could care less.)

resinrats

I think Star Trek will still be #1 next weekend. Angels & Demons just doesn't seem to be something tons will flock to. Yes, it is a sequel to DaVinci Code but A&D never had the hype over the book that DaVinci Code had.

Terminitator will be #1 its weekend though.

Torchur317

That won't happen....

RichC2

I agree. Angels and Demons will make north of $60m (Da Vinci opened at $77m). Star Trek will probably hold up very well, but even with a 40% drop (low for any movie, esp. a big summer flick) it's still at $40.8m. Trek will likely remain the most flat out entertaining movie of the summer, but Iron Man was pegged similarly last year and still dropped nearly 50% on weekend 2 (though it opened to $100m.)

Dusty Bottoms

You may be right, but I really think that Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian will beat it. The first Night At The Museum did over $250 million domestic while T3 only did about $150 million, and Night At The Museum 2 is the first big "family" movie of the summer. Then again, NatM may suffer the same fate as Prince Caspian - a sequel to a big Christmas release doesn't perform as well in May. I wouldn't be surprised to see it top Terminator though.

RichC2

That will be a very high grossing weekend at the theaters. Though those two combined probably still won't make a Dark Knight ($158m) or Spider-man 3 ($151m).

BullGooseLoony

Thank you. It's bullshit. A film doesn't make a BILLION dollars worldwide because people are curious about an actor's death.

A lot of people loved Bernie Mac, but no one went to see Soul Men.

OldBoy

i make ridiculous statments, but this one truly is. $250+ million just because a still rising star died = no.

Shannon Nutt

The AP is reporting $76.5 million for the weekend.

superdeluxe

You saw 35-36 million estimates? The highest I saw was 32 million.

superdeluxe

Huge Number. Star Trek is back as a viable franchise again.

Deftones

yeah, the first info I saw was projected just a shade over $35 million. then that was revised downwards a bit later in the day.

RichC2

Weekend Estimates -- $76.5 Thurs - Sun for Trek, 68.3% drop for Wolves.

1 N Star Trek Par. $72,500,000 - 3,849 - $18,836 $76,500,000 - 1
2 1 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Fox $27,000,000 -68.3% 4,102 +3 $6,582 $129,624,000 $150 2
3 2 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past WB (NL) $10,450,000 -32.2% 3,175 - $3,291 $30,246,000 - 2
4 3 Obsessed SGem $6,600,000 -45.2% 2,602 +88 $2,537 $56,247,000 $20 3
5 4 17 Again WB $4,405,000 -30.8% 2,903 -352 $1,517 $54,167,000 - 4
6 N Next Day Air Sum. $4,000,000 - 1,138 - $3,515 $4,000,000 - 1
7 6 The Soloist P/DW $3,605,000 -36.2% 2,090 +57 $1,725 $23,501,000 - 3
8 5 Monsters Vs. Aliens P/DW $3,379,000 -41.8% 2,185 -441 $1,546 $186,892,000 $175 7
9 7 Earth (2009) BV $2,488,000 -42.7% 1,794 -10 $1,387 $26,086,000 - 3
10 8 Hannah Montana The Movie BV $2,414,000 -42.0% 2,301 -518 $1,049 $74,083,000 - 5
11 9 Fighting Rog. $2,146,000 -46.5% 1,933 -379 $1,110 $20,589,000 - 3
12 10 State of Play Uni. $1,988,000 -46.5% 1,541 -904 $1,290 $34,056,000 - 4
13 11 Fast and Furious Uni. $1,317,000 -52.3% 1,409 -1,138 $935 $151,862,000 $85 6
14 14 I Love You, Man P/DW $533,000 -27.8% 407 -278 $1,310 $70,121,000 - 8
15 13 Taken Fox $425,000 -52.6% 385 -109 $1,104 $144,174,000 - 15
16 17 Sunshine Cleaning Over. $280,000 -34.0% 328 -143 $854 $10,888,000 - 9
17 21 Is Anybody There? StIs. $279,000 -4.3% 157 +35 $1,777 $903,000 - 4
18 15 Knowing Sum. $265,000 -53.4% 373 -449 $710 $78,363,000 - 8
19 N Rudo Y Cursi SPC $211,000 - 70 - $3,014 $211,000 - 1
20 18 The Haunting in Connecticut LGF $190,000 -54.3% 303 -300 $627 $55,327,000 - 7
21 12 Battle for Terra LGF $184,000 -83.0% 412 -747 $447 $1,528,000 - 2

Supermallet

That is so awesome. $76 million for Star Trek. Paramount execs must be pleased as punch right now (as must Abrams).

Here's hoping they fast track Star Trek II: Tribble Trouble!