Retro IONCINEMA.com
Weekend Box Office Report: July 18 to July 21: A Bright Weekend for a Dark Knight
Weekend Top 10
| # | Title | GROSS | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
| 1 | The Dark Knight | $155.3M | NEW | 4,366 | 1 | 35,579 | 155.3M | Warner Bros. |
| 2 | Mamma Mia! | $27.6M | NEW | 2,976 | 1 | 9,275 | $27.6M | Universal |
| 3 | Hancock | $14.0M | -56.4 | 3,776 | 3 | 3,707 | $191.5M | Sony |
| 4 | Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D | $11.9M | -43.3 | 2,830 | 2 | 4,208 | $43.1M | New Line |
| 5 | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | $10.0M | -70.9 | 3,212 | 2 | 3,125 | $56.4M | Universal |
| 6 | WALL-E | $9.8M | -47.8 | 3,310 | 4 | 2,964 | $182.5M | Buena Vista |
| 7 | Space Chimps | $7.4M | NEW | 2,511 | 1 | 2,927 | $7.4M | Fox |
| 8 | Wanted | $5.1M | -57.5 | 2,433 | 4 | 2,094 | $123.3M | Universal |
| 9 | Get Smart | $4.1M | -43.3 | 2,135 | 5 | 1,913 | $119.6M | Warner Bros |
| 10 | Kung Fu Panda | $1.8M | -60.3 | 1,505 | 7 | 1,162 | $206.5M | Dreamworks |
I was telling a friend of mine that The Dark Knight had beaten Spider-Man 3 this weekend to claim the title of best 3-day
opening weekend of all time. His
response, big deal. Apparently,
he’s heard enough of box office record breakers. It seems that every weekend some new movie has claimed the
title of best R-rated, live action July opening for a non-sequel in a language
other than English. It’s a shame
really because all these box office boys calling wolf makes it hard to spot the
real deal when it happens. And the
records set by The Dark Knight this past weekend are definitely the real deal.
The Dark Knight,
directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale and the late Heath
Ledger, set one record before it even began its Thursday night midnight
screenings. Playing on 4,366
screens across North America, The Dark Knight had the widest release of all time, besting the
previous record by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which launched on 4,362 screens. The film then broke another record
before its official launch date. Pulling in over $18.5 million from its Thursday midnight screenings, The
Dark Knight bested the $16.9 million taken
in from midnight showings by Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of
the Sith. And that didn’t even include the extra screenings movie
houses added at 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM to accommodate for the demand.
Going into its first official day of release with its head
held very high, The Dark Knight then
took in an unprecedented first day tally of $66.4 million (including the
overnight screenings). These
numbers bested the record for one-day take previously held by Spider-Man
3, which took in $59.8 million on its
first day in theatres. Prognosticators expected The Dark Knight to do well before the weekend started (you’d have
to be pretty daft not to have figured that out) but it was not expected to
shatter record for all-time best opening weekend. Spider-Man 3 claimed that title last summer when it opened to an awesome $151.9 million but
the bar has now been bumped up that much higher as The Dark Knight estimates have come in at $155.4 million.
Yes, folks, movies other than The Dark Knight played in theatres this weekend. Musical Mamma Mia! found its own following, taking in $27.6 million,
narrowly besting the opening weekend take of last year’s sleeper hit, Hairspray. Space Chimps couldn’t pull any monkey love away
from WALL-E, earning a scant
$7.4 million.
NEXT WEEKEND: The Dark Knight faces some reasonable competition but should remain victorious. Well, I guess every X-phile could leave
their basement for The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Or
maybe people are truly desperate to see grown men, Will Ferrell and John C.
Reilly act like prepubescent punks in Step Brothers … I mean, we’ve NEVER seen that before!
