Weekend Box Office Report: May 15-17: The Demons Beat the Angels

Two years ago, around this same time, director, Ron Howard
and novelist, Dan Brown, unleashedThe Da Vinci Code on the planet.  It pulled in about $77 million in North
America and blew away everyone’s expectations.  The book itself was a phenomenon and that spilled over onto
the screen and across the planet.  That said, people may have flocked to see it but they didn’t leave
happy.  Howard and Brown are back
again with Angels & Demons but it seems to me that despite their angelic
efforts, the demonic taste their last outing left in people’s mouths has
ultimately won out.

Angels & Demons has brought in an estimated $48 million
in returns but that is a far cry from the opening gross of its
predecessor.  Reviews for both the
book and the film were better this time out but there was no urgency this time
out.  Still, the haul was still
solid and no one call Angels & Demons a disappointment.  This is especially true when you factor
in the international returns.  Angels & Demons, the continued adventures of Tom Hanks as supreme
symbologist, Robert Langdon, pulled in a little over $104 million in 96
countries to easily capture the international crown with a total of $152.3
million.  Not to take away from
this success but The Da Vinci Code did bring is $155 million internationally
and a grand total of $232 million.  I’ll stop harping; Angels & Demons is not The Da Vinci Code after
all and fans can also appreciate that because it is definitely a better film
too.

Howard, Hanks and Brown (not a law firm) only narrowly
captured the top position in North America as last week’s champ, Star Trek,
came in just behind with $43 million.  A 42% drop for a fan heavy summer blockbuster is extremely respectable.  This is especially true when you
consider the 65%+ drop of Wolverine in its second weekend.  Wolverine tapered off this week with
only a 44% drop but in just two weeks, Star Trek has nearly totaled more than Wolverine has in three weeks ($147 million vs. $151).

As there were no other debuts in the Top 10, which did about
4% better than the same weekend last year when Prince Caspian debuted with $55
million, we can go straight to the excitement happening below it.  The oft delayed, The Brothers Bloom, starring
Adrian Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz, finally came out and actually did
well.  It didn’t capture the honor
of having the highest per screen average around but it did fare better than Angels & Demons, with an average of over $20K on just 4 screens.  The highest per screen average around
actually went to French export, Summer Hours, starring Juliette Binoche.  The film in which siblings let go of
their past during an estate sale pulled in over $24K per screen on just 2
screens.  This week’s only other
major platform debut was a disappointing finish for the Steve Zahn/Jennifer
Aniston indie, Management.  The
film debuted on 212 screens and brought in less than $2K per screen.  Promotion was pretty minimal though so
I guess that was what management expected.

NEXT WEEK: Angels & Demons does not stand a chance
against the overcrowded weekend that is coming.  First off, on the smaller fare front, The Brothers Bloom will expand.  Steven Soderbergh’s
brilliant and beautiful, The Girlfriend Experience hits 30 screens across the
country.  And Jessica Biel debuts
her British farce, Easy Virtue.  When it comes to bigger moves, I think the biggest casualty will be the
Wayans Brothers spoof, Dance Flick (2300 screens).  It’s going to come down to two intensely different movies
battling it out for the top spot.  Ben Stiller returns in Night at the Museum 2 (4000 screens), hoping to repeat the long-term
success of his first family hit.  McG and Christian Bale though are back with a reenergized franchise on
Thursday as Terminator Salvation (3500 screens) finally declares war on the multiplexes.

Weekend Top 10