box office (32 posts)
Beat Ben @ the Box Office: Big Willie Weekend
Frank Masi / Sony Pictures
It's that time of year: Will Smith season. And the the King of July 4th has another smash hit on his hands with Hancock, costarring Oscar winner Charlize Theron and funnyman Jason Bateman. This is the only major release at the box office over the holiday weekend, and every studio clears a path because, no doubt about it, he's the No. 1 movie star in the world.
In a summer of superheroes, you also have to admire actor-turned-director Peter Berg for bringing us an entirely new character, who doesn't have to cater to both fanboys and mass audiences, or worry about staying true to the source material.
So look for Hancock to bank $127 million over the five-day weekend. Smith goes all-out, and the guy even performed a 45-minute set at his own premiere. (I got a little emotional when he introduced DJ Jazzy Jeff and did "Summertime.")
Don't think Hancock can save the day at the box office this weekend? Then drop your numbers in the comments!
Will Smith Save The Last Action Hancock?
Frank Masi/Sony Pictures
The reviews aren't great. The genre's iffy. Will Smith's the star.
As far as box-office business goes, everything should be fine.
Big things were expected, per usual, of Smith, and his less-than-usual latest, Hancock, opening Wednesday.
"I think it's going to be another Will Smith gigantic opening weekend," says box-office expert Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers.
Dergarabedian predicted Hancock could make $75-$80 million from Friday-Sunday, and expected the film to clear $100 million, easy, over its first five days, from Wednesday-Sunday. An opening of that size would lift Hancock, the tale of an unconventional superhero, right into the airpspace of Iron Man.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of $300 Million
David James/Paramount Pictures
The $300 million club has a new member.
The final box-office numbers from the weekend show Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull moved into that exclusive, nine-figure territory yesterday.
The movie is the second 2008 release to crack $300 million after Iron Man, which beat Indiana Jones to the neighborhood by about a week.
Iron Man, which currently sits at $309 million, remains the year's No. 1 movie.
The ever-resourceful Dr. Jones, however, holds the overall advantage.
Audiences Wanted WALL-E, Jolie
James Devaney/WireImage.com
The robot fought Angelina Jolie to a draw.
WALL-E, the new Disney/Pixar film about a lonely little robot, grossed $62.5 million to top the weekend box office, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
But pound for pound, Wanted was the bigger film.
Beat Ben @ the Box Office: Who Wants Wanted?
Chuck Hodes / Universal Pictures
The Matrix changed the way action movies are made, and its influence is all over the latest graphic-novel adaptation Wanted. Unlikely star James McAvoy is an office monkey-turned-international superassassin, joined by Angelina Jolie and Common, and he's intense and convincing.
It won't be No. 1 (thanks, WALL-E), but people are excited. So look for this stylized epic to pull in big cash opening weekend, something around $37 million.
Ang gets half naked, so let's say $37.7 million.
What do you think: Am I on target here, or am I firing blanks? Put up you numbers in the comments, and we'll see who owns the box office this week, you or me.
Get Wanted trailers, clips and more in the Summer Movie Guide.
Get Smart a Hit; Love Guru a Nude Bomb
Warner Bros. Pictures / Village Roadshow Pictures
The Incredible Hulk wasn't exactly Hulk, which was good. The Love Guru was vaguely Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which wasn't.
And Get Smart, which was absolutely not The Nude Bomb, was No. 1.
The weekend box office did not lack for storylines or dollars, with the Steve Carell spy comedy leading the way with $39.2 million, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
Beat Ben @ the Box Office: Who Likes Mike?
Paramount Pictures
Mike Myers is more famous than he is bankable. Sure, Shrek movies make cash, and the second and third Austin Powers movies performed, but that's about it. Cat in the Hat barely took in $100 million—Horton Hears a Who did twice that—and so many others bombed. The first Austin Powers didn't even crack $10 million opening weekend.
So look for The Love Guru, opening with little or no buzz, to come in behind Steve Carell's Get Smart, at around $24.8 million.
Am I nuts? Can Justin Timberlake bring the kids to another ridiculous Myers incarnation? Put your numbers up in the comments, and we'll see who's the real box office guru.
Iron Man Soars to $300 Million
Industrial Light & Magic
The biggest movie of the summer just became the biggest movie of the year.
Iron Man became the first film of 2008 to pass the $300 million mark at the domestic box office today.
The Robert Downey Jr. career-resuscitating, comic-book adaptation had grossed an estimated $299.3 million through Tuesday, per the number crunchers at Box Office Mojo, and should have reached the milestone by the time you read this.
Wednesday's totals were not yet available, but the film has so far made no less than $680,000 per day in ticket sales, meaning if the Marvel flick didn't hit the mark last night, it's a statistical certainty it will do so today.
Worldwide, the film has grossed an additional $250 million, bringing its global gross to more than $550 million.
And yes, a sequel is on its way.
Incredible Hulk Smashes Past
Universal Pictures
Judged against Spider-Man, Hulk came up short. Judged against Hulk, The Incredible Hulk came up big. The franchise restart, starring Edward Norton, topped the weekend box office with $54.5 million, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today. While that's about $8 million less than what Ang Lee's Hulk opened with in 2003, the gross is considered a victory for Universal Pictures, which had to overcome, well, Ang Lee's Hulk.
"There were a lot of naysayers out there when we said we were doing this," Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of domestic distribution, said today. "The Hulk smashed those naysayers."
Beat Ben @ the Box Office: What's Happening?
What happens in The Happening? M. Night Shyamalan might blackball me from the business if I tell you, but I know one thing: The guy's movies make money. So do scary movies, and let's not forget that Mark Wahlberg is a huge star. (Check out some of our interview in the above clip.)
The film, Shyamalan's first to be rated R, is unique and terrifying. But I don't think it'll open the way Signs did ($60 million), or even The Village ($50 million). The brand-name director's coming off the dud Lady in the Water and may need to prove himself to audiences again.
So look for his latest effort to open the way The Sixth Sense did, around $25.5 million.
Do you think I'm nuts? Can Wahlberg & Co. crush the Hulk? Put up your numbers in the comments and we'll see what happens.
The Incredible Hulk vs. Hulk
Universal Pictures
Forget considerable Carrie Bradshaw and hefty Po. The biggest obstacle standing between the Hulk and an incredible opening weekend may be itself.
The Incredible Hulk, the all-new franchise reboot—opening at midnight tonight—comes only five years after Ang Lee's Hulk proved a smashing disappointment, critically and commercially.
"I am concerned the first movie's reaction could hurt the box office on this second go-round," Tim Frady of the fansite HulkAngry.com wrote in an email. "I hope people give it a chance."
Conventional wisdom says ticketbuyers will.
Giant Panda, Potent Zohan
Paramount Pictures
Diversity pays.
A box office flush with movies about a martial-arts-fighting Ailuropoda melanoleuca and a hairdressing ex-Mossad agent was flush with cash, as the animated Kung Fu Panda and Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan combined to take in $100 million in their opening weekends.
Kung Fu Panda finished on top, with $60 million, per studio estimates today from Exhibitor Relations Co. You Don't Mess With the Zohan took second, with $40 million.
Elsewhere, last weekend's phenom Sex and the City broke a heel, with ticket sales falling 63 percent, but still managed to bring in another $21.3 million.
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