With the Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday this year you would think that any box office carryover from Wednesday into the weekend would suffer. The Amazing Spider-Man has amassed $140 million since its release on July 3rd, but when you factor in enhanced 3D prices and ten years of inflation since the original Spider-Man scored a then record opening weekend of $115 million, TAS‘s total doesn’t seem all that amazing. But Sony Pictures is still chalking this up as a major success, silencing those naysayers about an unneeded reboot. And with another $201 Million registering overseas, the executives are no doubt pleased and are likely to have a follow-up film release sometime summer 2014/2015.
Marketed as “The Untold Story,” The Amazing Spider-Man had an up-and-coming director (Marc Webb) and two rising stars in Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone to spin a new tale. The general feeling is that audiences loved the new, mature Spider-man. A Cinemascore of A- and word of mouth from first-week audiences will help to ensure that the drop off against newcomer Ice Age: Continental Drift isn’t too large. A good number to shoot for would be between $28 to $32 million. The next obstacle after Ice Age is some little movie called The Dark Knight Rises. Showtimes for the grand finale in Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga are already starting to sell out.
Still performing strong are Ted and Brave. The first-week success of Seth MacFarlane’s live-action talking teddy bear movie could be on account of the strong core audience he has because of Family Guy (and with a lesser degree American Dad and The Cleveland Show). But with another $32.5 million in week two with only a 40% drop in attendance, it seems that the comedy has some legs, and could make a case to pass There’s Something About Mary‘s $176.4 million domestic earnings and with some luck Wedding Crashers‘ $209 million haul. If that were to happen, the comedy would be number three on the top-grossing restricted comedies of all time list, firmly behind both The Hangover and its sequel. Pixar’s Brave continues to show that the studio name still has value. Registering $20 million in its third weekend, the animated fantasy adventure now sets its sights on crossing $200 million domestic.
Oliver Stone’s Savages, which got a traditional Friday opening, opened soft. Not helping was the studio’s decision to move the crime thriller from its September slot to open in July. Considering the success the studio had with Contraband and Safe House in the early part of the year, Universal would have been wise to just let this adaptation of Don Winslow’s bestseller remain a fall release. If it has any legs, they’ll likely won’t walk very far. Will probably finish in the low-to-mid $40 million range.
The only casualty with Savages is likely to go against Taylor Kitsch. It’s the in vogue to do this year; to levy the blame in Kitsch’s direction. The weak opening marks Kitsch’s third straight of the year, after John Carter and Battleship. I’m not sure what has spurred the need to equate the cost of a movie to critical success. A good movie is a good movie no matter if it cost $30,000 or $300 million. It seems that I read more articles talking about John Carter‘s budget than I did on whether or not it was a good movie. Personally, I dug it and Kitsch played his part well as the everyman who becomes a stranger in a strange land. Battleship‘s failure was more on the idea of bringing a board game to the screen and spicing it up with an alien invasion. Both films may have starred Kitsch and been domestic turkeys, but most are overlooking the fact that both films raked in $300 million (Battleship) and $282 million (John Carter) worldwide. Savages isn’t likely to do similar numbers in foreign territories, but Kitsch’s star presence is far from fallen. Maybe a little tarnished, but working in a supporting capacity next to Mark Wahlberg, a bonafide moneymaker after a rough start as a leading man, in the upcoming Lone Survivor should help his profile.
Looks like Magic Mike lost some of its magic in its second weekend, taking the brunt of a 60% drop. The higher-ups at Warner Bros. are no doubt pleased with its $72 million in two weeks, especially since it purchased the film for $7 million. So adding in P&A costs and the studio is probably at +$45 million. When it reaches $100 million it will mark Steven Soderbergh’s fifth as a director. As for star Channing Tatum it will be this third $100 million hit of 2012, after The Vow and 21 Jump Street. Perhaps the success of films like Magic Mike and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will finally register with studios who seem to inundate the summer season with entertainment that is primarily focused on teenage boys. But female-centric counterprogramming seems to only work part of the time (nobody saw What to Expect When You’re Expecting).
Tyler Perry’s latest Madea comedy and the third Madagascar continue to play to their respective audiences. Madea’s Witness Protection is the tenth straight TP film that has made at least $35 million. It needs about $8 million more to be the third highest-grossing Madea release. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is likely to make it past $200 million by this time next week. With another $257.5 million earned overseas, it is sitting comfortably with a worldwide gross of $453.5 million. Following the likes of the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry’s 3D-enhanced music doc Part of Me seems to have fallen on deaf ears. A very popular singer, her base is more the teenage type, because she is viewed too racy for youngsters (remember her appearance on Sesame Street some months back?) and most adults still haven’t warmed up to her “Hot and Cold.”
Rounding out the top ten are two movies that are playing on less than 2000 screens combined. Moonrise Kingdom continues to play well with audiences. Word of mouth has helped the Wes Anderson film amass $38 million worldwide thus far. Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love added 777 new screens in its third week to give it 806 overall. The expansion was enough for it to register $3.5 million. A solid number, but considering some of the critical responses it’s not likely to match the success of his Oscar-winning Midnight in Paris from a year ago.
Finally, a benchmark was set over the weekend for Disney. It became the first studio this year to pass $1 Billion Domestic Box Office. This was helped considerably by Marvel’s The Avengers with its domestic haul of $611.1 million. The rest of the $389 million is divided between the likes of Brave, John Carter, a 3-D reissue of Beauty and the Beast, Disneynature’s Chimpanzee, Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty, and People Like Us. The milestone is also the fastest Disney has ever reached the billion dollar mark (188 days). It’s previous best was 210 days, set in 2010. Disney has achieved this milestone for seven consecutive years.
