Box Office Numbers

Tropic Thunder Rumbles Over Dark Knight
19 August 2008 10:38 AM, PDT

The box-office began to settle into its usual end-of-summer blahs last weekend, with Tropic Thunder, the final blockbuster release of the season, leading the pack with just $25.8 million. Warner Bros.' previously unstoppable The Dark Knight couldn't even crack $20 million, winding up with $16.4 million in its fifth week (and also winding up on the No. 2 spot on the all-time list, behind Titanic). An animated Star Wars variation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuted with $14.6 million. Another newcomer, the horror flick Mirrors, which was not screened for critics, wound up with $11.2 million. Dropping from second to fifth place was Pineapple Express, which settled for $9.8 million. Overall, the top 12 films grossed $111.7 million, down 2 percent from last year's $114 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Tropic Thunder, Paramount, $25,812,796, 1 Wk. ($36,845,588) -- From Wednesday);
2. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $16,379,293, 5 Wks. ($471,082,150);
3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Warner Bros., $14,611,273, (New);
4. Mirrors, Fox, $11,161,074, (New);
5. Pineapple Express, Sony $9,808,295, 2 Wks. ($62,740,789);
6. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Universal, $8,205,720, 3 Wks. ($86,245,775);
7. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $6,096,250, 5 Wks. ($116,013,715);
8. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Warner Bros., $5,785,250, 2 Wks. ($32,002,712);
9. Step Brothers, Sony, $4,807,904, 4 Wks. ($90,695,938);
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona, MGM, $3,755,575, (New).

Second Week Of Claps For Thunder
26 August 2008 10:34 AM, PDT

Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder held on to the box office crown for the second week in a row as it earned $16.3 million to bring its total to $65.7 million. Most analysts expect it to remain on top over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, which is generally the only major holiday of the year that does not attract big business for exhibitors. Tropic Thunder beat out The House Bunny, which placed second with $14.5 million, but beat Thunder on a per theater basis. Universal's Death Race opened in third place with $12.6 million. Slipping to fourth place was Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight, which added another $10.5 million to its total -- which has now reached $489.4 million and will likely to cross the $500-million mark over next weekend. Rounding out the top five was Star Wars: The Clone Wars with just $5.7 million in its second week, making it the first bona fide Star Wars flop. The top-12 films of the weekend grossed $88.5 million, off less than half a percent from the $88.8 million that the box office counted during the comparable week a year ago.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):

1. Tropic Thunder, Paramount, $16,272,195, 2 Wks. ($65,839,915);
2. The House Bunny, Sony, $14,533,702, (New);
3. Death Race, Universal, $12,621,090, (New);
4. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $10,542,424, 6 Wks. ($489,416,885);
5. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Warner Bros., $5,661,456, 2 Wks. ($24,999,054);
6. Pineapple Express, Sony, $5,452,163, 3 Wks. ($73,780,191);
7. Mirrors, Fox, $5,010,663, 2 Wks. ($20,211,066);
8. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $4,314,840, 6 Wks. ($124,469,900);
9. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Universal, $4,177,950, 4 Wks. ($93,921,245);
10. The Longshots, MGM, $4,080,687, (New).

Looks like The Dark Knight will take in at least half a billion during it's cinema run. Probably will break that milestone the week after next.

The Mummy kind of snuck in there and should break 100 mill. Interesting.

Too bad TDK won't beat Titanic.

-HECK!

I'm kind of pissed about that too - for reasons already stated (that the Titanic sucked monkey balls).

The dirtiest, cheesiest monkey balls in all the land. I hated the movie so much. Never saw it in the theater. Won't give that turd my money.

James Cameron might have given us The Terminator, T2, and Aliens, but fuck him up the ass for making Titanic.

-HECK!

I do know why it sucked so badly, though. Cameron and Linda Hamilton had a child in the 90's. I heard through the grapevine that the afterbirth was polished, edited, scored and thusly made into what is now the final cut of The Titanic.

gaboman wrote:

I do know why it sucked so badly, though. Cameron and Linda Hamilton had a child in the 90's. I heard through the grapevine that the afterbirth was polished, edited, scored and thusly made into what is now the final cut of The Titanic.

Damn, that's one hell of a rumon that you could spread!!!!

Yup, spreading rumon's is pretty intense.

-HECK!

I drank a rumon and coke one time, and I was hungry, and it hit me like a fregin mule kick. One minute I'm sober, the next minute I'm counting leaves on a tree.

Damn, was I drinking when I posted that, and just don't remember? NAH... I just don't do that.

RUMOR!

The Billion-Dollar Batman

Los Angeles (E! Online) – It's going to happen. Maybe it already has.

As of midweek, The Dark Knight's worldwide haul stood at a reported $997.6 million. Box-office experts said $1 billion, a mountain of money amassed by only three other movies in Hollywood history, was perhaps two weeks away.

"Dark Knight's at a trickle now with no new territories," Box Office Mojo's Brandon Gray said in an email. "[But] it's possible that it already has [hit the billion-dollar mark], as unreported grosses can suddenly come in."

Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock speculated that Warner Bros. was perhaps waiting for the right moment—like, oh, say, the movie's Dec. 9 DVD release—to spring the announcement.

As for the studio, when asked how far its movie had to go to $1 billion, its answer was: "Not yet."

The only three current members of Hollywood's billion-dollar club are Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. On the domestic side, The Dark Knight is, with Titanic, one of only two movies to pass $500 million. (Titanic, of course, also topped $600 million to claim its box-office crown.)

After setting box-office land-speed records in the summer, The Dark Knight has spent the last several weeks gutting out five-figure days. By comparison, at the same point in its run, Titanic, even with 1998 ticket prices, was still capable of $1 million days.

In an apparent attempt to spur on its marathon runner, Warners is boosting The Dark Knight's release by 200-plus theaters this weekend.

Weren't they going to re-release Dark Knight closer to Oscars season as well to try and regenerate buzz for an Oscar for Heath Ledger? If they do that, then it might even have a chance of over atking Titanic.

I didn't hear anything like that, but I think the Oscar buzz will be there regardless.

Not surprised The Dark Knight is reaching a billion. Interestingly, however, I don't think the movie is perfect. It's great, fantastic, brilliant. But it does have flaws.