Box-Office Round Up: 7.20.08

Thanks to the numbers being re-estimated, I had to wait a little longer than normal to get them, and was forced to eat peanut butter M&Ms to pass the time. Seriously, someone twisted my arm. By 8AM today I knew that the record would be broken, but when records are in contention, everyone wants to be sure before reporters and bloggers go and tell the world. It's an interesting process.

So, without further ado: Here’s this weekend’s box office estimates!

1. The Dark Knight $155.6 million
2. Mamma Mia! $27.6 million
3. Hancock $14 million
4. Journey/Center of the Earth $11.9 million
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army $10 milion

7. Space Chimps $7.3 million

Well, well, well, wasn’t this quite a weekend?! The Dark Knight came in at $155 MILLION, doing even better than it was tracking and breaking all previous records! And congrats to Universal for having their own great opening with Mamma Mia. The whole world is surprised about how well it did, seeing that it’s a movie based on an ABBA musical, but it is based on one of the most successful stage musicals ever. It was a huge success in the UK and on the road in America before it even got to Broadway. My only issue, is that this project is what Meryl Streep chose to be her first movie musical? I don't know what I would have preferred to see her in, but I definitely would not have chosen a jukebox musical! Oh well, I always say that at the end of the day I'd rather see B Movies with awesome actors. The number seven movie is occupied by something called Space Chimps. I’ll admit, I’d only seen a couple of billboards that barely registered in my brain (awesome marketing!) and I had to watch the trailer before I wrote this. Apparently, it’s animated.

We know that The Dark Knight had a high level of interest because the first installment was so good, but also because of the extremely sad, surprising and untimely death of Heath Ledger this past winter. Mr. Ledger’s penultimate performance is nothing short of revelatory, the performance of a lifetime. The Variety review said his performance makes previous Jokers look like clowns, and Nicholson was good! Heath’s inspired performance is liberating, fresh, funny and fucking scary. It is, at once, intensely theatrical and subtle. I must admit, he was so good that I teared up thinking about how amazing this actor was becoming, and what we will never get to see...

This is a good movie, and was far darker than expected. For me, this is the best comic book adaptation/superhero movie I have ever seen, and I am a fan of the genre. So kudos to Chris Nolan and the rest of his gang, I hope that they are proud of their work. I sure am.

And that's the weekend!




© 2008 MD TOTAL all rights reserved.