Spoof Soars, Bat Drops, Clones Sink
The Dark Knight surpassed Star Wars twice this weekend. First, it firmly grabbed second place on the All Time Box Office charts with a total now estimated at $471,493,000. Its weekend take of $16,790,000 also surpassed the debut of the CGI-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars which managed a so-so $15,505,000. The film received mixed reviews and little in the way of anticipatory buzz so its performance over the next week or two will be telling.
20th-Century Fox, which has had a miserable summer, finally got some good news when Mirrors opened with $11,125,000, exceeding studio estimates by 10%.
Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor continues to wrap up bucks for the pyramids. The film brought in $8,609,0; its total now stands at $86,649,000. While it will likely crack $100 million, this is not what the studio had expected.
Showing surprising stamina is New Line’s Journey to the Center of the Earth with another $3,455,000 found beneath the surface. The 3-D film has proven the 3D fad may be here to stay and its total of $88,110,000 may be a harbinger of things to come as 2009 boasts over half-a-dozen 3D projects on the schedule.
Older films are running out the string starting with Disney’s Wall*E, totaling $214,134,000 and no doubt gearing up for a holiday season DVD release. Similarly, Sony’s Hancock grabbed $1.8 million this weekend but is slowing down and has an impressive haul of $225,102,000.
Other genre offerings rounding out the list this weekend include the following with their domestic releases totals to date:
Space Chimps: $27,607,000
Hellboy II: The Golden Army: $74,639,000
Wanted: $133,327,000
Iron Man: $317,044,000
Kung Fu Panda: $211,936,000
The Incredible Hulk: $134,183,000
Re: Journey to the Center of the Earth. I'm amazed that Wall*E and Star Wars: The Clone Wars didn't come out in 3D in some theaters or IMAX. Rerendering CGI movies for 3D is relatively easy.