Other Crap

Weekend Box Office Results for July 18–20, 2008

What can ya say? What a weekend!

• The Dark Knight took in $155 million, exceeding expectations by enough to topple the all-time record of $151m set by Spider-Man 3.
  
• Spidey 3 dominated the box office when it opened, taking in $151 while the rest of the top twelve took in only $30m combined. That was not the pattern of the past weekend. Dark Knight just provided topping on an otherwise normal weekend. Numbers 2-11 grossed $94m, which is about what they usually gross in summer, so the weekend absolutely shattered the all-time record for the highest aggregate box office. The previous record was $209 million, and this weekend was $249m.
  
• Mamma Mia turned out to be brilliant counter-programming and seemed unaffected by Batmania. It took in a solid $27 million, slightly more than anticipated.
  
• Space Chimps did about 50% better than expected. (Overflow crowds?)
  
• The holdovers all did about as well as expected or better, with one exception.
  
• The exception was Hellboy 2, which set a record of its own, but not one to squawk about. It dropped 70.9%, and that is the biggest Week 2 percentage drop in history among films which did twenty million or more in Week 1. This is presumed to be a result of the fact that its target audience is virtually identical to Batman's.