Wait, what’s that sound?! Oh.. it’s just Marvel’s The Avengers stomping out the competition at the box office… no big deal. There’s something to say about the unforeseen records being broken by America’s favorite superhero team — when you’ve got a damn good director and damn good script anything can happen. This weekend The Avengers was up against The Dictator which hit theaters Wednesday and Battleship, which according to many underperformed in more than one way.
#1. ‘The Avengers’
Already Disney’s highest grossing film of all time, The Avengers have managed some amazing feats. This weekend the box office giant added a $55 million to its gross for a domestic total of $457 million. With that number, the film has climbed one place in U.S. box office history; reaching for the top spot The Avengers is now the 5th highest grossing film in U.S. history. The next targets – Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and The Dark Knight. That’s right, the giants will go head-to-head within the next couple of weeks. Phantom Menace reached $474 million and The Dark Knight topped out at a domestic total of $533 million. The dethroning of The Dark Knight is defiantly in The Avengers reach… sorry DC and Batman fans. More than likely, the film will stay strong at the #3 spot until another box office giant comes along (The Dark Knight Rises perhaps?). There’s no way this film will touch James Cameron’s Avatar ($760 million) and Titanic ($658 million) which sits at the #2 and #1 spots, but we can hope. As far as the film’s worldwide gross, The Avengers holds the #4 spot with $1.18 billion. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 stands in the #3 spot with $1.3 billion. Move over Harry Potter. Once again Avatar ($2.78 billion) and Titanic ($2.18 billion) both sit at the #2 and #1 spots… we’ll take what we can get.
#2. ‘Battleship’
Well, we all predicted Battleship would sink, no surprise there. Even without The Avengers breathing down its neck, the film would’ve flopped, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt… not. In its opening weekend Battleship made a measly $25 million… guess what the budget was… just guess — over $210 million. That’s right. All the promotion and great actors couldn’t even save this film. Forget about having Rhianna’s name attached. Now lets compare this opening another big budgeted film that experienced the same feat… John Carter. John Carter was the heavily promoted sic-fi that received a budget of $250 million from Disney, and in its opening weekend the film made $30 million. Disney reportedly lost a whopping $200 million. What does that say for Battleship, we’re sure you can figure that one out. And Taylor Kitsch starred in both films! Not a great year for Kitsch.
#3. ‘The Dictator‘
Sacha Baron Cohen‘s latest installment, The Dictator received mixed reviews from the critics (check out our review), and opened several million lower than Cohen’s other films. The Dictator grossed $17.4 million this weekend for a domestic total of $26.6 million. Cohen’s last film Brüno grossed $30 million on its opening weekend. The promotion for that film, was much stronger than that of The Dictator. Borat‘s opening weekend grossed a domestic total of $26 million and came in at $128 million. Unfortunately with such a busy summer, The Dictator may not even reach a domestic total of $60 million when it’s all over with.
#4. ‘Dark Shadows’
Tim Burton‘s latest film Dark Shadows, just one of several film premiering from the artistic director this year, reeled in $12.5 million for a domestic total of $51.9 million and a worldwide gross of $133 million. The film, which had a budget of $150 million dropped 57% from its opening weekend. Check out our review here.
#5. ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’
Rounding out our top five for this weekend is the comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting, starring Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez, who Forbes named this year’s “World’s Most Powerful Star”. Unfortunately all that star power couldn’t aid in the film’s struggling birth. Perhaps, Lopez should stick to music. What to Expect When You’re Expecting grossed $10 million in its opening weekend.
What are Your Predictions for Next Week?
That rounds out our top 4 for the weekend! Next weekend Men in Black 3 will go head to head with The Avengers. What are your predictions? Will Men in Black 3 be the first film to dethrone Marvel’s The Avengers? Make your predictions in the comments below.
Box Office Report: May 18th-20th, 2012
1. Marvel’s The Avengers – $55 million
2. Battleship - $25.3 million
3. The Dictator – $17.4 million
4. Dark Shadows – $12.8 million
5. What To Expect When You’re Expecting – $10.5 million
6. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - $3.2 million
7. The Hunger Games – $3 million
8. Think Like A Man - $2.7 million
9. The Lucky One – $1.8 million
10. The Pirates! Band Of Misfits – $1.5 million
Loading ...