Re: 2009 at the Box Office
Weekend Estimates
#1 "Up" $44.2 million ($137.3 million) -35%
#2 "The Hangover" $43.3 million
#3 "Land of the Lost" $19.5 million
#4 "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" $14.7 million ($127.3 million) -40%
#5 "Star Trek" $8.4 million ($222.8 million) -33%
#6 "Terminator Salvation" $8.2 million ($105.5 million) -50%
#7 "Drag Me to Hell" $7.3 million ($28.5 million) -54%
#8 "Angels & Demons" $6.5 million ($116.1 million) -43%
#9 "My Life in Ruins" $3.2 million
#10 "Dance Flick" $2.0 million ($22.7 million) -58%
#11 "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" $1.9 million ($174.3 million) -52%
#12 "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" $945K ($51.9 million) -51%
It was a photo-finish for the #1 spot this weekend as less than a $1 million separated the top two films at the box office. Business was off by 7% compared to last year, but up 21% compared to this frame in '07. The top 12 movies pulled in $160.1 million, marking the third best first-weekend June haul in history. That tally trails 2004's $182.7 million mark (which saw "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" get off to its then-record opening) and last year's $171 million haul ("Kung Fu Panda" debuted in the top slot that weekend).
2009's year-to-date domestic gross now stands at a towering $4.369 billion, marking a 12% increase over both last year ($3.898 billion) and '07 ($3.891 billion), up 18% compared to '06 ($3.695 billion), and an impressive 23% improvement over '05 ($3.566 billion). More than 608 million tickets have been sold thus far in '09, making this only the fourth time since the 1950s that more than 600 million theater admissions were sold from the beginning of the year through the first weekend of June. Only the years of '02 (631 million), '03 (621 million), and '04 (620 million) pulled in stronger admission numbers than '09 has thus far.
What's even more impressive is that '09 has relied on the strength by many films doing well, while those three previous years all had at least one blockbuster movie that carried a lot of the box office weight going into June. '02 had "Spider-Man" and 'Attack of the Clones', '03 had "The Matrix Reloaded", and '04 had 'The Passion' and "Shrek 2". "Star Trek" is currently the year's biggest hit, but isn't doing the kind of business that any of the flms I just named did. A wide variety of films have turned into hits thus far in '09 and the studios (save for Universal) are enjoying very impressive numbers as a result.
Pixar/Disney's "Up" fended off a surprisingly strong challenge from "The Hangover" to retain the top spot at the box office. The CG animated flick pulled in an impressive $44.2 million, representing only a 35% dip in business. The movie has so far tallied more than $137 million and looks to become the fourth film from Pixar to earn more than $250 million domestically. Overall, it will mark only the eighth time in history that an animated movie passed the quarter-of-a-billion-dollar mark.
Animated Blockbusters
#1 "Shrek 2" (DreamWorks) $441.2 million
#2 "Finding Nemo" (Pixar/Disney) $339.7 million
#3 "The Lion King" (Disney) $328.5 million
#4 "Shrek the Third" (DreamWorks/Paramount) $322.7 million
#5 "Up" (Pixar/Disney) $270-$300 million (Projected)
#6 "Shrek" (DreamWorks) $267.7 million
#7 "The Incredibles" (Pixar/Disney) $261.4 million
#8 "Monsters, Inc." (Pixar/Disney) $255.9 million
#9 "Toy Story 2" (Pixar/Disney) $245.9 million
#10 "Cars" (Pixar/Disney) $244.1 million
WB's "The Hangover" blew away studio and industry expectations as it debuted with a stellar $43.3 million, giving the comedy a per-theater average of $13,238 from its 3,269 locations, which was the best of the top 12. WB had hoped for an opening mark of more than $20 million and are overjoyed that not only did the movie double their expectations, but will end up as one of the year's biggest comedy hits. What's even more amazing is that the movie doesn't boast any big Hollywood names and moviegoers went to see it based on the strength of WB's very strong marketing campaign.
This will give the film's three leading stars (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis) big career boosts. This will also mark the first $100 million-plus domestic haul for director Todd Phillips who previously helmed such hits as "Starsky & Hutch" ($88.2 million), "Old School" ($75.6 million), and "Road Trip" ($68.5 million).
Universal continues to struggle this year as "Land of the Lost" opened well below expectations. The movie got off to a $19.5 million start, while the studio (as well as the rest of the industry) predicted an opening of no less than $30 million for the $100 million-plus budgeted action/comedy. 'Lost' looks to become the first high-profile box office disappointment of the year.
Fox's "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" was off a moderate 40% this weekend and has so far tallied more than $127 million. Paramount's "Star Trek" continues to roll as it has now earned close to $223 million. WB/Sony's "Terminator Salvation" passed the century mark this weekend, as well as going wide overseas. While the movie will end up being the third best domestic performer of the four-film series, its overseas launch brought good news as the flick has now earned close to $100 million outside of the U.S. and Canada. It pulled in more than $67 million this weekend, adding to the $30 million it had already made in limited play internationally. In the end, the film will likely do enough business worldwide to warrant another sequel.
Universal's "Drag Me to Hell" fell off by 54% and looks headed for a final domestic tally in the neighborhood of $40-$45 million. Sony's "Angels & Demons" has now taken in $116.1 million domestically and saw its global earnings pass the $400 million mark, making it the biggest worldwide hit of '09 thus far. Fox Searchlight's "My Life in Ruins" was only able to manage $3.2 million this weekend, pulling in a less than thrilling average of $2,771 from its 1,164 theaters. Paramount's "Dance Flick" has now tallied a very soft $22.7 million. Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has nearly taken in $175 million thus far, and New Line/WB's "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" rounds out the top 12 as it has pulled in close to $52 million since its release.
Next weekend will see Sony's "The Taking of Pelham 123" and Paramount's "Imagine That" debut in multiplexes across the country. 'Pelham', which stars Oscar-winner Denzel Washington and John Travolta, is expected to pose the biggest threat the dominance of "Up" next week. The jury is out on what to expect from "Imagine That", which stars Eddie Murphy.
. what's coming out this upcoming weekend?
