By Katey Rich
The summer of 2008 continues to be a charmed one in the movie business, as all kinds of titles and new potential franchises are finding success with moviegoers. While this weekend was soft in comparison to the same period last summer (anchored by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), two of the weekend's three new releases performed above expectations. As for the third, well, let's leave that alone for now.
Leading the pack was Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which grossed $35.9 million, more than $12 million above what the first film made opening weekend in 2004. It even managed to beat out the holdover Hancock, which saw a miniscule 47% decline in its second weekend and landed at #2 with $33 million. Right behind it was another freshman, Journey to the Center of the Earth, which made $20.5 million, largely on the strength of 3D ticket sales.
Right behind Journey was the other strong family offering, Wall-E, which made $18 million in its third weekend. And in fifth place, Wanted finally crossed the $100 million mark, adding another $11 million to its cume. Get Smart has made it past $100 million as well, bringing in another $7 million at #6.
Oh, and as for that other new release of the weekend, it's not pretty. Meet Dave managed to best The Love Guru as the biggest flop of an opening weekend, making just $5.3 million from over 3,000 screens. Despite a critical consensus that the movie wasn't nearly as bad as Norbit or other recent Murphy vehicles, Meet Dave never managed to get past its star's bad reputation.
Nearing the end of the top ten were one bona fide family hit and one iffier one-- Kung Fu Panda added another $4.3 million to its total, pushing it just over the $200 million mark, and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl had a strong second weekend in wide release, making another $2.3 million. And finally, Indiana Jones spent his last week in the top 10, adding $2.2 million to its total amount of money that you will never see in your entire lifetime.
In the full top 20, thanks to Box Office Mojo, it's mostly early summer blockbusters slowly winding down their runs. But near the tail end, two limited releases continue to shine-- the French thriller Tell No One expanded to 18 theatres and notched a $13,000 per-theatre average for its trouble, while The Wackness has moved up to 30 theatres and has made nearly half a million dollars thus far. Both can fairly call themselves small indie gems among the hustle and bustle of summer blockbusters.
And speaking of hustle and bustle, The Dark Knight comes out on Friday, threatening to eradicate all box office records set this summer thus far. Buy those tickets and get ready!
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