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Fourth is The Campaign, the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis mashup that debuted last weekend to $26.6 million. As expected, The Campaign fell fairly hard, earning $13.4 million in its second weekend. That’s drop of 51%, but let's remember that this isn't a $200 million blockbuster, it's a $55 million comedy, so the financial stakes are much lower. Given that The Campaign has already earned $51.7 million, Warner Bros. just might eke out a profit from this one.

Fourth is Sparkle, the new Motown movie starring the late Whitney Houston and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks. Sparkle, from Sony TriStar, had an okay opening, and likely better than it would been have had Houston not died shortly after production was completed. Sparkle took in $12 million from only 2,244 venues, giving it an okay venue average of $5,348. Made for only $14 million, this will be a big hit should it play for more than one weekend, but I doubt it will. People came out in the first frame to see Houston's last performance, but the 56% fresh rating and old-fashioned feel of the production may hold it back from being a big hit.

The Dark Knight Rises finished in sixth place as it took in another $11.1 million and fell 43%. Batman Part III crossed the $400 million mark on Friday, its 29th day (and the beginning of its fifth weekend). It becomes the fourth fastest film to reach $400 million, behind The Avengers (14 days), The Dark Knight (18 days), and Avatar (23 days). The total for the $250 million Warner Bros. epic has reached $409.9 million, with another $450 million coming from overseas revenues.

Seventh goes to the Odd Life of Timothy Green, our fourth opener in the top seven this weekend. From Disney, this fantasy opened on Wednesday to an only okay result, as it took in a small $2.3 million on opening day. It dropped to $2 million on Thursday, but perked back up to $3.4 million on Friday. It finished the Friday-to-Sunday portion of its debut at $10.9 million, and had a five-day tally of $15.2 million. Odd Life cost Disney and its partners $40 million to make, so again, with a lower budget, this smaller film just may work out for the studio. It has that Disney feel, and if it finds that right kind of family audience, it could match the production budget.

Eighth is Hope Springs, which actually had a decent hold despite dropping from fourth spot last weekend. The Meryl Streep/Tommy Lee Jones feature earned $9.1 million in its second weekend and dropped an okay 42%. Remember, this Sony production cost only $30 million to make, and has already earned $35 million.

Ninth is Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. The best days are behind this franchise, as Dog Days earned only $3.9 million this weekend and declined 53%. It has a running total of $38.9 million against a budget of $22 million.

Our tenth place finisher is Total Recall, which took another hit as it fell 56% from last weekend to $3.5 million. It will be out of the top ten next weekend and has to be considered a disappointment for Sony, as its domestic total is $51.8 million. The saving grace, as is so often the case, will be the overseas revenues. The film was budgeted at around $125 million (plus a lot more for marketing costs).

Overall this weekend, the box office did quite well considering the motley crew of openers. A year ago, The Help moved from second place the weekend before to number one in its sophomore frame, but was surrounded by flops. The top 12 last year came in at only $106 million. This year, the top 12 earned a much better $128.2 million, but couldn't keep up with 2010, when the original Expendables opened, taking the top 12 to $132.1 million. Next weekend, you don't have to go to the movies. Openers include the sure-to-be-bad horror flick The Apparition, Hit & Run with Bradley Cooper and Dax Shepherd, and Premium Rush, which has Joseph Gordon-Levitt on a ten-speed.

Top Weekend Box Office for 8/17/12-8/19/12 (Estimates)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	The Expendables 2	Lionsgate	$28,750,000	New	$28,750,000
2	The Bourne Legacy	Universal Pictures	$17,019,855	- 55%	$69,580,935
3	ParaNorman	Focus Features	$14,008,498	New	$14,008,498
4	The Campaign	Warner Bros. Pictures	$13,385,000	- 50%	$51,694,000
5	Sparkle	Sony/Columbia	$12,000,000	New	$12,000,000
6	The Dark Knight Rises	Warner Bros.	$11,140,000	- 41%	$409,916,000
7	The Odd Life of Timothy Green	Walt Disney Pictures	$10,909,000	New	$15,187,000
8	Hope Springs	Sony/Columbia	$9,100,000	- 38%	$35,051,000
9	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days	Twentieth Century Fox	$3,850,000	- 52%	$38,762,321
10	Total Recall	Sony/Columbia	$3,500,000	- 56%	$51,782,000
11	Ice Age: Continental Drift	20th Century Fox	$2,950,000	- 54%	$150,136,416
12	Ted	Universal Pictures	$1,624,910	- 50%	$213,146,215
	Also Opening/Notables
	Cosmopolis	Entertainment One	$72,327	New	$293,010
	Robot & Frank	Samuel Goldwyn	$38,234	New	$38,234
	Compliance	Magnolia	$16,000	New	$16,000
	Chicken With Plums	Sony Classics	$11,207	New	$53,383
	Side By Side	Tribeca Film	$7,200	New	$7,200
	2 Days in New York	Magnolia Pictures	$86,000	+259%	$123,928
	Step Up Revolution	Summit Entertainment	$1,117,000	- 62%	$32,853,418
	2016 Obama's America	Rocky Mountain	$1,249,489	+ 294%	$2,066,991
	The Amazing Spider-Man	Sony/Columbia	$770,000	- 64%	$257,447,000
	Beasts of the Southern Wild	FOX SEARCHLIGHT	$555,000	- 23%	$8,102,676
	Brave	Walt Disney Pictures	$818,000	- 55%	$229,124,000
	Moonrise Kingdom	Focus Features	$493,997	- 20%	$42,940,857
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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