Weekend Wrap-Up for August 24-26, 2007
Superbad Leads Hibernating Box Office
By John Hamann
August 26, 2007
Wake me up when September ends. A super hot summer box office came crashing to a halt this weekend as three weak openers failed to come close to cracking the top three films at the box office. Superbad and The Bourne Ultimatum continued to shine, but newcomers War, Mr. Bean's Holiday and The Nanny Diaries were relegated to the lower rungs of the top ten weekend movies. With little to be excited about on the movie horizon, the Green Day song mentioned above seems more than appropriate.
The number one film at the box office is again Superbad, as those naughty boys continued to entertain the masses. Superbad acted somewhat like a sequel, dropping 46% compared to last weekend on its way to earning $18 million. While a fairly large drop, it was somewhat expected due to the interest shown prior to the film's release last weekend. The internal multiplier for Superbad last weekend was 2.67, which shows the slight front-loading this film received. The drop could have been worse, but word-of-mouth kept it right around the 50% mark, which isn't bad for a late August weekend. So far, the total for the Judd Apatow production has reached $68.6 million, and with a slightly better hold in the weekends to come, Superbad could reach $100 million. Remember the budget here is between $20 and $30 million – if Superbad reaches $100 million, the two Judd Apatow projects released this summer (the other being Knocked Up) will have grossed about $250 million domestically against a combined budget of about $50 million. Not a bad score for two small comedies with no stars.
Moving from third last weekend to second this weekend (a sure sign of the end of summer) is The Bourne Ultimatum, as this quality Matt Damon effort continues to rake in the bucks. The third film in the Bourne series grossed $12.4 million in its third weekend, off 38%. Ultimatum became the biggest domestic earner of the Bourne franchise this weekend, as the first Bourne finished with $121.5 million, and the second finished with $176 million. This Bourne has now reached $185.1 million, and will have no problem beating the $200 million mark. The Bourne Ultimatum cost Universal somewhere between $110 and $140 million to make, and should earn that much from overseas totals. Finally, this Bourne total makes Matt Damon the man of the movie summer, as he now has a combined total from Bourne and Ocean's Thirteen of about $300 million domestic (and counting).
Dropping one spot from second last weekend is Rush Hour 3, as the Jackie Chan flick gets passed by The Bourne Ultimatum, despite being released a week later. Rush Hour 3 earned $12.3 million as it dropped 43% compared to the previous frame – much better than its 57% drop last weekend. Rush Hour 3 crossed the $100 million mark on Saturday, its 16th day of release, considerably slower than the second film in the series. Rush Hour 2 crossed the $100 million mark after only seven days, which shows how the level of interest has dropped off for this franchise. Still, Rush Hour 3 should hit about $130 million stateside, and gross a similar amount overseas. The kung fu comedy won't match its production budget domestically, as it cost about $140 million to make, according to IMDb.
Finishing fifth (and best of the new openers this weekend) is Mr. Bean's Holiday, as Rowan Atkinson mugs for the kiddies in the follow-up to 1997's Bean, which pulled in $251 million worldwide. Mr. Bean's Holiday finished the weekend with an okay $10.1 million from only 1,713 venues. It had a so-so venue average of $5,905. Mr. Bean is a tired concept stateside, but there is obviously still somewhat of an audience for this type of flick. It has already earned almost $200 million worldwide.
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