ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Audiences Still Crazy for McLovin

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Audiences Still Crazy for McLovin

Bad is good, black is white, the millenium approaches!

by Gitesh Pandya | August 26, 2007

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Booze and babes were still in high demand as the teen sex comedy Superbad ruled the North American box office for the second straight weekend despite the arrival of a handful of new releases. Most of the debuting films were met with disappointing sales since ticket buyers spent their time and money catching up on popular holdover titles which commanded the top three spots.

The supercool kids of Superbad remained the leaders of the pack with an estimated weekend gross of $18M, falling 46% from last weekend. After ten days, the Sony smash has taken in an impressive $68.6M and could be on its way to $120M or more. That would give the raunchy hit a domestic gross nearly seven times its production cost of $18M. Superbad is the first summer film to spend back-to-back weekends at number one since Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End which bowed over Memorial Day weekend in May. Sony has now claimed the number one film nine times in 2007, more than any other studio.

Rising one spot to second place was Matt Damon's latest assassin flick The Bourne Ultimatum which slipped only 38% to an estimated $12.4M. It was the fourth best fourth-weekend gross of any summer film this year after the threequel triumvirate of Shrek the Third ($15.3M), Spider-Man 3 ($14.3M), and Pirates ($12.4M). With $185.1M in the bank for Universal, Bourne has now outgrossed every James Bond film domestically (in nominal dollar terms), both previous Bourne films, and two of the three Mission: Impossible pics. Ultimatum is still on track to hit the $200M mark by the end of Labor Day weekend and will give a serious challenge to this decade's top action films that are not driven by special effects - Rush Hour 2 ($226.2M in 2001) and Mission: Impossible 2 ($215.4M in 2000).

New Line's action-comedy sequel Rush Hour 3 fell 43% to an estimated $12.3M in its third mission. The Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker threequel has collected $109M in 17 days and is on track to finish with $140-145M.

In a tight race among new releases, the family film Mr. Bean's Holiday edged out the action film War for fourth place. Universal's G-rated comedy opened to an estimated $10.1M from 1,714 theaters for a solid $5,905 average. The Rowan Atkinson starrer has already grossed a stellar $189M internationally. Debuting close behind with an estimated $10M was the R-rated crime drama War which averaged a mediocre $4,392 from 2,277 locations. Starring Jet Li and Jason Statham, the Lionsgate release opened close to the numbers of the last films from the two actors. Last September, Li's Fearless bowed to $10.6M and a $5,857 average while Statham's Crank launched with $10.5M over three days and a $4,158 average. Putting the two together did little to broaden the audience, however.

MGM landed in sixth place with a disappointing opening for the comedy The Nanny Diaries which grossed an estimated $7.8M. Playing in 2,629 theaters, the PG-13 pic based on the popular novel averaged just $2,971 per site.

The year's top-grossing non-rat toon The Simpsons Movie dropped 36% to an estimated $4.4M in its fifth frame boosting the cume to $173.4M for Fox. Paramount's fantasy adventure Stardust grossed an estimated $4M, off only 30%, for a total of $26.5M.

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(1-13 of 13 posts) | Reply

witherwings writes:
on Aug 26 2007 07:57 PM

Superbad... I saw it three times this weekend.

"Oh, that sounds like she fully wants it, man. Who's gonna give it to her, huh, my man? YOU, that's who."

(Reply to this)

bribios writes:
on Aug 26 2007 08:05 PM

Daaaamn. I saw it for my second time this weekend, and considering ticket prices and my lack of a job, that's saying something for me.

(Reply to this)

neoes writes:
on Aug 26 2007 08:24 PM

Lol....I've seen Superbad three times already...well worth my money, in my opinion.
I hope it reaches $120 million or more...people need to start seeing this comedy and not the crappy Adam Sandler stuff.

"Enjoy your remaining years!"
"I will...you ejoy ****ing Jules!"
"Oh..I will!"

(Reply to this)

Bloody Mathias writes:
on Aug 26 2007 09:04 PM

Go Bourne! Go Superbad! Go me! My HSX.com portfolio has gone trough the roof this summer!

(Reply to this)

EmmG389 writes:
on Aug 26 2007 09:36 PM

This just goes to show that you don't need to spend more than eighty million dollars to make a great return on your movies, just good scripts, directors, and good actors. I don't think Bourne costed that much and Superbad definitely didn't. I really hate the whole essence of Rush Hour 3 though.

(Reply to this)

zooman writes:
on Aug 26 2007 10:03 PM

I still find it so sad that Stardust is doing so poorly while rush hour is doing so well. I find it sadder that ratatouille is well below lesser quality movies, if not all bad, like harry potter (which isnt a bad movie, no need to start shrieking), shrek, and transformers...

(Reply to this)

witherwings writes:
on Aug 26 2007 10:28 PM

Agreed, zooman. Ratatouille and Stardust are THE two movies of the summer that I think deserved much better.

(Reply to this)

nogard46 writes:
on Aug 27 2007 12:01 AM

having a gun is like having 2 dicks, except one of them can kill someone.

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Aug 27 2007 04:22 AM

Rat was overrated, get over it people. i FINALLY saw Superbad and...for once, you people were right. it was pretty funny. qouting the movie like annoying 2ssfaces do all the time-FUNNY?? not sure. guess we'll find out! only negative i had was nudity. there was really none. i found it really surprising they actually went for an R rating because it could have been PG 13 if they'd have tweaked certain scenes but whatever...it was a really good movie anyway. nice to see creativity and entertainment overcome greed, take note Bruce Willis...

(Reply to this)

~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Aug 27 2007 06:36 AM

I too am disappointed for Ratatouille, and I guess Stardust deserved better (haven't seen it but word-of-mouth has me believing that it should be earning more money).

However, this week's box office is pretty satisfying. Bourne and Superbad both deserve the top spots. Nice to see audiences going to see what they ought to see.

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Aug 27 2007 11:34 AM

Stardust really does deserve to do a lot better, it is easily one of the years best. I saw September Dawn this weekend, I'm one of the few I guess, the theater was actually pretty full. It was pretty good(B-), better than the 15% tomato meter would have you belive that's for sure. Also saw The Invasion which was flawed but it still had it's moments.

(Reply to this)

southwick writes:
on Aug 27 2007 06:12 PM

Stardust has easily been my favorite film of the year so far, and we have recommended it to everyone. Here is hoping it catches on.

(Reply to this)

zooman writes:
on Aug 27 2007 10:28 PM

ratatouille isn't as magnificent looking as it could have been, its not as funny as other pixar movies, and has a gloom that previous pixar films didn't have thanks to a modern non fairy tale european setting which in itelf is a bit gloomier than sunny or green America and an adultness in the situations that isn't pretentious but is still there to add to that contextual gloom. Yet I think you all will find a lot to appreciate in it with time as it shines in its subtleties and its overall accomplishment. Compare it to award winning dramas, and you get equally if not better, rounded characters, an enviable and humbly superb rhythm, witty and beautiful to listen dialogs, sense within all the elements which is so hard to achieve by any movie (even last years great the departed), and an authorial voice that goes beyond a masterful management of elements in its creation to also get to make simple but effective artistic statements. Again, all these elements are at least seemingly in a lower scope, but how hard is it to achieve them all well; last years biggest acclaimed films had problems in one or another element of the type previously mentioned (including babel, the departed, and pan's labrynth). From these four movies, ratatouille might look like the simplest, which I won't get into arguing against right now, but even in that case, its the best achieved in the overall. Anyway, I still understand and respect a certain disappointment and all that, just wanted to share my feelings about it. Enjoy whatever, i just hope its not too much rush hour in fear we get more of those movies instead of quality achievements that have more to offer with time than a one maybe enjoyable watch.

(Reply to this)

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