Overseas, the second weekend of Warner Bros‘ and Legendary Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises generated an estimated $122.1M on nearly 17,000 screens in 57 markets. The international cume to date is now a hefty $248.2M. In North America, its second weekend grossed $64.0M (a -60% drop) and its 10-day total is now $289.0M. (IMAX generated $9M this weekend and $38M to date domestic.) TDKR‘s domestic cume the 3rd highest for a recent movie’s first 10 days in release, behind only The Dark Knight ($313.7M) and this early summer Marvel’s The Avengers ($373M). It soon will be the 3rd fastest to reach $300M behind the same two pics (not adjusting for inflation or IMAX or higher ticket prices). That’s a new worldwide cume of $537.2M – which ain’t too shabby given everything that’s gone on.
What’s normally one of the best box office weekends of the summer fell victim to a lack of must-see pics, the rivalry of the London Olympics opening ceremonies and games, and the awful aftermath of the Colorado theater shooting. (And don’t think for a minute that the Hollywood studios aren’t using these excuses as cover…) This weekend started out as a downer for North American movie going on Friday. Then went up a bit Saturday. (Noted one studio exec, “It doesn’t make as good a story as terror in cinemas, but the box office recovered nicely Saturday from opening night at the Olympics.”) And ended with a total $135M, which is still a massive -24% drop from last year.
“Hopefully next week, also one of the best of the summer, everything bounces back,” an exec emailed me.
But right now reality bites: both new movies this weekend were so weak they couldn’t even crack the low teens in millions of dollars. Summit Entertainment‘s PG-13 global dance franchise Step Up Revolution earned a ‘B+’ from audiences which should have helped word of mouth but didn’t, while Twentieth Century Fox‘s R-rated comedy The Watch with stars Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, and Jonah Hill received only a ‘C+’ so wanna-see will be limited…
Read more: Deadline