Despite the horrific murders in Aurora, Colorado at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, business remained quite strong in the nation’s movie theaters throughout Friday. The 29th weekend of 2012 is looking like $242 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up close to 50% from the multi-year average for this weekend. Of course, these numbers seem meaningless in light of the mass murder at the mutliplex. But business of show business grinds on.
The Dark Knight Rises from Warner Brothers opened with $74.0 million Friday (including Thursday midnight shows) and is headed for an estimated $173.9 million opening weekend, below the $192 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast but still the #2 opening of all time (behind $207.4 million for Marvel’s The Avengers and just ahead of $169.2 million for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) and the biggest opening for any Batman movie. Dark Knight Rises should average $39,500 for the weekend at 4,404 theaters and is on track for a $525 million domestic total, according to our ShowbuzzDaily Forecast.
Among the returning films, we have adjusted Ice Age: Continental Drift down to $148 million domestic and The Amazing Spider-Man back down to $287 million. Ted is holding at a projected $222 million domestic, and Brave is still headed for $233 million.
In case you missed them, click to see this week’s Weekend Predictions.
| Weekend 29: July 20-22, 2012 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Dark Knight Rises | WB | [192] | 173.9 | 74.0 | 525 | |
| Ice Age: Continental Drift | Fox | [24.5] | 23.1 | 6.7 | 148 | |
| Amazing Spider-Man | Sony | [17.2] | 11.5 | 3.3 | 287 | |
| Ted | Uni | [12.6] | 10.6 | 3.2 | 222 | |
| Brave | Pix Dis | [5.5] | 6.5 | 1.9 | 233 | |
| Magic Mike | WB | [4.5] | 4.3 | 1.6 | 117 | |
| Savages | Uni | [4.9] | 3.4 | 1.0 | 53 | |
| TP’s Madea’s Witness Protection | LG | [2.8] | 2.3 | 0.7 | 65 | |
| Moonrise Kingdom | Foc Uni | [2.6] | 1.9 | 0.6 | 46 | |
| To Rome with Love | Sony | [—] | 1.6 | 0.4 | 16 | |
| Madagascar 3 | Par DW | [2.0] | 1.5 | 0.5 | 217 | |
| Katy Perry: Part of Me | Par | [—] | 1.2 | 0.4 | 29 | |
Note: The table above summarizes an early look at the weekend. The first column is a reminder of each film’s ShowBuzzDaily Forecast for the weekend (in brackets). The second column, on which the films are sorted, displays the new weekend projection for each film, based on the Friday numbers (the third column). The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Total number for the film’s total run in North America. A “++” indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a “–” indicates a downgrade.
| BATMAN TRACK
Warner Brothers |
($ millions) | ||||||
| Critics Positive | Opening Weekend | Domestic Total | Overseas Total | Worldwide Total | |||
| The Dark Knight |
7.18.2008 | 94% | 158.4 | 533.3 | 468.6 | 1,001.9 | |
| Batman Begins | 6.15.2005 | 85% | 48.7 | 205.3 | 167.4 | 372.7 | |
| Batman and Robin | 6.20.1997 | 13% | 42.9 | 107.3 | 130.9 | 238.2 | |
| Batman Forever | 6.16.1995 | 43% | 52.8 | 184.0 | 152.5 | 336.5 | |
| Batman Returns | 6.19.1992 | 78% | 45.7 | 162.8 | 104.0 | 266.8 | |
| Batman | 6.23.1989 | 71% | 40.5 | 251.2 | 160.1 | 411.3 | |
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $242 million total Friday-Sunday, up 33% from the same calendar weekend last year and up 48%% from the average for this weekend the past four years.
| ($ millions) | |||
| WEEKEND #29 | Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend | |
| 2012 | $242 | Dark Knight Rises $174 | |
| 2011 | $181 | Captain America $65, Friends with Benefits $19 | |
| 2010 | $155 | Salt $36, Ramona and Beezus $8 | |
| 2009 | $142 | G-Force $32, The Ugly Truth $28, Orphan $13 | |
| 2008 | $174 | Step Brothers $31, X-Files: I Want to Believe $10 | |
| Avg 2008-11 | $163 | ||
Check back tomorrow morning for updated weekend figures and revised estimates for domestic final grosses, as well as updated international figures later in the day Sunday. On Monday, we will update the ShowbuzzDaily Summer Movie Fantasy Draft, as well.
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