I wrongly predicted that The Avengers won't beat the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The last film of the HP series made a massive $169m on its opening weekend. I also thought Avengers' would equal the opening of The Dark Knight ($158.4m) but it did a lot more than that. Though I did correctly predict it would beat The Hunger Games ($152.2m).
Marvel's The Avengers, based on the superhero team comic-book series written by legends Stan Lee and the late Jack Kirby, has earned just over $205m in just 3 days at the US theatres. I saw this one recently and I have to say it's a summer blockbuster must-watch! (review coming soon).
It has broken multiple records which weren't predicted by me and other box office pundits: Fastest to $100m. Fastest to $150m. Fastest to $200m.
Now many people had this feature on top of their summer watchlist. Even the female fanbase. But I'm shocked it beat Harry Potter's said to be unbeatable record. This has also sparked the interest of viewing superhero movies again which was lost by last year's Green Lantern and the uninteresting grosses of Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class. Last year only Thor is to be considered a masterpiece not only commercially (approximately $450m worldwide) and critically (Rotten Tomatoes: 77%, BoxOffice101: 3/4). So I wasn't surprised to see Thor not being underrated in this hot seasoned entertainer.
Joss Whedon has written and directed The Avengers off a story by him and Zak Penn. Whedon enjoys cult status and is a well renowned TV writer having created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly along with popular others. This being his 2nd mainstream film he does a pretty good job at it and although his first film (Serenity 2005) barely managed to reach its budget, this year luck favours him. His co-written horror film that has gotten critics jumping is off the top 10 week this list after its 3rd week. It has made just above $45m off $12m and I'm super eager to see it. It will release on May 10, 012 in the UAE.
This week also marks Think Like a Man's fall off the top (as predicted last week) along with The Hunger Games at no.3. Both no.2 and no.3 haven't managed to make up to $10m this week and I'm sure Battleship won't take The Avengers off the highest rank with its North America debut on May 18. Men in Black 3 will do that though.
That's enough for one weekend folks. BoxOffice101 predicted that Marvel's The Avengers would made $990m - $1b. Now let's see how much it ends up with in the end...
(Chart by Box Office Mojo)
May 02, 2012
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week # 1 1 Think Like a Man...
Think Like a Man surprisingly not beat by 4 new competitors!
I'm also very surprised that an animated movie no matter which voice actors included did not top a US weekend. The Pirates! Band of Misfits released by Sony lands at no.2 starring British hunk Hugh Grant and co-starring Martin Freeman, Salma Hayek, Anton Yelchin along with a few mildly known others.
The Five-Year Engagement a rated R romantic comedy was damned to land below 3 as we already have a PG-13 movie on top of the list, also being a rom-com. Safe starring action star Jason Statham arrives at 6 and I'm not surprised. Well, I thought with more romance-oriented films at the top how would an action film beat them. So we have three LionGate Films features the previously mentioned along with The Hunger Games that is at no.3 after 6 weeks, and The Cabin in the Woods falls to no.10 in its 3rd week. Another horror feature is The Raven based on a fictional story starring John Cusack as American macabre poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe. I've heard Cusack acted to the part but the film's review wasn't that impressive with critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives The Raven a 22%. The consensus shows a murder mystery that's more silly than scary. Luke Evans from Immortals also stars and he is a fine actor. I'll definitely watch the film on Blu-ray as I am a horror freak and a sucker for anything related to Poe. Also, the director is James McTeigue who directed V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin, both terrific films.
The Raven has made just a little over $10m worldwide off a $26m budget. I'm sure it'll make about $30-$35m at the end of its theatrical run.
So the last two weekends were strange but it also vital to mention that it has been a while since an African-American based rom-com was released. So audiences would've barged in for Think Like a Man because of the USP. One other factor that it is based on a best-selling novelist's book namely Steve Harvey.
The Avengers opens in the US on May 4. By repeating this the second time I find myself super excited. It had its world premiere on April 11 and has made $218.2m off $220m so covering its cost of production. Websites are predicting that The Avengers will outgross The Dark Knight ($158.4m) and The Hunger Games ($152.2m). The highest best opening weekend is for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows: Part 2 which made a massive $169m!
That movie ended up with over $1,320,000,000 off a $250m mega budget. I predict it would beat the opening of The Hunger Games and probably equal The Dark Knight's. But I state that it would not beat Harry Potter as the female fanbase was so strong and the population of women in the world is larger. Female fanbase for The Avengers is also powerful but still lacks the brand name of J.K. Rowling.
The Avengers could end up with a BoxOffice101 prediction of $990m or just reaching the $1b landmark at the end of its theatrical run.
Battleship, another megabudget action feature, was released worldwide on April 12th but still hasn't managed to outgross its $200m cost of production. It has succumbed to $170m. So my prediction is that it won't beat The Avengers to the top on May 18. It'll land on no.2 and then both films will be beaten for the top spot by Men in Black 3 on May 25 as 8% of men surveyed by a summer movie survey opted for this one, and mainly due to women eyeing this as their most-anticipated summer blockbuster.
Let the battles begin...
(Chart by Box Office Mojo)
April 29, 2012
Chronicle was released on Feb 1,2012 in the United Kingdom and Feb 3,012 in the States. The film exceeded expectations grossing $20,000,000 ...
Chronicle was released on Feb 1,2012 in the United Kingdom and Feb 3,012 in the States. The film exceeded expectations grossing $20,000,000 in its first weekend off an average budget of $15,000,000. It eventually grossed a global cumulative of $123.1m. The film is written by Fear Itself (horror series) writer Max Landis and directed by Josh Trank.
Josh Trank, at age 27, is one of the youngest directors to top the Northern American box office. He's followed by Spielberg at 28 for Jaws, and Cameron and 30 for The Terminator. Internationally, Trank is the youngest director to top the UK box office.
Following the trend of The Last Exorcism (2010) and The Devil Inside (2012), Chronicle was filmed in documentary style. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that the movie's commercial and not to mention critical success makes it worthy of an Academt Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film is a little too mainstreamish. The start is pretty uninteresting and the first half seems as if a teenager was just filming his depression status. A famous critic once stated that it takes 20 minutes to lure an audience. For those who stuck around after that time period, either for their responsibility or simply their nonrefundable cash, it was worth it. The movie actually kicks off after the 20 mins of goofing around.
The plot is a bit simple for sci-fi action. Three friends gain superpowers including telekinesis. One of them is our main filmmaker in the film who doesn't seem to take the heat. As I said before most of the duration comprises of going through his depression and anxiety. Though the sci-fi aspect is commendable. Even viewers, like my best friend, whom aren't used to documentary features will enjoy this one. For action viewers there is plenty of that in between and a handful in the last moments. That is if you don't get dimwitted by teen drama. Fortunately, there is less of that in comparison, and proper emphasis is laid on the story.
The pros are abundant. It was very smart filming this one in narrative format. For a average-looking story it added a whole new flavour to the recipe. And although I found the storyline predictable. I still stuck through this one as it was so brilliantly directed (not surprised at Josh Trank's success). The dialogues are not too crafty I'm afraid. The jokes aren't all they're cracked up to be. But the lines from our main character are decent enough. Acting is top notch from an otherwise newer film cast. The trio were equally brilliant in their roles. Main cast includes Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell, Michael Kelly and Ashley Hinshaw.
To sum up, Chronicle has few plotholes. Its mainly about how people would react after getting super. Genre could be termed as sci-fi psychological drama thriller. It has a USP: its originality of the direction. Trust me this film was way better than last year's Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class. For the former it had a more unpredictable story, and for the latter there was a more realistic feeling to teens becoming mutants. Chronicle is not a must-watch. Nor is it one of the best films of the year. But it is good for a two-time watch chiefly with friends and a huge pack of popcorn.
Whoa! I predicted The Lucky One would beat The Hunger Games but it itself succumbed to Think Like a Man a motion picture from Screen Gems. The African-American headed cast have found their movie earning just a little over $30m for the weekend off a budget of $12m. I thought The Lucky One, starring Zac Effron (High Musical Franchise) and Taylor Schilling.
TLO is based on the novel by best-selling romance author Nicholas Sparks who also has many best-ranking romance movies. So it's no surprise this young starrer beat the comparative Hunger Games. Still Think Like a Man is a very big surprise!
Another point to consider is that the 3 toppers are all based on novels. The first by Steve Harvery, the 2nd's author mentioned in the above para and the 3rd by Suzanne Collins (the 1st from her trilogy).
Other big surprises were the performances of Wrath and John Carter at the US box office. They flopped their with mega budgets but were successful globally. Wrath made has made an int. total of above $275m off a budget of $150m. John Carter grossed an international cumulative of above $260m off a reported mega-budget of $375,000,000 (production and marketing). Disney would've had more luck with a sequel to their brilliant but only satisfactory grosser Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Jake Gyllenhaal would be happy though I think he prayed for this one to have an epic fail.
Prince of Persia had grossed over $360m globally off $150-200m which is a hell of a lot better than Carter.
In the States, The Avengers is releasing on May 4 and I predict it will go to no.1 as it has no competitors that even match up to its title. Battleship, the alien mega-budget thriller is releasing on May 18 so we'll have to see whether it shoves off The Avenger off the top spot. Although, it has a 50% chance as it also stars Taylor Kitsch (Carter) in a vital role...
Another new opening for this week is the documentary Chimpanzee which finds a chimp Oscar adopted by another chimp in the African forest. The film has grossed just over $10m in its 1st weekend. Well-known comedian Tim Allen is the narrator and the film is from a division of Disney known as Disneynature, again, sorry John Carter.
