Box Office 4th of July Weekend

[AndyDursin]

...surprising given how bad the reviews were.

From Nikki Finke's blog...

1. Newcomer The Twilight Saga: Eclipse looks like $23.9M Saturday after making $28.6M Friday, $24.2M Thursday and opening to $68.5M Wednesday from 4,468 dates for a new -5-day cume (with Sunday's estimate) of $161M. That's an expected $69M for the 3-day weekend, and $89M for the 4-day July Fourth Holiday with a hoped-for total of $181M for the full 6-day release since Wednesday. With Fourth Of July usually a down day for movie attendance, can the pic won't beat Spider-Man 2 which holds the 6-day July 4th holiday record with $180M? Overseas, Summit says Eclipse has opened to an estimated $100.2 million from 42 territories. Worldwide total so far: $261.2M.

2. Paramount keeps revising newwcomer The Last Airbender's grosses upwards because of its better-than-expected performance at the domestic box office. M Night Shyamalan's 3D epic opened to $16M Thursday from 3,169 theaters, including the $3 million from its midnight shows, and added another $16.6M Friday. But Saturday's take went down to $14.5M. Helped by higher 3D ticket prices, the pic based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series should be on its way to $40.6M for the 3-day weekend, $53.2M for the 4-day holiday and a 5-day cume of $70.5M by end of Monday and definitely 2nd place.

3. Starting its third week is Disney's Toy Story 3 with $10.5 Friday and $10.8M Saturday from 4,028 plays. That's probably a 3D-aided $42.2M for the 4-day holiday weekend to pass $300M. The pic's cume after 18 days should reach a whopping $300.8M.

4. Grown Ups (Sony) Week 2 [3,534 Theaters]
Friday $6.9M (-52), Saturday $6.9M, Est 4-Day holiday $24M, Est Cume $82.5M

An expected hold given Adam Sandler's reliablility at the box office and despite dismal reviews.

5. Knight and Day (Fox) Week 2 [3,104 Theaters]
Friday $3.3M (-47), Saturday $3.8M, Est 4-Day holiday $13.5M, Est Cume $48.8M

A better-than-expected hold demonstrating that this much media-maligned pic is finding an adult audience. Fox brass and Tom Cruise will be relieved.

6. Karate Kid (Sony) Week 4 [3,109 Theaters]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $3.0M Est 4-Day Holiday $11M, Est Cume $154.5M

7. The A Team (Fox) Week 4 [2,153 Theaters]
Friday $1.0M, Est 4-Day Holiday $3.5M, Est Cume $69.5M

8. Get Him To The Greek (Universal) Week [884 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Est 4-Day Holiday $4M, Est Cume $60M

9. Shrek Forever After 3D (DWA/Par) Week 7 [957 Theaters]
Friday $1.4M, Est 4-Day Holiday $4M, Est Cume $235M

10. Cyrus (Fox Searchlight) Week 3 [77 Theaters]
Friday $240K, Est 4-Day Holiday $1.0MK, Est Cume $2.0M

[Monterey Jack]

Given the toxic word of mouth from series fans, critics, and casual moviegoers, The Last Airbender is gonna sink like a rock next weekend.

[AndyDursin]

Given the toxic word of mouth from series fans, critics, and casual moviegoers, The Last Airbender is gonna sink like a rock next weekend.

I'm sure, yet even if it does, it's basically guaranteed to hit $100 mil domestic (at least) and stands to do decently overseas. So they are looking at a profit no matter what. Much better opening than, say, the Tom Cruise movie.

[mkaroly]

Given the toxic word of mouth from series fans, critics, and casual moviegoers, The Last Airbender is gonna sink like a rock next weekend.

I'm sure, yet even if it does, it's basically guaranteed to hit $100 mil domestic (at least) and stands to do decently overseas. So they are looking at a profit no matter what. Much better opening than, say, the Tom Cruise movie.

My best friend's son really disliked it. His son loves the show on Nickelodeon and gave the movie bad marks. I'll wait until it comes out on DVD.

I think it would be fun if the people who keep track of daily box-office takes of films to divide it up even further: how much did the film make in 3-D as opposed to 2-D, or adjust grosses or something.