It takes some courage to pull a stunt like what Sony did, reboot the most successful (at the time) superhero franchise just 5 years after the last installment. Would people show up for another origin story and more importantly (for the studio), could this new Spider-Man bring in the same kind of money? Well so far the answer is a yes for the first question, and yes for the second.
The Amazing Spider-Man proves that no matter who’s wearing the mask, the wall-crawler remains one of the most popular heroes of all time. After already bringing in $75 million since its opening on Tuesday, The Amazing Spider-Man is on track to dominate the 4th of July weekend with about $65 million. That would put the reboot at over $140 million in just 6 days. It won’t break any records (except biggest Tuesday of all time with $35 million) but that sure is a lot of money.
Now I know this is a fresh new start for Spider-Man, but that doesn’t mean we can’t compare this debut with the old(ish) trilogy. It’s hard to believe now but little over 10 years ago Spider-Man made its big screen debut with a record breaking weekend, $114.8 million, moving on to gross $403.7 million. In 2004 Spider-Man 2 opened similarly to The Amazing Spider-Man, on the 4th of July week with $152.4 million in 5 days and a total of $373.5 million at the end of its run. 2007 brought Spider-Man 3, the first disappointing entry in the series, yet it still managed a record $151.1 million opening weekend. So when comparing the old films to this one, maybe The Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t look so good, with 3D and all. But I say give it time. If it ends up with $140 million in 6 days I think it should eventually make its way to $280 million and more, not a bad start for a this new Spider-Man chapter. With international numbers it should eventually match and pass the Raimi trilogy (unadjusted for inflation, obviously).
Ted should be an easy 2nd place after that fantastic debut just a week ago. The way the film performed over the weekdays, crazy steady (8 million each day, Monday to Thursday), I think $40 million is not outside the realm of possibility for the weekend, bringing this pot-smoking teddy bear to a fantastic $127 million after 10 days. Can you guys say Ted 2?
Brave has had a good run so far and will probably come in 3rd this weekend, $20 million I say. That means $174 million after 17 days.
Male stripper flick Magic Mike should be 4th, probably $16 million or so for a 10-day total of $73 million.
The 3d concert/documentary thing, Katy Perry: Part of Me, opened on Thursday with a lackluster $3.1 million. Over the weekend it should perform a little better, so maybe $12 million for a 4-day opening of $15 million. It won’t be Glee ($5.9 million debut) bad but one thing is certain, she definitely ain’t no Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus ($29.5 and 31.1 million) at the box office.
Then there’s the last new entry of the weekend, Oliver Stone’s thriller Savages. Now I am not one to judge (often) but Taylor Kitsch, leading man here, has sort of grown a box office poison reputation in the last few months after both John Carter and Battleship failed to make back there insane budgets. It wasn’t his fault, but Hollywood loves to look at these kind of patterns and vomit conclusions (mostly wrong). Anyway, besides the name Oliver Stone, there isn’t much here to grab a big audience. I say $10 million tops, sadly.
Next week Ice Age: Continental Drift hits North America leaving just a week to go until a certain crusader of the night returns to the big screen for his (allegedly) final adventure.
