The box office juggernaut that is Batman maintained its lead on everything out there for yet another weekend. Now don’t act surprised, you knew this was going to happen. Meanwhile newcomer Total Recall failed to meet any sort of expectations.
The Dark Knight Rises brought in another $35.7 million last weekend, good enough for 1st place and a total of $358.6 million after 18 days. At the exact same point in time The Dark Knight had $400 million, a number Rises should also reach sometime next week, on its way to over $450 million when all is said and done.
In other related news I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises on the big screen and while I can see why some might be disappointed with the final product, I’m certainly not on that bandwagon. For me this was probably the most entertaining entry in the trilogy and I don’t know about you guys but when I think about Batman or superheroes in general, escapism is key. Rises was just so much fun that I didn’t even notice over two and a half hours passing by. As soon as it was over I wanted to go back in, something that’s so rare these days. So props to Mr. Nolan for ending his trilogy on a good note. Now hopefully the next film (which you all know will eventually happen) will fall in just as capable hands.
Total Recall was 2nd with an opening weekend of $25.5 million. That is sort of bad since guess what, the original Total Recall back in 1990, yes, 22 years ago, also opened with $25.5 million. Now adjusted for inflation the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi would have a $48.4 million weekend debut today. So you can see how maybe $25.5 million wasn’t exactly what Sony had in mind when they green lit this remake.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the 3rd film based on the Wimpy Kid books, took a dive compared to its predecessors, opening with just $14.6 million. So what exactly happened here? Well for starters Fox thought it would be a good idea to move the flick from its established March release window to August. Then there was a little film called The Dark Knight Rises stealing all the attention, so probably not that many even knew a 3rd Wimpy Kid film was on the way.
Ice Age: Continental Drift came in 4th with $8.6 million for $132 million so far. This one will most likely end up around $150 million in North America. Rounding out the top 5 was The Watch, down $48.8% with $6.5 million. The sci-fi comedy has so far made $25.5 million.
