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The red devil opened strong on Friday with an estimated $12.75 million on Friday on its way to an estimated $34 million for the weekend. I am just curious if audiences are going to be as taken with the film as the majority of critics were. I personally did not like it at all as the romance and comedic angles turned me off spectacularly. However, our "Shallow End" columnist David Frank texted me after he saw it only a few hours ago and seemed to enjoy it, believing it to be superior to the first film which grossed a meager $59.62 million at the box-office in total.
Even though I did not like the film, I do like its director, Guillermo del Toro, who seems to be one of the most lovable directors working in Hollywood nowadays as he panders to no one and you can pretty much guarantee what you see on screen is his vision, virtually untouched by executive fingers. Hellboy 2 is sure to be his largest opening ever as it has Blade II's $32.52 million to top, a film that will also challenge Hellboy 2 as Del Toro's highest grossing film of all time. the second installment in the Blade trilogy brought in $82.34 million, a lofty number, which means word-of-mouth on Hellboy 2 is going to need to be huge as it battles The Dark Knight next weekend, which is already selling out everywhere and even adding 6 AM screenings!
Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood posted an early number of $130 million today, but a rough look at theater counts tells me that if The Dark Knight were to sell out all screenings on opening day it would earn almost $200 million. Of course that is unlikely, but it tells me a $150 million take is not out of the question by any means.
Keeping on topic, however, the second spot at Friday's box was occupied by Will Smith's Hancock taking in $10.2 million with nearly a 50% drop from the previous week, which is a good sign considering there were 2 1/2 days of screenings prior to the Fourth of July weekend. The Smith starrer managed a meager 36% rating from critics but has still managed well over $100 million and $200 million is all but certain. Goes to show Will Smith is box-office goal no matter how good the fiml is.
The battle for third is going to be tight as WALL•E is holding strong and Journey to the Center of the Earth is doing what it can with its limited number of theaters. WALL•E is featured in over 1,000 more theaters than Journey and managed an estimated $5.5 million on Friday while Journey brought in $6.5 million. Mason predicts WALL•E will ultimately overtake Journey for the top spot and one big hit in Journey's column is said to be the lack of 3-D equipped theaters as the surprisingly entertaining family film is showing in an estimated 800 theaters equipped with 3-D technology while the other 2,000 locations are only showing the film in standard 2-D. Personally I don't think the film gains or benefits either way, but it was one of the more entertaining 3-D movies I had seen in a long time.
Finally, we come to Meet Dave. Eddie Murphy didn't even turn up for this film's premiere and expectations were damn low, but the film managed to exceed expectations and go even lower. Yup, an estimated $1.5 million shows Eddie Murphy's latest comedy dragging the bottom of the barrel. Mason predicts a three-day tally of $4.1 million, which makes it the second worst Murphy opener ever only to The Adventures of Pluto Nash, which strangely seems appropriate considering the similarities between the two films. I couldn't muster up the courage to go see this one in theaters and it seems the rest of the paying public is right there with me.
Mason's complete Friday estimates are listed below and Laremy will be here on Sunday with the full recap as it gets ready to eat his hat as he guessed Hancock would out shine Hellboy 2 this weekend. Sooner or later he will learn not to judge films based on his opinion, but the opinion of the paying audience, something he has a very hard time doing. I feel for him... a tear...
- Hellboy II (Universal) - $12.75 million
- Hancock (Sony) - $10 million
- Journey To the Center of the Earth - $6.5 million
- WALL•E (Disney) - $5.5 million
- Wanted (Universal) - $3.5 million
- Get Smart (Warner Bros) - $3 million
- Meet Dave (Fox) - $1.5 million
- Kung Fu Panda (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $1.1 million
- The Incredible Hulk (Universal) - $750,000
- Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) - $650,000
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1) Although Hellboy is up $3m Hancock is more family friendly (Will Smith) and could make up ground.
2) $34 million is "burning up" the box office? The last film to win with so little was Baby Mama back in April. Did Get Smart "Smarten Up" the box office with it's awesome $38m take?
$34m is smallball. I took a risk on a film because Hellboy IS a limited audience, regardless of their internet power.
Sooner or later you will learn to judge my predictions based on the math rather than your own opinion, something you have a very hard time doing.
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 2:18:45 PM)
You know, I regretted that headline just about as soon as I posted it. I started thinking the same thing... $34 million isn't shit, but hey, when you are writing about box-office numbers at midnight on a Friday what more can you expect?
Oh, and are you saying my opinion doesn't beat math?
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 2:35:05 PM)
What? Where is the thought level there? The film will finish first, yes, but this has got to be considered an extremely soft chunk of flesh for Batman to rip into. Hellboy will "compete" with Batman like a high school team playing the Celtics. It's going to be a massacre.
I do love the part in Finke's article about WB saying they are hoping to hit $90m with Dark Knight. There's modesty and then there's just outright lying. C'mon fellas, it's not too early to celebrate.
But in the end let's call this weekend what it really was: A throwaway.
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 2:42:43 PM)
Okay, I'll stop ranting now and save it for Sunday.
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 2:44:05 PM)