Photo: Paramount Pictures

Yesterday I get an email from some PR firm representing MovieTickets.com. It is about the tenth email I have received from them in the past two weeks telling me about ticket sales. It all started with Sex and the City and how great it was selling and then that damn film went on to open legs to the tune of $57 million. Well, I gotta hand it to them, their tracking seemed to show the film was going to do well and it did.

Taking that into consideration, what am I to think of The Incredible Hulk, which actually seems to have a much higher awareness rate than even Iron Man did? On top of that it appears the younger crowd is clamoring to see the film. The two strongest demos in terms of awareness are 24-&-Under and 25-34s, according to MovieTickets.com. Is Hulk a legitimate contender for the top five at the Summer 2008 box-office?

Here's a snapshot of the top five so far according to Box-Office Mojo as of 4:30 PST on June 5:

1. Iron Man $278,733,064 after 4.5 Weeks
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull $223,025,853 after 1.5 Weeks
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian $117,769,673 after 2.5 Weeks
4. Sex and the City $68,056,238 after .5 Weeks
5. What Happens in Vegas $67,341,818 after 3.5 Weeks

Back in April my guesses looked like this:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2. Iron Man
3. Hancock
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
5. The Dark Knight

This means Indy needs to do a little work for my top two to pan out, but it also means that along with Hulk, two of my top five are yet to even hit theaters. What else is out there?

How about we add WALL•E, Kung Fu Panda, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Tropic Thunder to that list.

Truth be told, it is still wide open for a major winner. Consider that last year the top four films all grossed over $300 million with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix barely missing that mark with $292 million. Will either Indy or Iron Man hit $300 million? Considering Indy made $44.7m just last week I think that is an obvious answer and Iron Man made $13.5m last week, which means it is going to be close. I don't think Narnia or Sex and the City have too much gas left in the tank and What Happens in Vegas is just a space filler for now.

Only time will tell, and I think I am in agreement with most folks out there thinking that The Dark Knight can't get here soon enough.

Related post categories: Box-Office News, Movie News : Hancock, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, Sex and the City: The Movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, WALL-E, What Happens in Vegas

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