Box Office in Full Franchise Mode
Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 5:00PM In its second weekend, Marvel's The Avengers broke yet more records (first film to gross over $100 million in its second weekend) and joined the long-legged Katniss of The Hunger Games in her treetop perch. Together they can gaze far far down at the rest of the year's films whilst casually planning their even bigger sequels. Toy Story 3 excepted, they're the two most massive hits since James Cameron's Avatar. Meanwhile in limited release that Exotic Marigold Hotel was at full occupancy. Dark Shadows had a disappointing bow given the expectations generally placed on the Burton/Depp camp in mainstream remake mode. Since they clearly ought to take a break to recharge their creative batteries, maybe this is for the best? Consider that the Dames Judi & Maggie, in far far fewer theaters (roughly 4% of Dark Shadow's screens) and in their second weekend, had double the per screen average.
Johnny Depp's bankability tied down by Avengers fever and Double Dame powers.
TOP TEN
01 THE AVENGERS $103.1 (cum $373.1) Review
02 DARK SHADOWS $28.8 new
03 THINK LIKE A MAN $6.3 (cum $81.9)
04 HUNGER GAMES $4.4 (cum $386.9) Review
05 THE LUCKY ONE $4 (cum $53.7)
06 THE PIRATES! $3.2 (cum $23.1)
07 FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT $3.1 (cum $24.3)
08 THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL $2.6 (cum $3.7) Review
09 CHIMPANZEE $1.6 (cum. $25.5)
10 GIRL IN PROGRESS $1.3 new
What did you see this weekend? How many times have you seen The Avengers already? I would've seen Dark Shadows (LaPfeiffer awaits) but for visitors from out of town. I shall gaze on my beloved this week. More to come.
Reader Comments (17)
I saw "Les adieux à la reine". Marie Antoinette with a lesbian touch. There's a green dress by Christian Gasch that deserves awards by itself.
I caught up with a very good low budget sci-fi horror thriller "Splinter"
"Consider that the Dames Judi & Maggie, in far far fewer theaters (roughly 4% of Dark Shadow's screens) and in their second weekend, had double the per screen average."
What does this mean? If Dark Shadows had only opened on 170-something screens it would've had a much higher per screen average too. Marigold's relative success doesn't make for a very strong argument against the Depp/Burton collaboration.
Also, WTF Avengers? I really don't understand how or why this movie is doing so ridiculously well. I understand it has turned out to be a pretty huge crowd pleaser, but even that doesn't really account for the records it is obliterating regularly. So mysterious!
I watched Dark Shadows for Pfeiffer and Depp. Didn't expect much given the lacklustre reviews... and got what I expected. There are some funny moments, some great tunes, and some killer wardrobes, but overall the story is very blah. Still loved Pfeiffer and Depp though. But that's a given. We are all aware of the Pfeiffer law of cinema, right? Any movie with Michelle Pfeiffer is better than any movie without. Duh.
The Eva Green/Michelle Pfeiffer one-two punch has me tempted. But I absolutely despised Alice in Wonderland, so I have no desire to support another Depp/Burton combination.
Dark Shadows is not a good movie!!!! Johnny Depp had better start rethinking his career moves!
Didn't see any movies this weekend. Still busy moving out and getting settled into new apartment. I AM planning on seeing The Avengers once more (or maybe twice more) when all is said and done though. Can't stop the signal.
OT:
Take this with a grain of salt. Dianne Wiest has been cast as Mattie Fae.
good salt!!
3rtful, Is this new true? Because the tweet which said the headline alongside Jeremy Renner, Jennifr Json Leigh, Hailee Steinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Frank Langhella and others, is suspiious for being a hoax
Harry's Law has been cancelled. Kathy Bates can resume a film career if she wants especially since TV work has even her so much public visibility. A fan asked her on Twitter would she been up for the Mattie Fae role—she told the fan the part was already cast and it wasn't her.
If Dianne Wiest proves to be false so be it. Her acting would make sense. She's a two-time Oscar winner, she's a stronger actress than Kathy and just about all the names being mentioned for the part.
Harry's Law has been cancelled. Kathy Bates can resume a film career if she wants especially since TV work has made her even more visibility. A fan asked on Twitter would she been up for the Mattie Fae role—she told the fan the part was already cast and it wasn't her.
If Dianne Wiest proves to be false so be it. Her casting would make sense. She's a two-time Oscar winner, she's a stronger actress than Kathy, and just about all the names being mentioned for the part.
In a last-second split decision on Friday night say Dark Shadows instead of The Avengers. I thought it was very uneven. Depp was VERY good, possibly his best performance since the first Pirates film. La Pfeiffer continues to prove her worth - not only was she the best-looking thing on screen, all the scenes with her in it were the only ones that lived up to the potential this project had when it was first announced. Production design was gorgeous, as expected. The tone of the piece was really tricky and there were scenes when it really worked (mostly the ones with just Pfeiffer and Depp), but mostly it felt like they couldn't decide whether to take it seriously as a dark supernatural-soap opera genre piece or to turn it into a piece of retro-campy kitsch. I had a good time while I was watching it, which is more than I expected from those god-awful trailers, but it could (and frankly SHOULD) have been so much better.
Took my mother to Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on Mother's Day, and had a much better time. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is - a chance to see some of our best Old British Thespians have fun being Old British Thespians - and is thus by definition slight, but I found the fun the cast was having to be infectious.
Saw The Avengers on Friday night and good lord did I love it! I'm a Whedon fangirl, have been since the first season of Buffy (although I certainly haven't loved everything he's done)and I'm just so proud of him! I can't believe how much fun that movie was. I want to see it again!
Of course, I'm always skeptical of movies that make so much money at the box office. Case in point: I finally watched The Help, which I thought was far more dreadful than I could have dreamt. I found it profoundly insulting.
I thought you might like this, an Analysis of European BO last year in terms of admissions and percentages, and not €.
http://www.obs.coe.int/about/oea/pr/mif2012_cinema.html
I finally saw the original "Stella Dallas" with Barbara Stanwyck, as part of TCM's Mother's Day marathon. Terrific movie! I don't have kids and my Mom is gone, but it was emotional and dramatic. Stanwyck was just so, so good!
I didn't see any film this weekend (although I did watch "American Reunion" and "A Thousand Words" last week), save except for "The Long Kiss Goodnight" on DVD. AWESOME entertaining movie. I didn't think it'd make me feel so giddy just when I underestimated "Drag Me to Hell" a few years ago.