While it didn’t match the opening weekend for The Avengers or The Hunger Games, June 29-July 1 produced the third biggest box office weekend of 2012, with four films making over $25 million, and nearly a total of $207 million spent. Seth McFarlane and Mark Wahlberg had one of the best debuts for an R-rated film with Ted, which brought in an estimated $54.1 million in 3,239 theaters.
EDITOR’S PICK: Read out review of MAGIC MIKE
Magic Mike was not close behind, but had a tremendously successful premiere, finishing second with $39.1 million. Madea’s Witness Protection, Tyler Perry’s fifth Madea film, finished fourth with $26 million. What’s more astonishing, is that all three films made a profit, based on the production budgets. Magic Mike especially, made over five times its budget ($7 million) and anything else from here on out is well, tips.
EDITOR’S PICK: MAGIC MIKE Interview – What Makes Betsy Brandt Tip?
One other film opened large this weekend, People Like Us which was directed and co-written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci co-wrote and co-produced. This melodrama was a departure for the writing-producing team responsible for bringing us the first two Transformers films, the Star Trek reboot, and CBS’ Hawaii Five-O.
Disney Pixar’s Brave finished third, falling -48.7%, remaining in all 4,164 theaters it opened with last week; the drop was consistent with many animated films in their second week. While it may not be up to our high hopes, Brave has made over $130 in ten days. After four weeks, fellow family film, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted continues to hold strong in fifth place with $11.8 million.
Other stragglers in top ten include Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (sixth, $6 million), Prometheus (seventh, $4.9 million) Snow White and the Huntsman (ninth, $4.4 million). All of these films will get shoved aside soon for the next wave of super hero films on deck, Amazing Spider-Man opening tomorrow and The Dark Knight Rises, which will hit theaters July 20. Speaking of super heroes, The Avengers remained in nearly 1,800 theaters and it made $4.2 million (11th) for a running total of $606.3 million in domestic B.O., and over $1.4 billion worldwide.
Deserving of steep declines were box office flops, Rock of Ages (sixth to 13th, $2.7 million) and That’s My Boy (seventh to 14th, $2.1 million). Why do people keep giving money to Adam Sandler?
EDITOR’S PICK: Read our review of ROCK OF AGES
EDITOR’S PICK: Read our review of THAT’S MY BOY
The Indies
Films produced on a much smaller scale continue to slip through the cracks and find their audience. Even though these films may not have Steven Soderbergh directing or male strippers, they are taking home their own respectable pieces of the summer of 2012. Moonrise Kingdom finally entered the green after adding another 459 theaters for the weekend and cracked the top ten with an eighth place finish and $4.8 million. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel continues to be a remarkable competitor and had a seven-figure box office for the ninth week in a row despite never playing in more than 1,300 theaters. Woody Allen’s latest To Rome with Love, climbed up four spots from 20th to 16th and is packing the art houses. It is four quick vignettes and stars Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page.
Others that have done well this summer include Bernie, the French-hit The Intouchables, the latest Mark Duplass production Safety Not Guaranteed, and be on the lookout for an extremely hot indy film that won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance this year, Beasts of the Southern Wild, which has one of the best screenplays this year. When it comes to a theater near you, do not miss it.
Here is the list of the top 20 films in Weekend #26 of 2012 according to Box Office Mojo and their estimated box office numbers.
1 Ted (Universal) $54,100,000
2 Magic Mike (Warner Bros.) $39,155,000
3 Brave (Buena Vista) $34,011,000
4 Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection (Lionsgate) $26,350,000
5 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (Paramount/Dreamworks) $11,815,000
6 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Fox) $6,000,000
7 Prometheus (Fox) $4,925,000
8 Moonrise Kingdom (Focus)) $4,873,000
9 Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal) $4,405,000
10 People Like Us (Buena Vista) $4,306,000
11 Marvel’s The Avengers (Buena Vista) $4,215,000
12 Men in Black 3 (Sony) $2,900,000
13 Rock of Ages (Warner Bros./New Line) $2,730,000
14 That’s My Boy (Sony) $2,150,000
15 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight) $1,065,000
16 To Rome With Love (Sony Pictures Classics) $750,000
17 Battleship (Universal) $433,000
18 The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) $404,000
19 Safety Not Guaranteed (Film District) $380,000
20 Bernie (Millennium)Think Like a Man (Screen Gems) $322,000
