Cart (0)
business news"Captain America" Defeats "Harry Potter"
Box office results for the weekend of July 22-24, 2011.
PRINT
Overall the Top 10 films generated an estimated $180.1 million, up a strong 16.3% from last year when Warner Bros. Inception ($62.8 million opening) led the overall Top 10 to a total of $150.7 million. The overall Top 10 should be up again this weekend with three new releases hitting theaters. They are Universal’s (GE) sci-fi western mash up, Cowboys and Aliens from director Jon Favreau, Sony’s family film The Smurfs and romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love starring Steve Carell from Warner Bros. These films along with Captain America should easily be able to outperform last year’s new releases, Dinner for Schmucks, Charlie St. Cloud and Cats & Dogs 2.
According to estimates, Captain America: The First Avenger collected $65.8 million, just enough to have the largest debut of the four superhero movies that opened this summer. Anchored by mostly solid reviews and a character that has been around for over 70 years, Captain America is the latest in a long line of films based on Marvel characters to succeed at the box office. The film was the last piece of the puzzle behind two Iron Man films, The Incredible Hulk and Thor that leads into next summer’s hugely anticipated superhero ensemble film The Avengers.
Captain America was shown in both the traditional format and also 3D, but the film was converted and not shot in the third dimension. Proving that audiences are continuing to tire over converted 3D films; roughly only 38% of Captain America’s opening was from 3D showings in comparison to 60% of Thor’s opening weekend. Based on this, although Captain America only opened with about $100,000 more than Thor, it sold quite a few more tickets than the Norse god. Audiences seemed to enjoy the latest Marvel adventure and the word of mouth is terrific ensuring that the film will play well over the rest of the summer. This weekend, Captain America will face direct competition from Universal’s Cowboys and Aliens starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, but beyond that, it should be smooth sailing.
Sony’s Friends With Benefits opened in third place for the weekend with an estimated $18.5 million. The R-rated comedy had a solid opening but paled in comparison to all of the other hit R-rated films to open this summer. The film didn’t quite live up to its potential for a few reasons. This summer has seen one R-rated comedy smash after another with the success of Bridesmaids, The Hangover Part II, Bad Teacher and Horrible Bosses and with two of these films still in the Top 10, they stole away some of Friends' opening potential. Friends was also very similar to two other recently released films about friends who enter into a casual sex agreement; this past January’s No Strings Attached and last year’s Love & Other Drugs. The lack of an original story line definitely hurt the film. Friends With Benefits should still be able to gross about $55 million before it exits theaters.
To see how the rest of the top 10 performed, check out the chart below.
Debuting titles are in red.
My overall Top 10 prediction was $193.1 million.
My accuracy was 93.3%
Editor's Note: Bill Bonfanti writes daily as Box Office Analyst and Film Critic for FilmGo.net. Visit FilmGo to view the latest box office news, movie trailers and more.
The information on this website solely reflects the analysis of or opinion about the performance of securities and financial markets by the writers whose articles appear on the site. The views expressed by the writers are not necessarily the views of Minyanville Media, Inc. or members of its management. Nothing contained on the website is intended to constitute a recommendation or advice addressed to an individual investor or category of investors to purchase, sell or hold any security, or to take any action with respect to the prospective movement of the securities markets or to solicit the purchase or sale of any security. Any investment decisions must be made by the reader either individually or in consultation with his or her investment professional. Minyanville writers and staff may trade or hold positions in securities that are discussed in articles appearing on the website. Writers of articles are required to disclose whether they have a position in any stock or fund discussed in an article, but are not permitted to disclose the size or direction of the position. Nothing on this website is intended to solicit business of any kind for a writer's business or fund. Minyanville management and staff as well as contributing writers will not respond to emails or other communications requesting investment advice.
Copyright 2011 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
