The Legacy Rises at the Box Office

It seemed like an impossible mission to stop The Dark Knight Rises topping the charts for a fourth week.

But spy thriller The Bourne Legacy managed to accomplish the feat thanks to a whopping $40.3m opening.

And it seems punters voted on their feet for Will Ferrell's latest movie The Campaign, as it sped past the superhero picture to take the second spot.

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'The Avengers', Now Third Highest Grossing Film of All Time

We may be nearing the halfway point of the summer movie season already, but Marvel’s The Avengers is still looming over the 2012 “blockbusters” that have come and gone like the slightly older yet much more successful brother of the bunch.  We’ve seen moderate box office successes from films like Men in Black 3, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Madagascar 3, but nothing has come close to the behemoth box office giant that was Marvel’s mother of all superhero movies.

The film shattered the opening weekend record with over $200 million in three days, and now Disney has announced that The Avengers is expected to cross the $600 million domestic mark today, making it only the third film in history to reach that number.  Hit the jump for more, including a rundown of what the all-time box office chart looks like now.

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Madagascar rules the box office

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted held on to the No. 1 spot again, with $35.5 million for the animated sequel’s second weekend in domestic theatres.

Studio estimates Sunday put Ridley Scott’s sci-fi adventure Prometheus at No. 2 again with $20.2 million.

Madagascar 3 and Prometheus held off two under-achieving newcomers. The star-studded musical Rock of Ages, whose cast includes Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alec Baldwin, flopped at No. 3 with $15.1 million.

Rank		Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
1		Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)	$35.5M	$120M	2
2		Prometheus (2012)	$20.2M	$88.9M	2
3		Rock of Ages (2012)	$15.1M	$15.1M	1
4		Snow White and the Huntsman(2012)	$13.8M	$123M	3
5		That's My Boy (2012)	$13M	$13M	1
6		Men in Black 3 (2012)	$10M	$153M	4
7		The Avengers (2012)	$8.85M	$587M	7
8		The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel(2011)	$2.2M	$35.1M	7
9		Moonrise Kingdom (2012)	$2.18M	$6.78M	4
10		What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012)	$1.33M	$38.8M	5

THE HANGOVER PART II Brings a Four Day Total to $118 Million

Here are the estimates for the top ten films this Memorial Day Weekend.  Note that the weekend figure includes only the three days of a traditional box office weekend, even though both of the week’s major new releases (The Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2) debuted last Thursday.  We’ll have a full analysis of the four/five day holiday tomorrow.

 

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Video Game Movies by the Numbers' Infographic

We all know that video game movies are still cursed in Hollywood, bound to never be good, so while we wait the years it'll take to finally make a good one, IGN have created a new infographic: Video Game Movies by the Numbers. The chart visualizes, in typical cartoony style, various statistics including the highest grossing video game movie as well as best/worst reviewed video game movies, ranked by budget, ranked by opening weekend and so on. You can see the infographic below. This is interesting, but only confirms that most of these suck, no matter the cost.

  

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The Top 10 Highest Grossing Movies from 2010!

No matter how many times we cry about wanting original stories, less sequels and more bold motion pictures, the films that earn the most money at the box office seem to indicate other desires from audiences worldwide. Nearly every movie included in the ten biggest earners of 2010 is either a sequel in an established franchise or an adaptation of a book or series of books, and one remake. Only two original films cracked the Top 10, and you probably already know one. See the full Top 10 list below!

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'Tron: Legacy,' Weak in Early Box-Office Tracking

THR is reporting that the film is tracking “soft” right now and is headed for a disappointing $35 million opening weekend.  That would be a major blow to Disney, who have reportedly spent $200 million on the production (not to mention the costs of their massive marketing campaign).  The film has to open at at least $50 million to  be on the path to profitability.  However, this number doesn’t factor in international grosses and how the film is opening on December 17th in most of the world. Undoubtbly  the film will be labeled a flop if it doesn’t have a stellar opening weekend in the U.S.  Man... That would be really sad news for me. I've been loocking foreward to these for like forever.

Two New Featurettes for TRON: LEGACY

 

Disney has released two new featurettes for TRON: Legacy.  One featurette centers on the film’s villain, “Clu”, who is played by a digitally de-aged Jeff Bridges. The other featurette is more of a overview of the characters and the vehicles.  Neither featurette really spoils anything (or at least nothing that hasn’t already been glimpsed in the trailers), but if you need your TRON: Legacy fix (and I know you do), then hit the jump to check them out.  Also, after the jump I’ve included a report on how the film is currently tracking soft at the box office right now.

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'Harry Potter' leads holiday weekend

Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

Thanksgiving weekend saw a huge influx of business to movie theaters, and while it was a tight race between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (Warner Bros.), which set a new record for the franchise in its opening weekend last week and Disney's new animated film Tangled, the former came out ahead with $50.3 over the three-day weekend to Tangled's $49 million.  

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Inception Stays on Top beating Salt

Inception continued to dominate the box office in its second weekend, earning an estimated $43.5 million from its 3,792 locations. That is a loss of only 31% over last weekend; an amazing hold attributable to the great word of mouth and repeat business Inception is inspiring. Angelina Jolie’s spy-thriller Salt placed second with an estimated $36.5 million, making this, arguably, the first week of the summer when two adult-skewing features have led the domestic box office.

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Paranormal Activity 2 Spooks Saw 3d

Ending the question of who would flinch first, Lionsgate has pushed back the release of "Saw 3D" by a week to Oct. 29, averting a showdown with Paramount's "Paranormal Activity 2."

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Inception Dream Coming True

The buzz on Christopher Nolan’s Inception continues. Now, however, the topic has shifted from “how awesome will it be?” To “what does it all mean?” Today at least one question can be resolved: “How much money will it make?” In its opening weekend, Inception earned an estimated $60.4 million from its 3,792 locations. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, meanwhile, continued to struggle; earning $17.3 million for a five day total south of $25 million.

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'Despicable Me' tops weekend box office at $60.1M

With summer 2010 so clearly dominated by reboots and sequels, it’s nice to see an original concept rise to the top for a change. Even with Toy Story 3 and The Last Airbender still out there occupying those precious 3D screens, Universal’s 3D animated Despicable Me exceeded most projections by taking first place this weekend with an estimated $60.1 million.

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Eclipse Sparkles At The US Box Office

It looks like Summit’s hopes of breaking additional records with the third chapter in their Twilight Saga are not to be. Eclipse  will just have to settle for the records they broke on Wednesday and, of course, with its bucket loads of cash. The film fell off by 16% on Saturday, effectively ending its quest to topple Spider-Man 2  as the all-time Fourth of July champ. At this point estimates give Eclipse  a gross of $162 million over its first five days and $69 million for the traditional Friday-Sunday weekend frame. Monday should bring Eclipse’s six-day total to $176 million – $4 million short of that record.

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Twilight Saga: Eclipse leading Friday b.o.

"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" continued its boxoffice dominance on Friday as it drained moviegoers' wallets of an estimated $28.6 million.

Summit's supernatural romance, playing in 4,468 theaters in North America, ticked up slightly on its third day of release from the $24.2 million it collected on Thursday as its domestic cume rose to $121.3 million.

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Box office

There was more joy for the good folk at Pixar as Toy Story 3 romped to another box-office topping weekend in the US. The third toytastic instalment continued its opening weekend momentum with the seventh-highest second weekend ever, an estimated $59m, 57% of which came from 3D screens.

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To infinity and Beyond

The animated heroes of "Toy Story 3" sold $109 million worth of tickets during their opening weekend at the North American box office, reviving slow summer sales, according to estimates issued on Sunday by distributor Walt Disney Co.

The film scored the best debut for a film produced by Disney's Pixar Animation unit. The old mark of $70.5 million was set by "The Incredibles" in May 2004.

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"Toy Story 3" set to smash Pixar opening record

"Toy Story 3" could give the summer box office a second big booster shot in as many weeks if industry expectations become marketplace reality.

Disney's 3D threequel should earn as much as $100 million during its first weekend, a record for a Pixar-produced movie. "The Incredibles" holds the title of the best Pixar opener, debuting with $70.5 million in May 2004 en route to a $261.4 million total in North America.

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The Karate Kid beats The A-Team

1		The Karate Kid (2010)	$56M
2		The A-Team (2010)	$26M
3		Shrek Forever After (2010)	$15.8M
4		Get Him to the Greek (2010)	$10.1M

Rebooting franchises isn't always a popular idea, but in many cases, it's a profitable one. Such was the case this weekend as two updates on classic properties entered the box office arena in the form of "The Karate Kid" and "The A-Team," with the kung fu-centric reboot coming out in first place.

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'Watchmen' watching over Box Office

Warner Bros.' dark superhero pic "Watchmen" grossed an estimated $55.7 million from 3,611 theaters in its domestic B.O. debut, coming in lower than expected but still scoring the best opening of the year and one of the best showings ever for an R-rated film.

Studio had hoped for the pic to transform into a March tentpole and match, or best, the $70.9 million opening of Zack Snyder's previous film "300," which bowed on the same frame in 2007.

"Watchmen's" running time, however, was 2:40 before trailers. At that length, theaters couldn't play as much runs of the pic as they did "300," which ran under two hours.

"Watchmen," based on the iconic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, played heavily to fans, i.e., males between the ages of 17-34. After that, "Watchmen" appeared to have some trouble broadening out. Pic was considered a hard R, because of its graphic violence and sex.

"Watchmen's" 124 Imax runs were sold out throughout the weekend. Imax runs accounted for $5.5 million; the circuit's best opening weekend number after "The Dark Knight" ($6.3 million).

"Watchmen" nabbed the third highest March opening, and the fifth highest opening ever for an R-rated film.