As expected, The Amazing Spider-Man took the top spot, and successfully rebooted a dormant franchise. The latest superhero hit tallied $62 million over the weekend ($14,360 average from around 9,900 screens at 4,318 theaters), for a six-day total of a huge $137 million. For 2012, its' the 14th movie of the year to reach $100 million stateside, and it landed on the high end of analysts' expectations, who had expected between $120 and $150 million for the six-day period. As for the weekend number, it was about the same as Thor and Captain America's opening weekends, and opened far ahead of recent franchise reboots such as Batman Begins and X-Men: First Class. Critical reception was positive, and audiences gave the film an "A-" CinemaScore, which could bode well for the road ahead. But with The Dark Knight Rises arriving in less than two weeks, it doesn't seem like this one is destined to scale even half the heights of that film or The Avengers. Distributor Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios produced the film for $220 million, and had forecasted a six-day debut between $110 and $120 million.Overseas, Spider-Man lit the box office on fire with a huge $127.5 million from almost every overseas market, in line with Men in Black III's international roll-out. The film has already picked up $337 million worldwide since opening in a few markets last weekend, and likely has more to come.
Following its' record-breaking opening, Ted had a great second weekend hold, easing just 41% to $32.2 million, for a 10-day total of a blazing $119.8 million, and becoming the 13th film of 2012 to reach the $100 million milestone (it had a higher total than Spider-Man did on Friday, giving this film the edge to reach it first). That number was in line with The Hangover's second weekend, but that film dropped just 28% from its' opening weekend. With that in mind, Ted is likely to at least hit close to $200 million domestically, a rare number for an R-rated film and making the film a surprise blockbuster.
Also stabilizing pretty well was Pixar's Brave, which held onto the third spot in its' third weekend, down 43% to $19.6 million, for a 17-day total of a strong $174 million. The film is performing in line with Madagascar 3 (albeit with a higher gross through the same point), and it will be interesting to see if it can hold well in the face of Ice Age 4, which hits theaters on Friday. In milestone news, Disney became the first studio of 2012 to reach $1 billion domestically today (thanks mainly to The Avengers and Brave).
The other two new releases didn't fare as well. But coming in fourth place for the weekend was Oliver Stone's latest, Savages. The ensemble action flick debuted to a better-than-expected $16 million for a per-theater average of a pretty solid $6,095 from 2,628 theaters. That ranked third on Stone's all-time biggest openings list, behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and World Trade Center. Considering that there was a lot of competition for adults, this debut is actually pretty impressive. But with mixed critical reception and a discouraging "C+" CinemaScore, it sounds like it will only be in theaters for a short time. The film was produced for $45 million by distributor Universal Pictures (in association with Relativity Media), who had originally predicted a $10 million debut.The two other second weekend holdovers fell hard. Magic Mike cascaded 60% to fifth place and $15.6 million, for a 10-day total of $72.8 million. The stripper flick could still reach $100 million by the time it leaves theaters, as it is pacing ahead of Cowboys & Aliens through the same point, as it had a similar drop in its' second weekend. Madea's Witness Protection also fell 60% to $10.2 million, coming in sixth place and has earned $45.8 million in the same amount of time. Tyler Perry's latest cross-dressing comedy will likely end its' run near $60 million.
In its' fifth weekend, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted continued to hold well, down just 37% to $7.5 million, for a $195.9 million gross in one month of release. The animated hit passed the original Madagascar's $195 million final gross today to become the biggest-grossing installment in the franchise and will pass the $200 million milestone by the end of the week. If it isn't completely knocked out by Ice Age 4 next weekend, the film could go as high as $225 million stateside.
The final new release, 3D concert Katy Perry - Part of Me, got off to a disappointing start, taking only eighth place for the weekend and earning $7.1 million, for a per-theater average of an anemic $2,615 from around 4,200 screens at 2,730 theaters. Since its' Thursday debut, the latest big-screen concert event has earned $10.2 million. That ranked as the second-lowest opening for a 3D concert movie, (its' only ahead of the Glee concert), just over half of the Jonas Brothers concert and only a fourth of Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson and Hannah Montana's concerts. Critical reception was surprisingly positive, while audiences gave the event film a promising "A" CinemaScore. One other positive note is that distributor Paramount Pictures only produced the film for $12 million, which means this should easily turn a profit by the time it leaves theaters. Analysts had been expecting a $15 million four-day debut.Rounding out the Top 10 were two limited releases. Moonrise Kingdom expanded into 884 theaters (800+ theaters is considered a wide release) and was down only 8% from last frame to $4.5 million, for a $26.8 million gross in seven weeks of release. Expanding into 806 theaters, Woody Allen's latest To Rome with Love earned a strong $3.1 million, for a $4.9 million tally since its' limited debut last weekend.
Overseas, we already know The Amazing Spider-Man debuted on top with $127.5 million in close to 90% of the international market. So far, the reboot has earned over $200 million overseas. Also reaching the $200 million mark overseas a week ahead of its' stateside release on Friday, Ice Age: Continental Drift slid to second place, but actually earned more than its' international debut last weekend with an amazing $82.4 million from just 48 markets. Ted opened only in Australia and Taiwan, and earned a huge $15 million, enough to take third place ($13.1 million of it came from Australia, the biggest-opening ever for a Universal pic there) overseas this weekend. Former international headliners Snow White and the Huntsman and Madagascar 3 rounded out the Top 5 with around $8 million each. The fantasy adventure has picked up over $200 million overseas, while the animated threequel has gone past $250 million from international markets.
