Well, just because I missed a week on the air, these forums allow me to still post the movie notes and thoughts for Monday, July 28 2008.

Batman still continues to rule the box office roost. The Dark Night took in $75.1 million dollars in romping to the top spot yet again. Imax shows were all sold out and there were even reports of Sunday evening shows sold out too. It is now the fastest to $300 million, highest second weekend gross, and the highest 10 day gross, passing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The next goal for The Dark Night, is the fastest to $400 million, which was done in 43 days by Shrek 2. (Pirates took 45 days.) Can it get there in the next 30 days? I think it can. and even a $500 million domestic gross is not out of the question. The question is, will enough fans go and see it enough times to get it over the current all time #1 at $600.8 million, Titanic. That is a tough question as all the other movies that reached $400 million in their initial release failed to even sniff $500. (Shrek, Pirates, Spider Man I, and Star Wars- Phantom Menance. ET and Star Wars- A New Hope are also over $400 million gross, but those include all re-releases.)

My thought, it gets to $500, but fails to take over Titanic.

Here are the full top ten from this past weekend.

1. "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros., $75,166,466, 4,366 locations, $17,216 average, $313,781,677, two weeks.

2. "Step Brothers," Sony, $30,940,732, 3,094 locations, $10,000 average, $30,940,732, one week.

3. "Mamma Mia!" Universal, $17,746,725, 2,990 locations, $5,935 average, $62,595,465, two weeks.

4. "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," Fox, $10,021,753, 3,185 locations, $3,147 average, $10,021,753, one week.

5. "Journey to the Center of the Earth," Warner Bros., $9,717,217, 2,688 locations, $3,615 average, $60,487,455, three weeks.

6. "Hancock," Sony, $8,311,123, 3,309 locations, $2,512 average, $206,482,007, four weeks.

7. "Wall-E," Disney, $6,422,186, 3,044 locations, $2,110 average, $195,308,076, five weeks.

8. "Hellboy 2: the Golden Army," Universal, $5,100,305, 3,018 locations, $1,690 average, $66,059,925, three weeks.

9. "Space Chimps," Fox, $4,536,838, 2,538 locations, $1,788 average, $16,167,380, two weeks.

10. "Wanted," Universal, $2,738,550, 1,754 locations, $1,561 average, $128,627,405, five weeks.

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CoH handle: @prof mclaren
CO handle: @thorge24
YIM: maris240
Take Care!

Thanks to boxofficemojo.com and yahoo.com for the information for the post.

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CoH handle: @prof mclaren
CO handle: @thorge24
YIM: maris240
Take Care!

And now for this upcoming weekend. (indb.com)

There are two major wide release movies out.

First is the political comedy/satire/docudrama/conspiracy theory movie staring Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Costner, Swing Vote. An interesting take on the current voting regulations and such. One really has to stretch their suspension of disbelief to make this work, but after such things in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections, you never know I suppose. A bunch of people will see it so I see a possible top 5 showing for it.

Now, the movie that has a shot of knocking off the Batman. Brendan Fraser returns as mummy finding Rick O'Connell in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Now, it does not have Rachel Weisz returning as Evie and Maria Bello takes over the role. (There are rumors of both screenplay issues and Rachel not wanting to travel to China to film for 3 months. Read up on them and you decide which is more truthfull.) Early buzz is not good for the third installment of the series, but the characters have been popular and the first two did well. It will be interesting to see how well it does with a non-Egyptian theme.

I have a hard time deciding on this one. I can see Mummy taking in somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million or so. The question is, will Dark Night's popularity continue. Spider Man I has the best 3rd weekend gross at $45 million. To have a shot at $500 million, Batman needs to be north of that number. I could see a very close number for this weekend. I will root for The Dark Night to take a very close box office race.

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CoH handle: @prof mclaren
CO handle: @thorge24
YIM: maris240
Take Care!