Hellboy 2 topped the charts this weekend, with the demon-turned-hero summoning up a modest $35 million. That was just enough to beat out last week's champ Hancock, which took in $33 million and has been on a box office rampage this week, raking in a massive $165 million in the last two weeks and rocketing into the ranks of the top five money makers of the year so far.
While $35 million is by no means a record opening, Hellboy 2's first weekend quickly and easily topped its predecessor. The first installment, which rolled out in 2004, only banked $23 million its first weekend out. Having already received praise from critics and now slated for financial success, the only question left is how long before Del Toro is ready to make a third film. Expect one eventually, though not too quickly. Del Toro has the small matter of The Hobbit to complete before his attention can return to the paranormal realms.
Brendan Fraser's Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D cashed in $20 million and snuck into third place for the weekend. Not bad, given the clear marketing aims at younger audiences, but certainly no competition for Fraser's other summer action adventure, The Mummy 3. With a $60 million budget Journey is set to at least break even, but another movie this weekend with a similar budget has far more to fear.
Eddie Murphy has once again associated his name with a movie that has failed on every conceivable level. As if the the creepy concept behind Meet Dave wasn't bad enough, the fact that they spent $60 million to make it is just outrageous. The film came in seventh place with a pitiful $5 million. While I'm grateful the movie will fail financially, it still leaves me wondering how this could do so poorly but Norbit made almost $200 million world wide. Does this mean people love to see Murphy making out with himself in a fat suit but could care less about him doing a gimmicky sci-fi comedy? Something's just not right about that.
Meanwhile, the race for top movie of the year continues to rage. Iron Man has been the surprise box office gold mine of the summer. With over $313 million it has held the title of most lucrative film of the year since its debut in May. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has almost miraculously held its own, narrowing the gap with the Marvel hero to a mere $3 million. At the rate things are going, what once seemed like a cinch for Iron Man now seems like a foregone conclusion in favor of Indy. Too bad. It would have been nice to see something that wasn't a sequel take the top spot.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP TEN July 11 - 13, 2008
LW = Last Week WR = Weeks Released THTRS = Number of Screens * Denotes new release. Click on title to read CB Review
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