Spider-Man’s second week success wasn’t disputable, it’s overseas performance has been formidable and the general public seem to like it. In fact they liked it more than Angelina Jolie, a scary ghost woman, dumb soldiers, and even half-naked beef cakes. The US box office was much more interesting though as The Dark Knight Rises broke records, just as it’s predecessor did.
| 1 | THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN |
| 2 | MAGIC MIKE |
| 3 | ICE AGE 4 |
| 4 | MAD BUDDIES |
| 5 | MADAGASCAR 3 |
| 6 | THE DICTATOR |
| 7 | WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING |
| 8 | SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN |
| 9 | THE WOMAN IN BLACK |
| 10 | THINK LIKE A MAN |
Magic Mike was the only title released this past weekend that made any kind of impact and it’s hardly surprising as the marketing campaign surrounding the risque film was ideally targeted at woman, and primarily those that are either single or are deep into their 40′s and beyond. The Woman in Black also manage to place albeit significantly lower than expected given that Daniel Radcliffe takes top billing. Fortunately the awful Act of Valour is nowhere to be seen however the same can be said for Lucky which seems to have flown under the radar. Still baffling is how titles like What to Expect and Think Like a Man seem to outlast the competition which sadly is superior to it – this goes to prove that sometimes movies sell themselves on name alone.
Meanwhile, in the States, all eye’s were literally on one movie and unsurprisingly, The Dark Knight Rises once again brought home most the of box office bacon, setting a new domestic record for a first weekend 2D movie gross – a colossal $160,887,295. That’s a lot of dough but not enough to unseat The Avenger’s $207 million that many analysts believed it would (lets take into account that most of The Avenger’s tickets carried the premium price for 3D – on an equal playing field, Rises would have been more than a match). In the end though, Rises only marginally edged out The Dark Knight’s $154 million, it’s still an achievement though. The Dark Knight Rises currently holds a worldwide gross of $248.9 million and is only set to grow.
Expect similar results in next week’s box office
There is only one movie coming this week in South African cinemas that anyone cares about and that is of course The Dark Knight Rises – the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. I’m here to say that there is one other film that should pop up on your radar, namely Cabin in the Woods – an homage to classic survival horror and written by Joss Whedon. Although, with all the hype gravitating towards TDKR , it’s doubtful that it will have much of an impact. Also releasing is Darling Companion – an art house release starring Kevin Kline and Dianne Keaton where they argue through marital difficulties brought on by a search for their missing dog.
Predictions really aren’t necessary in this case. Batman will lay all to waste and given that Cabin is a Ster Kinekor exclusive, it won’t make much of a dent in the money that will be flooding in Warner Bros. direction.
