The news didn’t get any better for BATTLESHIP (Universal) on Saturday. According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the aquatic disaster couldn’t even manage a 10% increase on its 2d day of release (in comparison, John Carter had a 25% bump on its first Saturday), and is headed for a horrible $25M opening weekend, $5M less than Carter‘s. The movie has no chance of recouping its $375M+ cost (including marketing), and now the only question is how much it’s going to lose. (The answer: a lot.)
Neither of the other newcomers were any more successful. Sacha Baron Cohen’s THE DICTATOR (Paramount) is heading for a $17M weekend, $23M since its Wednesday opening, and it’ll be lucky to earn as much as the $60M that Cohen’s disappointing (and less expensive) Bruno grossed. That’s better, though, than WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING (Lionsgate), on its way to a starved $10M opening weekend that likely represents a complete loss.
With DARK SHADOWS (Warners) falling a steep 58% in its 2d weekend to $12.5M, this early summer season is quickly turning into THE AVENGERS (Disney)… and everything else. Avengers will win its 3rd consecutive weekend without breaking a sweat, the 2d biggest Weekend 3 of all time (the highest non-holiday) with a likely $58M and a $450M total that’s nowhere near done. Add that to its gargantuan overseas gross, and the picture is over $1.1 billion worldwide, in the top half-dozen grossers of all time and probably headed for #3, behind only Avatar and Titanic.
About the only good news for any movie not called Avengers was a very successful expansion for THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (Fox Searchlight), now in 354 theatres and humming along with over $8M earned so far.
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