ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Wrapup: "Superman Returns" to Top of Charts

Box Office Wrapup: "Superman Returns" to Top of Charts

by Gitesh Pandya | July 03, 2006

The Man of Steel conquered the North American box office this weekend as the super hero adventure Superman Returns claimed the number one spot over the pre-Independence Day holiday frame.

Second place was taken by Meryl Streep whose new comedy The Devil Wears Prada opened with more muscle than expected. Most holdovers suffered substantial declines, however the overall marketplace remained slightly better than last year's. But for the first time in five years, Hollywood will reach the Fourth of July without a summer film passing the $250M mark.

Flying to the top of the charts, Superman Returns collected an estimated $52.2M over the Friday-to-Sunday period and $84.2M since its launch on Wednesday. The PG-13 film was the first new installment for the beloved comic book characeter in nearly two decades and averaged a strong $12,829 over three days from a massive 4,065 theaters. The total gross included about $3M from Tuesday night previews which began at 10:00pm and $5M from 76 Imax theaters where the film was presented with special 3D footage. The studio expects to reach a seven-day tally of $110M by the end of Tuesday.

Reviews were mostly positive for the Bryan Singer-directed film which saw newcomer Brandon Routh stepping into the title role following the late Christopher Reeve. Kevin Spacey plays arch-nemesis Lex Luthor while Kate Bosworth takes the role of Lois Lane. The pricey film carried a colossal production budget in the neighborhood of $250M which included about $40M in early development costs before the current cast and crew were in place.

Though a strong number one bow, the opening of Superman Returns did not match up to the debuts of similar action and sci-fi films. One year ago, the Tom Cruise alien invasion film War of the Worlds opened over the same holiday weekend with the same Wednesday start but grossed a higher $100.6M over its first five days. Four years ago, Men in Black II also premiered the same way and grossed $87.2M over its Wednesday-to-Sunday launch which at today's ticket prices would be close to a nine-digit gross. The Kryptonian hero's five-day opening even fell short of the three-day bow of Singer's last film X2: X-Men United which opened to $85.6M three years ago.

However, Superman Returns did manage to open better than last summer's Batman Begins which was another Warner Bros. film attempting to restart a dormant super hero franchise. That film captured $72.9M in its five-day debut including $48.7M over the Friday-to-Sunday period. The new Clark Kent pic is off to a 16% better start than the new Bruce Wayne flick over five days, and only 7% better over the weekend portion. The studio hopes to have long legs again like it did with Batman which went on to gross $205.3M domestically.

But that will be a tough task for Superman which has a very different road ahead of it. Batman Begins had little direct competition in its second weekend plus had the Fourth of July holiday help its third frame. Superman, on the other hand, is already taking advantage of its only holiday which is boosting its opening week. Plus it has a juggernaut in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest opening on its second weekend which is aiming to steal away the same audience.

Competition was also a major factor for Superman Returns this weekend especially with The Devil Wears Prada stealing away a larger-than-expected female audience. The super hero film's next three competitors collected a hefty $60.4M in ticket sales over the weekend. By comparison, War of the Worlds faced $35.3M in combined sales from the next three biggest films.

Internationally, the new Superman film took flight in the Asia/Pacific region and opened at number one in eleven countries grossing an estimated $19.8M from 1,750 theaters. Key markets included Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and India. The studio is holding back the film in Europe and Latin America until after the World Cup final which takes place on July 9.

Fox countered the super hero adventure with the femme-driven comedy The Devil Wears Prada and scored a terrific second place debut with an estimated $27M. Playing in 2,847 locations, the PG-13 film averaged a stunning $9,484 per theater and ranked as Meryl Streep's best opening ever in a lead role. Devil was based on the best-selling novel about a small-town gal who lands a job as the assistant to the evil editor-in-chief of the fashion industry's top magazine. Anne Hathaway co-stars. The Prada audience was immensely female as studio research showed that a whopping 79% were women. Those over the age of 25 made up 61% of the crowd.

With both The Lake House and The Break-Up aging, Devil found an opportunity to score with adult women with extra leisure time over of the long holiday weekend - especially those who had little interest in seeing Superman. The counter-programming move worked like a charm for Fox which spent over $40M on Prada which managed to tap into a built-in audience of fans of the book. Starpower from Streep and Hathaway also allowed for a broad age range to take interest. Reviews were mostly good.

Dropping from first to third was Adam Sandler's comedy Click which grossed an estimated $19.4M in its sophomore frame. Falling 52%, the Sony release has laughed up a solid $77.9M in ten days. Compared to the ten-day cumes of the studio's previous Sandler comedies opening on the weekend before the Fourth of July frame, Click has done slightly better than the $73.6M of 2002's Mr. Deeds but has not reached the $83.7M of 1999's Big Daddy. Those films ended their runs with $126.3M and $163.5M, respectively. The $83M Click looks to find its way to about $130M.

Cars enjoyed the smallest decline in the top ten slipping 40% to an estimated $14M for fourth place. The Disney/Pixar hit upped its cume to $182.1M. Paramount's Nacho Libre fell 51% to an estimated $6.2M giving the Jack Black comedy $65M to date.

Folowing in sixth place was the Keanu Reeves-Sandra Bullock romance The Lake House with an estimated $4.5M, off 49%, leaving Warner Bros. with $38.7M thus far. Close behind with an estimated $4.4M was the street racing sequel The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift which dropped 55% in its third lap. Total to date stands at $51.7M.

The Tyrese Gibson actioner Waist Deep suffered the worst decline in the top ten tumbling 65% to an estimated $3.3M in its second weekend. The Focus release has grossed $15.2M in ten days and should finish up with around $22M. Universal's comedy The Break-Up crumbled 57% to an estimated $2.8M while Sony's religious thriller The Da Vinci Code rounded out the top ten with an estimated $2.3M, off 43%. Cumes for each are $110.1M and $209.8M, respectively.

Although overall ticket sales continue to inch ahead of last year each weekend, the season's top blockbusters remain weaker than those from 2005. The cumulative gross for the top five summer films this year reached $900.3M, down 8% from last summer's five biggest hits at this same point.

Two Fox sequels fell from the top ten over the weekend. The year's highest-grossing film X-Men: The Last Stand dropped 58% to an estimated $2.1M to boost its sum to $228.6M. The $165M film currently stands at number 48 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters ahead of Signs which grossed $228M in 2002. The final mutant adventure is the top-grossing installment in the trilogy surpassing the $157.3M of 2000's X-Men and the $214.9M of 2003's X2 and should complete its domestic run with around $235M. Overseas, it has already grossed over $195M.

The studio has not had as much luck with its kidpic Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties which tumbled 62% to an estimated $2M in only its third weekend. Family audiences have rejected the cat flick spending only $21.5M on it thus far. The Garfield sequel looks to end up with only $25M or one-third of the $75.4M of its 2004 predecessor.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $136.2M which was up 5% from last year when War of the Worlds debuted at number one with $64.9M; but down 12% from 2004 when Spider-Man 2 opened in the top spot with $88.2M.

Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com

Related Items

Movie:	Click
	Mr. Deeds
	Men in Black II
	Signs
	X2: X-Men United
	The Break-Up
	The Lake House
	Batman Begins
	The Da Vinci Code
	Superman Returns
	Big Daddy
	X-Men: The Last Stand
	The Devil Wears Prada
	Waist Deep
	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
	The War of the Worlds
	Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
	X-Men
	Cars
	Nacho Libre
	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Celeb:	Brandon Routh
	Tyrese Gibson
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	Keanu Reeves
	Kevin Spacey
	Meryl Streep
	Sandra Bullock
	Adam Sandler
	Jack Black
	Bryan Singer
	Kate Bosworth
	Tom Cruise

(1-20 of 31 posts) | Reply

nogard64 writes:
on Jul 03 2006 12:35 PM

kinda suprised to see Nacho Libre staying in the top 5, well good for JB and Hess

(Reply to this)

The Senhman writes:
on Jul 03 2006 02:06 PM

In reply to this comment (#839471)
Yeah, it opened well. Jack Black is a proven draw at the box office.

I'm more surprised by how well The Devil Wears Prada did. It's way beyond what anyone had predicted. The good reviews and counter-programming helped.

(Reply to this)

ozoz writes:
on Jul 03 2006 03:00 PM

The devil wears prada was a very good film. I am happy to see that it did real well. AS for superman, no comment.

(Reply to this)

Paul_Is_Drunk writes:
on Jul 03 2006 03:15 PM

Superman was a damn good movie. 'Nuff said.

(Reply to this)

cgcbooks writes:
on Jul 03 2006 04:20 PM

Garfield will make more overseas in the months to come.

(Reply to this)

Elixir writes:
on Jul 03 2006 05:02 PM

i think superman will have good legs.

(Reply to this)

supermanofsteel writes:
on Jul 03 2006 05:45 PM

The movie was mediocre. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.

(Reply to this)

Jackhammer writes:
on Jul 03 2006 06:59 PM

Suprised that Superman only took in 52 mil over the three day weekend. That falls well short compared to X3 which that took in over 100 mil over a three day weekend. Maybe singer should never of left Marvel for DC.

(Reply to this)

pota1967 writes:
on Jul 03 2006 07:38 PM

after this week Superman Returns is done

(Reply to this)

nickb1016 writes:
on Jul 03 2006 07:58 PM

In reply to this comment (#839478)
[b]Exactly[/b]
He should have never left! i liked X3 but it was nowhere near as good as X2...who knows how much it could have made if he stayed with it. oh well i bet superman barely cracks 200 mill, if it does at all.

(Reply to this)

Count_Vertigo writes:
on Jul 03 2006 10:52 PM

I see Superman Returns showing better legs than expected and reaching 225M-250M. I sat in the IMAX version and was surrounded by everyone from 5 years old to 85 years old. How many films can say they have that kind of drawing power? While it does suffer from some pacing problems, it is still a much better movie than most of the dreck that is out there and deserves it's good reviews. I have no doubt that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will beat it in the box office, but those two films are the only real competition out there for the next couple weeks. Both should go on to make very healthy profits. And for the still whining fanboys who can't get past Singer leaving the X-Men franchise, get over it. You obviously liked the movie enough to make it the #1 movie of the year so far, so quit your bitchin'. Especially considering the catastrophe we all expected under the hands of Ratner, we should all be relieved and move on.

(Reply to this)

dylan21484nj writes:
on Jul 04 2006 06:35 AM

In reply to this comment (#839478)
"Maybe Singer should never of left Marvel for DC."

first off, he left Fox for Warner Bros., sir. stop with the Marvel/DC rivalry bullshit, only the staunchest of comic book geeks even cares about that. i enjoy both Marvel and DC characters and could give two shits what comic book company they belong to.

X3 had the reputation of first two films leading into it (which, Singer gave to the series, you have to admit), while Superman Returns had the ghost of Christopher Reeve to contend with, not to mention that there hadn't been a good Superman movie in over two decades. plus, Superman isn't the most flawed character out there, and flawed heroes are always more interesting.

besides, if you really wanna compare Marvel and DC, last year we had Fantastic Four and Batman Begins, correct? FF had the bigger opening weekend, but the numbers dropped off drastically while Batman stuck around for weeks. in the end, FF made about $150 mil domestic while Bats made over $200 mil.

do you really want to compare X3 and Superman Returns too? then let's get down to brass tacks here.yes, both X3 and Superman Returns have their flaws. X3 was too short, Superman Returns was too long. X3 botched the Phoenix Saga, and Luthor's plan stunk. X3's effects reeked of bargain bin budgeting (the crappy wirework, no Pheonix fire effect, and only a Sentinel's head instead of an entire Sentinel, at least give us an entire Sentinel!) while Superman blew its load early with that great plane rescue and couldn't quite match up to that thrill after. still, i think Superman was the better movie because it didn't rush rush rush and didn't cheap out on us (not to mention that Superman didn't undo most of the movie in the final scene like X3 did). at least Superman tried to inject some emotional weight in the film instead of cheaply killing off characters to get reactions from people. not to mention that Superman Returns used James Marsden in an effective role and you ended up caring and actually liking Richard White, whereas they never knew what to do with Cyclops in the X-Men films and he only seemed to be there to keep Jean Grey and Wolverine apart.

and it's "should never HAVE left," by the way.

(Reply to this)

nickb1016 writes:
on Jul 04 2006 07:20 AM

In reply to this comment (#839482)
Well actually the point i was trying to make is that superman is a better movie than x3 but x3 had more potential than superman. by the way i thought the goldengate bridge scene was well done, when comparing special effects take in to account the budget.

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Jul 04 2006 08:48 AM

I'm supprised that Superman didn't make more and that Devil made so much. I was dissapointed with Superman it wasn't a bad film, it just wasn't as good as I was hopping it would be. Whatever I'm ready for Pirates.

(Reply to this)

JackHorner1979 writes:
on Jul 04 2006 10:16 AM

[b]The film was an experiment in smoke and mirrors.[/b]
Singer completely made a mockery out of the mythos and the characters all lacked morality, especially Superman.
It's a steaming turd and a film that in 10 years time will be condemned more than it is praised. Superman simply has to go through the problems that the Batman franchises had before Begins got it right.

(Reply to this)

drebay40 writes:
on Jul 04 2006 03:59 PM

[b]Really?[/b]
Personally, I liked Superman Returns more than Batman Begins, but both were good, and my mom who usually doesn't like comic book movies loved SR, so I think in the end SR will be remembered fondly.

(Reply to this)

r3plicat3 writes:
on Jul 04 2006 05:47 PM

[b]Hmm[/b]
i liked BR and SR alot. Both were WAY better than X3. X3 was a joke and it wouldve been better if theyd never made it. SR was a treat for any comic fan. They did well. Singer did a DAMN good job.

(Reply to this)

skletonkee writes:
on Jul 04 2006 06:29 PM

[b]down with superman...[/b]
nuff said!!!

;)

(Reply to this)

Insert_witty_name writes:
on Jul 05 2006 06:52 AM

In reply to this comment (#839486)
Well if your mom likes it, its sure to be a classic..........

(Reply to this)

JackHorner1979 writes:
on Jul 05 2006 07:05 AM

[b]Why are people so eager to be complacent? Spoilers[/b]
Superman Returns, perhaps my most anticipated film of the year, go as far as saying of the decade has done something I never thought would be possible: Make me question if this cross I bear is worth lugging around anymore.
Singer has managed to create a film so uninspiring, unoriginal, undemanding and basically a complete rape of the mythos of this character, that one has to question as to whether or not Singer understood the ideals behind the hero as opposed to relying on the breathtaking imagery to pass the film.
He knew going in that he had to simply garnish this plate with scenes from the Alex Ross collection and everything else would either fall into place or everyone would just say �good enough�. He wasn�t sure, but he didn�t care.
The film is poorly paced and cut and I had to question at some moments if they simply forgot to splice scenes in before the curtain went up. There is a scene so confusing and cold, I wondered if Clark forgot that he was raised as a human. Consider this: He lands on earth, returns home to his frial mother who's been pining for him, they share a moment and the next scene has him walking through the doors of The Daily Planet. Imagine Martha's surprise when she goes to his room in the morning and found the bugger didn't even leave a forwarding address. This is a crucial aspect of the film and story. Martha is his only human, moral compass. It's his ties to the past. To wash over it is somewhat disingenious.

The actions scenes that do exist, while thrilling to witness, have no lead up. There is no awe inspiring moment or second that ever gave me that goose bump moment. In the Donner version, we felt the march. That at the height of the cresendo, it wasn�t just Reeve rocketing into the stratosphere, it was the audience. In this film, there is no build up to reintroduce us to the hero.
Things go from these rich action scenes to worse when Singer unhinges all the ideals of Superman and makes him a creepy stalker just eager for a shot on Dateline to show that he�s the most challenging predator to catch yet.
I�m not sure when Superman thought it was a good idea to float outside bedroom windows and using x-ray vision and super hearing, spy on the conversation between two people that he has no business spying on. NSA would be proud. These problems probably started around the same time he thought cock blocking, and penis measuring were still solid forms of chivalry. Why didn�t he just tell Lois that his was bigger than Richard White�s? No need, I�m sure she knows.
Things continue around the same lines, and perhaps Clark would be able to tell Lois that the love he once had for her isn�t dead, if the these freakin screenplay writers actually let Superman speak. Now, this isn�t to slam Routh. In fact, he plays the guy as good as anyone could given the fact he has to mime the freaking part. If he is speaking, it�s all industrious and one syllable answers. I guess Routh can�t complain. Kal Penn got to enjoy a ride on this film without uttering a single line. The talks are insipid, the don�t move with natural punch and basically serve to get from A to B. Where is the wonderful charm that Lois and Clark shared high above her apartment, speaking of the color pink? It�s dead and gone and we are left with Clark simply trying to horn in on a loving family. Wow, last son of Krypton AND a homewrecker. Singer has taken Superman into the 21st Century via Liberalism, and while that will please many, knowing that the most Conservative hero has finally bowed down to the pressures to �get with the times�, what we lose is more damaging. The very fact Singer hasn�t learn that Superman doesn�t reflect current speech patterns, ideals, style and time is forever lost on him and he killed the last true Boy Scouts.
There are moments of absolute wonderment, Singer over supplies us with grandiose scenes. We get imagery of Christ and scenes from Action comics #1. We get a severe beating scene that even Sam Peckinpah would tip his hat towards. But then Singer doesn�t let up and we gear up for another run in case the first one was lost on you.
It��s a shame Singer didn�t just simply rely on the hero that has worked for all this time. Instead he tweaks something that needs no tweaking. The most crucial aspect as to why it didn't work is Singer forgot that, morally Superman isn't shallow. I'm not against him spying, if he acknowledges it's wrong. But he doesn't and he comes off like a creep. This is why the opening with Martha is soooo crucial. Because it's his compass to better things. That even when he does struggle with his morality, someon there is to guide him and ground him. Let's look at Donner's version again:
Jonathan Kent: [after Clark has beaten Brad's car to the Kent farmhouse... by RUNNING!] Been showing off a bit, haven't you, son?
Young Clark Kent: ...Oh, I didn't mean to show off, Pop. It's just that... well, guys like that Brad, I just wanna... well, I know I shouldn't, but...
Jonathan Kent: I know. You can do all these amazing things, and sometimes you think that you will BURST WIDE OPEN unless you can tell someone about it, don't you?... There's one thing I know for sure, son. And that is, YOU ARE HERE FOR A REASON. I don't know what it is, exactly, but I do know this much: it's NOT to score touchdowns.

Superman struggled, but here gets set straight. I also like a Superman who isn't perfect but what do these words mean if we don't put them to use: "They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son"

Superman may stumble with morality, but how can he be a leader to the world if he himself does what anyone else would do? Rememeber, Superman isn't called Superman because of all the powers he has, it's because what he chooses to do with those powers.

(Reply to this)

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