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So Pirates of The Caribbean continues it’s broadside on the history books! It added just under $4m on Monday to bring its total to a ridiculous $956,800,000! That puts it past Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows’ $954,501,070 and number 10 on the all time list. Here come the cries about adjusted ticket prices and extra cash for 3D; but the fact remains that enough people were prepared to pay for tickets, whatever the price (AND many of them more than once) to reach this total: giving the lie to the myth that people had grown tired off the films and hated pt2 & pt3.
It stands a very good chance of passing the $1b mark (joining 1. Avatar, 2. Titanic, 3. Lord of The Rings: Return of The King, 4. POTC: At World’s End, 5. Toy Story 3, 6. Alice In Wonderland and 7. The Dark Knight. It should not be lost on anybody that three of those seven films were released in 3D, as was Pirates 4.
Summer chart weekend 19/6/11
Film
|
North American Gross*
|
International Gross
|
Total Worldwide Gross
|
Budget
|
1
|
Pirates of The Caribbean 4
|
|
$732,300,000
|
$953,046,502
|
$250m
|
2
|
Fast Five**
|
|
$385,000,000
|
$591,816,880
|
$125
|
3
|
The Hangover Pt. II
|
$233,110,617
|
$257,600,000
|
$490,710,617
|
$80m
|
4
|
Thor
|
$176,111,078
|
$259,103,354
|
$435,214,432
|
$150m
|
5
|
Kung Fu Panda
|
|
$281,400,000
|
$425,070,468
|
$150m
|
6
|
X-Men: First Class
|
$120,358,086
|
|
$282,858,086
|
$160m
|
7
|
Bridesmaids
|
$136,450,725
|
$7,700,000
|
$144,150,725
|
$32.5m
|
8
|
Super 8
|
$73,002,809
|
$21,571,000
|
$94,573,809
|
$50m
|
9
|
Priest
|
$29,136,626
|
$46,000,000
|
75,136,626
|
$60m
|
10
|
Green Lantern
|
$53,174,303
|
$16,400,000
|
$69,574,303
|
$200m
|
*North America includes The US & Canada. **Fast 5 opened 1 week before the official summer movie season, but to all intents & purposes it’s a ‘Summer Movie’. Besides 11 Years ago Summer season didn’t kick off until US Memorial day at the end of May, maybe another change is coming.
All of this means that Pirates still tops the Summer movie charts. It’s unlikely to be passed until sometime in July or early August when Transformers: Dark of The Moon and Harry Potter will both surely come close to (most likely well past) that $1b mark. Both films are in 3D and with Transformers actually being filmed in 3D (As opposed to Harry Potter’s converted nature) it will be a tight race between those two (possibly all three) for the Summer crown, if not the year’s.
 |
| Transformers: Dark of The Moon. Out 29-6-11 |
Although Green Lantern finds itself in the Summer top 10 you have to fear for it’s prospects. The $200m budget is only the beginning as Warner Brothers are believed to have spent at least another $100m on marketing & releasing the film and the odds of it reaching even that amount, worldwide, seem remote at best. With Warners / DC apparently no longer following Marvel Studios’ shared Universe blueprint, this film hs to stand on it’s own. It can’t ‘take a hit’ but be ok because it’s introduced the Btman and Superman universe to the Green Lantern mythology; or take solace that a much more successful Justice League film will re-introduce the Reynolds’ Lantern to a Dark Knight sized audience. Even the lucrative licensing market (something that Marvel excels at and adds hundreds of millions of dollars to when it releases a film. 2010 licensing figures for Marvel were $5.6b, with the added revenue generated by licensed Iron Man product, tied to Iron Man II, credited for a significant portion of the increase from t previous year.) is unlikely to yield too much joy as perhaps only the pre-existing fans will show much of an interest in a film that isn’t massively popular.
Worldwide weekend 19/6/11
Film
|
Weekend Gross
|
Total Gross
|
Budget
|
1
|
Green Lantern
|
$69,574,303
|
$69,574,303
|
$200m
|
2
|
Kung Fu Panda 2
|
$64,427,621
|
$281,400,000
|
$150m
|
3
|
Super 8
|
$33,472,020
|
$94,573,809
|
$50m
|
|
X-Men: First Class
|
$33,233,524
|
$282,858,086
|
$160m
|
5
|
Pirates of The Caribbean 4
|
$32,946,249
|
$953,046,502
|
$250m
|
6
|
The Hangover Pt. II
|
$32,471,339
|
$490,710,617
|
$80m
|
Green Lantern has been unable to use its bigger budget than Thor’s to achieve the similar aims both films had; introducing the ‘cosmic’ side of the super hero genre to the mass public. Right now it seems that Lantern would be happy if it made even half of Thor’s gross. Speaking of Thor, with Japan yet to open the film will handily finish between $450m - $480m; which is extremely good for a Super Hero movie with a virtually unknown character and a virtually unknown lead. It’s takings are far superior to films like Ghost Rider and Daredevil and on a par with Batman Begins and X-Men films.
Sticking with the super heroes; X-Men: First Class finds itself in an odd position. It has received very strong reviews and great word of mouth from those who have been to see it, but it is being squeezed by the busy summer season. It was always fighting an uphill battle because of its change of cast and lack (mostly) of the already popular characters, notably Wolverine. This lead to the film having smaller openings that other X-Men films and thus always playing catch up. It’s hardly a failure and realistically, given the changes and competition, I'm not sure it was ever fair to expect the film to match the takings of X2, X3 or Origins Wolverine. Fox have recently stated that they were hoping it would match the, unadjusted, taking of the first X movie, $296,339,527. The film will easily pass that total this week and as an X-Men fan, and a fan of First Class, I certainly hope that it’s likely final gross $320m - $360m is enough. I should hink it will be given that it should have a high purchase rate on Blu-Ray / DVD, but I’ll be sweating whilst I wait to see if we’re to get more time in the First Class, not to mention the X4 & X5 that are anxiously awaiting the Green Light from Fox. (Yes I know Marvel fanboys want Fox to just give up and hand the rights to X-Men back to Marvel, but that aint happening until Fox are certain they’ve bled it dry).
International weekend 19/6/11
Film
|
Weekend Gross
|
Total Gross
|
Budget
|
1
|
Kung Fu Panda 2
|
$55,400,000
|
$281,400,000
|
$150m
|
2
|
Pirates of The Caribbean 4
|
$26,300,000
|
$732,300,000
|
$250m
|
3
|
The Hangover Pt. II
|
$22,400,000
|
$257,600,000
|
$80m
|
4
|
X-Men: First Class
|
$21,300,000
|
$162,500,000
|
$160m
|
5
|
Green Lantern
|
$16,000,000
|
$16,400,000
|
$200m
|
6
|
Super 8
|
$12,000,000
|
$21,571,000
|
$50m
|
7
|
Bridesmaids
|
$7,300,000
|
$7,700,000
|
$32.5m
|
8
|
Bad Teacher
|
$3,200,000
|
$3,200,000
|
$55M
|
9
|
Something Borrowed
|
$2,900,000
|
$17,800,000
|
$35m
|
10
|
Fast Five
|
$2,800,000
|
$385,000,000
|
$125
|
Kung Fu Panda continues to drive the analysts crazy as we try to figure out why on Earth it is having such a meh performance in North America, when it continues to thrive internationally and shows every sign that it will pass the original’s $416,309,969 international gross. However the puzzling drop in the US takings means it may be difficult for it to pass Kung Fu Panda’s global total of $631,744,560. Of course I refuse to call any movie that makes over $600m and doesn’t have the words ‘Avatar 2’, ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Pirates of The Caribbean’ in the title a failure.
Super 8 has been attracting much attention from people who refuse to believe that it only cost $100m to make. Now I’m well aware of ‘Hollywood’ accounting, but it’s pretty disingenuous to rave about how great something like District 9 looks on such a low budget ($30m) but then to assume Super 8, with a pretty much starless cast couldn’t also come in on a budget, especially when so much of it is what you don’t see. Either way the film is doing OK, but a slow international roll out will mean it will be impossible to tell how successful it is for a while yet.
North America weekend 19/6/11
Film
|
Weekend Gross
|
Total Gross
|
Budget
|
1
|
Green Lantern
|
$52,685,000
|
$52,685,000
|
$200m
|
2
|
Super 8
|
$21,472,020
|
$73,002,809
|
$50m
|
3
|
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
|
$18,455,355
|
$18,455,355
|
$55m
|
4
|
X-Men: First Class
|
$11,933,524
|
$120,358,086
|
$160m
|
5
|
The Hangover Pt. II
|
$10,071,339
|
$233,110,617
|
$80m
|
6
|
Kung Fu Panda 2
|
$9,027,621
|
$143,670,468
|
$150m
|
7
|
Bridesmaids
|
$7,097,735
|
$136,450,725
|
$32.5m
|
8
|
Pirates of The Caribbean 4
|
$6,646,249
|
$220,746,502
|
$250m
|
9
|
Midnight In Paris
|
$7,884,800
|
$21,446,614
|
$30m
|
10
|
Judy Moody & The NOT Bummer Summer
|
$2,103,464
|
$11,029,307
|
$20m
|
This weekend America gets the release of Cars 2 and Bad Teacher; whilst Bridesmaids continues to roll out around the world, notably here in the UK.
