When we last left off, Big Willie-style Fourth o’ July was goin’ on, and “Hancock” had one of the largest opening weekends of the summer. Let’s see how other movies have fared…
The next weekend released one of the better movies of July: “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.” What shocked me were the differing opinions between the critics and the audience on the weekends. The critics hated “Hancock,” but loved “Hellboy 2”; conversely, the public went and saw “Hancock” and didn’t turn out for “Hellboy 2” like I had expected. Another release for that weekend was Brendan Fraser in “Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D,” which I was told you really DID need 3-D glasses for.
Eddie Murphy’s comedy “Meet Dave” opened at $5.2 million.
“Mamma Mia!” had an impressive opening as it could have hoped: $27,751,240. Why? Because of its competition: “The Dark Knight.” “TDK” kicked “Iron Man” and “Indy 4”’s opening weekends, raking in $158 million. It has since set box office records the least of which was biggest weekend box office opening. Whether it was the fact that it was a sequel to “Batman Begins,” or Heath Ledger’s last movie, or simply people who enjoy the work of Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight” has held the number one spot at the box office for the last month.
Believe it or not, I really DID want to believe, but the new “X-Files” movie let me down. With an opening of $10 million for the weekend, it was beaten out by the Will Ferrell/ John C. Reilly comedy “Step Brothers.” Whether it was the plot of “X-Files,” the fact that it’s been years since the series has been on the air, or maybe there are that many more fans for Ferrell and company as opposed to “The X-Files.”
We got a third “Mummy” movie, which was a slight disappointment at the B.O., only taking in $40 million. Its competition, “Swing Vote,” had one of the lowest openings for the summer as well. Was it the reviews of “Mummy 3” that kept people away, or are we already done with the franchise?
Batman continued his grip on the number one spot and if any movie could thwart him, it was “Pineapple Express.” However, Judd Apatow and company couldn’t pull that off, but did take in $23 mil for the weekend. Their competition, “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2,” brought in $10 mil.
Will anything break Batman’s stranglehold on the number one spot? This week we have the premiere of “Tropic Thunder.” If “Pineapple Express” couldn’t do it, this is the last chance.
Here are the rundown of the numbers for the summer:
Biggest Openings of the Summer:
“The Dark Knight” $158,411,483
“Indy 4” $126,917,373
“Iron Man” $102,118,668
“Wall*E” $63,087,526
“Hancock” $62,603,879
“”Kung Fu Panda” $60,239,130
“Sex and the City” $56,848,056
“The Incredible Hulk” $55,414,050
“Narnia: Prince Caspian” $55,034,805
“Wanted” $50,927,085
And the Top Ten Cumulative for the Summer:
“The Dark Knight” $448,886,084
“Iron Man” $316,590,841
“Indy 4” $314,819,219
“Hancock” $222,625,918
“Kung Fu Panda” $211,507,723
“Wall*E” $211,332,152
“Sex and the City” $151,838,609
“Narnia: Prince Caspian” $140,117,978
“The Incredible Hulk” $133,932,430
“Wanted” $132,802,780
Chas Andrews' Movie Blog 
