After 21 days, the reign of “The Dark Knight Rises” is over. Christopher Nolan’s final installment in his Batman trilogy fell from the top spot Friday as “The Bourne Legacy” and “The Campaign” hit theaters.
Universal Pictures’ non-“Bourne” sequel, “The Bourne Legacy,” had a superb first day with $14 million and is expected to gross between $40-45 million for the three-day. That’s less than the respective $69.2 million and $52.5 million “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “The Bourne Supremacy” opened with. However, considering Matt Damon isn’t around as Jason Bourne for this installment, Universal will take it. The film received a solid 61 on Metacritic, but just a 51% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Will audiences embrace this spin-off storyline or will disappointment over the fact Damon isn’t in it at all kill its long term playability? Next weekend should tell the tale.
Debuting in second was Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis’ “The Campaign” with a strong $10.2 million for what should be a $28-30 million weekend. That’s a bit higher than pre-polling surveys indicated. With only “Hit and Run” as competition in comedy genre for months, this “Campaign” won’t end any time soon.
“The Dark Knight Rises” fell to the no. 3 slot with another $5.6 million and $376 million to date. “Rises” won’t equal “The Dark Knight’s” $533 million domestic gross, but it should surpass $400 million by Monday and eventually top out in the $440-450 million range.
The well received “Hope Springs” grossed $4.4 million on Wednesday and Thursday, but got an expected Friday boost with $4.7 million. By the end of the weekend the Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones romantic dramedy should be in the $20 million range as it mines a rarely targeted older audience.
Look for complete box office estimates tomorrow on HitFix.