The demise of “The Dark Knight Rises” may be a tad exaggerated. Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated tentpole initially saw lower than expected ticket sales after the tragic shooting at a midnight screening in Aurora, Colorado. As time passes, however, cautious fans are slowly continuing to make there way to their local theater to catch the end of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. “Rises” found another $36.4 million over the weekend to remain at no. 1 at the box office for the third week in a row. The picture has also grossed an impressive $354.6 million in just 17 days. While it will likely fall short of “The Dark Knight’s” $533.3 million gross, a final tally in the $470-480 million range seems likely. It will face it’s biggest challenge yet when Universal Pictures’ “The Bourne Supremacy” opens this Friday.
Debuting in the second slot is Sony Pictures’ “Total Recall” remake. The new adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” found just $26 million over the three-day frame. In comparison, the 1990 version of “Total Recall” grossed $25.5 million over 22 years ago. Sony is going to have to hope the pricey “Recall” performs better internationally or it may end up being one of the bigger financial write-downs of 2012.
20th Century Fox’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” had a soft debut with just $14.7 million. Even with a $22 million budget, Fox has to be disappointed after the first two “Diary” films $22.1 million and $23.7 million in March of 2010 and 2011. The studio will have to hope kids being out of school will help pump up the weekday grosses for this one to get into the black.
Another Fox product, “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” continued to mine family business in fourth place with another $8.4 million and $131.8 million to date. The fourth installment of the “Ice Age” franchise has underperformed domestically, but has been a monster overseas taking in over $500 million outside the U.S.
Finally, Fox rounds out the top five with another disappointment, “The Watch.” The Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn comedy took in another $6.3 million for just $25.3 million in 10 days making it one of the bigger bombs of the summer.
Notable box office tallies include Seth McFarlane’s “Ted” which crossed the $200 million mark at $203.4 million to date and “Amazing Spider-Man” which hit $250.6 million.
New releases this week include “Hope Springs” on Wednesday and “The Bourne Legacy” and “The Campaign” on Friday.