Weekend Box Office (June 14 - 16, 2013)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND The much beloved comic book hero Superman returns to the big screen in the Warner Bros. reboot Man of Steel which arrives riding a wave of anticipation more powerful than a locomotive. The PG-13 super hero pic comes from director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and producer Christopher Nolan who directed the wildly successful Dark Knight trilogy which grossed a combined $2.5 billion worldwide. The studio gave the filmmaker the task of bringing the iconic son of Krypton back given how popular and lucrative a good new film franchise can be.

Arguably the most well-known and popular super hero, Superman has movies that have broad appeal and if done well, can command huge numbers at the worldwide box office. Henry Cavill takes over as the title character and an all-star Oscar-caliber cast joins him including Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon and Laurence Fishburne. Fanboys are a given and are guaranteed to show up, but how many others?

Marvel has had great success opening super hero movies at the beginning of May when there is no competition and July has been home to some large Batman and Spider-Man openings. But June is a different animal with teens still in school and ample competition taking away dollars and screens. The record for the biggest June opening ever remains with Ang Lee's Hulk with $62.1M from ten years ago. Though to be fair, both Batman Begins and Superman Returns opened on a Wednesday diluting down their Friday-to-Sunday weekend numbers.

Reviews have been mixed but fairly positive. That could curtail business with the non-comic crowd as overwhelming support from critics would certainly have done the trick with them. Warner Bros. is sparing no marketing expense on this one and has lined up an endless collection of brand partners who are aggressively kicking in extra support so awareness is sky high. The darker tone may hurt sales with younger kids more used to a lighter interpretation of Superman. But the good will from the Dark Knight series should carry over to some extent here with action fans giving it a shot plus Father's Day weekend is a great time to release a film like this. The big-budget movie invests plenty of time examining the impact his two dads from two planets had on molding his moral compass.

3D and IMAX options will add some extra cash for Steel. Competition will be somewhat of a factor, but there is no other juggernaut in the marketplace so it's the only event picture around for a week. First shows are at 7:00pm Thursday night with ticketing exclusively through Walmart while regular shows for everybody start at midnight instead of the now normal 10:00pm. Soaring into over 4,200 locations, Man of Steel might open to around $84M.

Seth Rogen leads a band of buddies in the apocalyptic comedy This is the End while also taking on writing and directing duties too. The wild R-rated comedy also features his Pineapple Express co-stars James Franco, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson plus Jonah Hil and Jay Baruchel all playing themselves when the end of the world hits during a wild Hollywood party. Reviews have been very good with many critics calling it the funniest film of the year. With a solid product and an absence of raunchy comedies for young adults (The Hangover Part III didn't really deliver the goods), This is the End should work on paper.

However, that 800 pound gorilla from Krypton is opening at the same time and will cause a major distraction to the core target audience of young men. This was a key reason Sony opened End earlier in the week with the first shows at 7:00pm Tuesday ahead of the official opening day of Wednesday. Together, the 1.5-day period generated $7.8M - solid, but down 36% compared to the Wednesday opening day of Pineapple from five years ago. That pic launched in August when all teens were out of school so its audience was more available midweek. The five-day debut turned in $41.3M and it ranked second for the weekend behind the fourth frame of Dark Knight.

The key to End's success will be if it can avoid being crushed this weekend and hang in there afterwards thanks to good word of mouth. After seeing Man of Steel, moviegoers may then get around to seeing Rogen and pals if they hear great buzz. CinemaScore reported a grade of B+ which is good, but not glowing. Now playing in 3,055 theaters, This is the End could take in about $22M over the weekend and $36M by end of Sunday.

Universal surprised everyone with a mammoth top spot debut last weekend for its micro-budgeted thriller The Purge which pulled in over $34M. But sales will take a beating in the second round thanks to intense competition from new releases as well as low customer satisfaction for the film itself. This is a front-loaded phenomenon. Look for a 70% freefall to about $10M for a ten-day cume of $57M.

Fast & Furious 6 will finish its third week by becoming the top domestic grosser ever in the 12-year-old franchise's history by surpassing Fast Five. The action sequel should also take a super hit and drop by about 55% to around $9M which would put Universal at roughly $220M to date.

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Watch the NEW trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

For a NEW review of Man of Steel visit The Chief Report.


LAST YEAR Holding up well in its second weekend was Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted which remained at number one with $34.1M for Paramount while the Fox sci-fi pic Prometheus fell sharply to $20.7M still claiming the runnerup spot. Some big stars found it hard to attract business with their new offerings which opened to lackluster results. The Warner Bros. release Rock of Ages, with Tom Cruise in a supporting role, debuted to $14.4M while Sony's latest Adam Sandler comedy That's My Boy bowed to $13.5M. Both averaged less than $4,500 for the weekend and final grosses reached $38.5M and $36.9M, respectively. Snow White and the Huntsman rounded out the top five with $13.3M for Universal.

LAST WEEKEND's TOP 20

Last Updated: June 13, 2013 at 1:55PM ET

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