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ANGELS Nearly Stunned by Trek
Angels takes the top spot but Trek holds strong. By
Jarrod Sarafin
May 17, 2009
Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and Vittoria (Ayelet Zurer) in Ron Howard's ANGELS & DEMONS(2009).
© Columbia Pictures
We’ve come to a point where the May tent poles are now taking a sizeable chunk of the box office pie for audiences across the nation while the April releases tack on what little they can before phasing out of theaters. For this latest report, the top three films took home the five course meal with a combined $105.8 million in ticket sales between them while the 4th-10th finishers made up for only appetizers by totaling another $23.9 million.
The top story for this weekend is the race for the top spot between Columbia Pictures’ debuting thriller Angels & Demons and Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek.
The debuting wide release always has the highest probability to stand in the top spot for any report but with Star Trek receiving a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score and great word-of-mouth, it found itself just $5 million shy of toppling Ron Howard’s follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Columbia Pictures is pleased with their latest Dan Brown adaptation grabbing $48.0 million in its first three days of release. The film was launched into 3,527 theaters and averaged a respectable $13,609 per showing with audiences. The studio cautioned early on that they didn’t expect it to come close to the debut of the controversial “Da Vinci”, which pulled in $77.0 million in its 2006 debut. And with Angels & Demons pulling in an estimated $104.3 million in 96 international markets, who can blame them for being happy? At the moment, they have a worldwide cume of $152.3 million.
For their part, director J.J. Abrams and Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek made for an inspiring box office race against the debuting “Angels”. In the film’s second weekend of release, the film dropped only 43% across the nation and picked up another $43.0 million. It’s not often that a tent pole as wide released as Trek will find itself averaging $10,000+ in its second weekend but great word-of-mouth pushed its average to $11,140 per showing in this report. With the latest estimates in, the rebooted franchise has a domestic gross of $147.6 million after ten days of release. When the foreign numbers come in the film should also be nearing the worldwide mark of $250 million.
Following in 3rd place is Fox’s prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which pulled in an estimated $14.8 million on 3,892 theaters in its third weekend of release. The latest numbers may have it averaging only $3,803 per showing with audiences but the weekend did push its domestic gross to $151.0 million, which is one million over its listed price tag. If you include the current foreign gross into the mix, Fox has a worldwide cume of $274.1 million.
Warner Bros. and New Line’s romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past lands in 4th place by grabbing another $6.8 million in sales in its third weekend. Still showing on 3,150 theaters, the film has a domestic take of $40.0 million.
Finishing out the top 5 for the weekend is Screen Gems’ Obsessed in 5th place. The thriller managed another $4.5 million to increase their domestic tally to $62.5 million. The genre distributor kept their budget low to the tune of only $20 million so it’s yet another success story for Sony.
None of the bottom five reached $4.0 million in sales but one film which should be mentioned is the longevity of Paramount & DreamWorks’ animation Monsters vs. Aliens. The film is inching closer to the prized $200 million domestic mark. In the film’s eighth weekend of release, it found another $3.0 million here in the states to increase its domestic gross to $190.5 million. Can it hit that $200 mark before getting pulled out of theaters? We shall see.
| Rank | Movie | Weekend | Theaters | Average | Total | Budget |
| 1 | Angels & Demons | $48.0 mil | 3,527 | $13,609 | $48.0 mil | ---- |
| 2 | Star Trek | $43.0 mil | 3,860 | $11,140 | $147.6 mil | $165 |
| 3 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | $14.8 mil | 3,892 | $3,803 | $151.0 mil | $150 |
| 4 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | $6.8 mil | 3,150 | $2,178 | $40.0 mil | ---- |
| 5 | Obsessed | $4.5 mil | 2,634 | $1,727 | $62.5 mil | $20 |
| 6 | 17 Again | $3.4 mil | 2,450 | $1,388 | $58.3 mil | ---- |
| 7 | Monsters vs. Aliens | $3.0 mil | 1,951 | $1,538 | $190.5 mil | $175 |
| 8 | The Soloist | $2.4 mil | 2,022 | $1,199 | $27.5 mil | ---- |
| 9 | Next Day Air | $2.2 mil | 1,139 | $2,003 | $7.6 mil | ---- |
| 10 | Earth | $1.6 mil | 1,584 | $1,061 | $29.0 mil | ---- |
Here’s the latest numbers for the summer tent poles. Keep in mind that some of the weekend foreign numbers are not yet in.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Numbers:
Budget: $150 mil
Opening: $85.0 mil
Domestic: $151.0 mil
Foreign: $123.0 mil
Worldwide: $274.1 mil
Star Trek Numbers:
Budget: $165 mil
Opening: $72.5 mil
Domestic: $147.6 mil
Foreign: $49.2 mil
Worldwide: $196.8 mil
Angels & Demons Numbers:
Budget: N/A
Opening: $48.0 mil
Domestic: $48.0 mil
Foreign: $104.3 mil
Worldwide: $152.3 mil
And we now come to one of the most prolific box office weekends of the year, the Memorial Day holiday.
While Terminator Salvation is the obvious favorite to win the box office with 3,500+ theaters for most of us genre fans, Warner Bros. Pictures will need to factor in Fox’s more kid-friendly fare Night at the Museum: The Battle of the Smithsonian, which is expected to launch into 4,000 theaters. There can be no doubt that the Ben Stiller-led sequel will take a sizeable piece of the box office next weekend.
Thursday May 21, 20009 Release:
Terminator Salvation (3,500+)
Friday May 22, 2009 Releases:
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (4,000)
Dance Flick (2,300)
Limited
The Girlfriend Experience
Burma VJ
Easy Virtue
The Boys
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How wrong is it that I wanna see Dance Flick? I laugh every time I see the trailer on the part where Flo Rida's "Low" comes on and the guy starts screaming like girl.
Now if you excuse, Game 7 is on and I gotta see Kobe doin work.