Indy (Harrison Ford) and Shia LaBeouf inspect some ruins in INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL(2008).
© Paramount Pictures

Related Links

0

Box Office: Paramount Finds Memorial Day Treasure with INDY

Nineteen years ago, a movie that was believed to be wrapping up a popular franchise was finishing its opening weekend right around this time. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade premiered on 2,327 theaters on May 24, 1989 and tallied up a 29.3 mil weekend score over that memorial day holiday. The third film would go onward to gross 197.1 mil domestically and another 277.0 mil in foreign territories.

Now, we fast forward nearly two decades and Indy is still punching hard at the theaters. The long awaited fourth installment of the franchise opened up in 4,260 theaters this Memorial Day weekend and has 151.0 mil to show for it (with Thursday and Monday). This has in 2nd place of All Time Memorial Day openings behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.. Update: The early international numbers are in and it's looking like this adventure has pulled in another 146.4 mil in oversea territories for the weekend (with Thursday). This has it's worldwide gross at $297.5 mil at this moment. When Monday's international numbers come in for this holiday weekend, I'll update the numbers again.  Paramount and the folks at Lucasfilm have something to celebrate.

In comparison to last year’s Memorial Day holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End pulled in 127.9 mil (with Thursday) and 153.0 mil (with Monday attached). The flick would go on to gross 309.4 mil domestically and another 651.5 mil in oversea numbers, making it the #1 worldwide film of 2007 behind Harry Potter 5’s 938.5 mil total.

Can Indy repeat the feat and become the #1 worldwide grosser of 2008? We shall see…

Following in 2^nd place for this weekend is the second installment of the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, Prince Caspian. The film is still showing in 3,929 theaters across the nation and pulled in another 23.0 mil at the box office. It still has a way to go before it gets to its 200 mil budget but in 10 days of release, it has a 91.0 mil domestic gross and 22.1 foreign (last weekend’s numbers). It seems to be mirroring Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which also dropped to 2^nd place in its second weekend behind King Kong opening up. In ten days of release, the first installment had 113.1 mil domestically though.

Iron Man continues to kick some box office ass this weekend, taking the 3^rd spot in its fourth week of release at the theaters. The first installment (of a likely trilogy) has pulled in another 20.1 mil on its 3,915 theaters, the first weekend that it was below the 4,000 print mark. In 24 days of release, “Iron” has pulled in 252.3 mil domestically and another 207.7 mil in foreign sales. Obviously with a worldwide take of 460.0 mil and a budget of 140 mil, Paramount has something to be happy about here. In fact, with Indy and Iron Man both managed by them, they have a lot to be happy about.

None of the rest of the films hit the 10 mil mark…

The alternative choice focused film What Happens in Vegas continues to laugh at the poor Speed Racer. Both films hit theaters at the same time and WHIV continues to beat Speedy every weekend thus far. This weekend, while the film is still showing on 3,188 prints, the film took in another 9.0 mil at the box office. The Ashton K. film has grossed 54.2 mil domestically with a budget kept low at 35 mil.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. has a Speed Wreck on their hands here. So does the Wachowski brothers. The film, which hasn’t landed higher than 3^rd place since opening lands in 5^th place this weekend with it only tallying up another 4.0 mil on its 3,112 prints. This means it averaged only $1,285 per showing. The anime adaptation has a budget of 120 mil and yet it has only grossed 36.2 mil in three weeks. Clearly, it’s in the running for the bomb of the summer. But let’s not break out the crystal ball just yet. We could have another bomb very shortly for all we know.

Sony Pictures has managed to almost touch their budget line with the other alternative choice of May 2008, Made of Honor. The Patrick Dempsey movie pulled in another 3.4 mil this weekend in its fourth week of release. It has grossed 39.0 mil domestically and it has a budget of 40.

Following in 7^th place is Tina Fey’s Baby Mama pulling in another 3.3 mil this weekend. In five weeks of the release, the film has grossed 52.1 mil domestically over a budget of just 30.

Universal owns the 7^th with its Baby Mama and they also own the 8^th place with its other comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is likewise over their budget line, this time nearly doubling it. The Segel-led production grabbed another 1.6 mil this weekend and has grossed 58.1 mil in domestic markets. It has a budget of 30 mil.

9^th and 10^th place didn’t even touch the 1.0 mil mark. Harold and Kumar 2, which is a success due to its extremely low budget, pulled in $915,000 on its 750 prints across the nation. Thanks to its budget being only 12 mil, it’s domestic gross of 35.9 mil is good for the now dismantled New Line distributor. Meanwhile, The Visitor maintained the 10^th spot for the second consecutive weekend in a row by pulling in $781,000 on its 270 prints. This means it actually increased 16% in totals from its previous weekend rather than dropping. In 7 weeks of release, it has only 4.4 mil domestically.

Now that we’re a few weeks into summer, let’s start looking at the overall results for the summer movies below, just as we did last summer.

Opening: 98.6 mil
Domestic: 252.3 mil
Foreign: 207.7 mil
Worldwide: 460.0 mil so far

Budget: 185 mil
Opening: 101.0 mil
Domestic: 126.0 mil

Foreign: N/A yet
Worldwide: 126.0 mil so far.

Opening: 55.0 mil
Domestic: 91.0 mil

Foreign: 22.1 mil
Worldwide: 113.2 mil

Opening: 18.5 mil
Domestic: 36.2 mil

Foreign: 24.6 mil
Worldwide: 60.8 mil

I’m sure Indiana will continue to mount up numbers over the next week with school getting out around the country and onward through next weekend. I can see Sex and the City taking a “small” bite out of Indy, Prince Caspian and Iron next weekend just because it’s an alternative choice but all three films should continue steamrolling onward into June with no problems.

I would say now would be the time to give Speedy some CPR but that means there’s hope for it. Probably better to just pronounce it dead now and move on, right?

By the way, Manaics. Feel free to begin guessing your top grossing films of Summer 2008. Who do you think will win it all? Who do you think will bomb the worst, if not Speed already? Let us know your thoughts below!