Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell star in GET SMART(2008).
© Warner Bros.

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Box Office Update: WB Has SMART Victory While HULK Drops

It’s happening again for Universal Pictures and fans of the Hulk.

While the drop is just a tad lower this time around, it’s still significant. In 2003, Ang Lee’s version of The Hulk opened in theaters on June 20 to the tune of a $62.1 mil debut on 3,660 theaters. The following weekend, it would end up dropping 69.7% and only take in another $18.8 million in second place while losing to the debut of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, which opened with $37.6 mil.

Now, we cut forward five years to Louis Leterrier’s version of The Incredible Hulk. Last weekend, the film debuted to the tune of $55.4 mil on 3,505 theaters. In its second weekend of release, the Marvel superhero finds itself dropping 61.1% and pulling in another $21.5 mil in third place while losing to Kung Fu Panda and Get Smart, which opened with $39.1 mil. (Updated international numbers below).

So, Get Smart finds itself in 1^st place this weekend by pulling in $39.1 mil for Warner Bros. Obviously, this is a better outlook for Steve Carell than this time last year when Evan Almighty was hitting theaters with the impossible task of overcoming a 180 mil budgeted disaster. In fact, Steve seems to be a roll with Dan in Real Life, Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who and Get Smart stringing together victories. The latest being an adaptation of the 60’s television series, the film has a pricetag of 80 million and has half that mark in its first three days so this looks like another success for WB.

Paramount and DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda absolutely refuses to move out of 2^nd place. The animation comedy starring Jack Black pulled in another $21.7 mil this weekend on its 4,053 theaters, which points an average of $5,354 per showing in its third weekend of release. Paramount continues their march to being the top performer this season, first with Iron, then with Indy and now with Kung Fu officially surpassing its budget line this week. The price tag is at $130 mil and it has a domestic gross of $155.5 mil at this time. It also has another $42.6 mil in foreign sales so its worldwide gross is at $198.2 mil.

As stated above, The Incredible Hulk finds itself going from 1^st place to 3^rd place in the span of its first week. Much like its predecessor, the film dropped 61.1% and only pulled in another $21.5 mil in its second weekend of release. Since its showing on 3,508 theaters, this points to an average of $6,145 per showing. The studio has its budget set at $150 mil and it’s currently at $96.4 mil in domestic grosses. Update: But the international numbers are now in and the latest adaptation of the green menace managed second place behind Indiana Jones, who is still the top International grosser after this weekend. The film hauled in another $23.4 million at 4,700 theaters from 50 territories in its second weekend, which has its totals at $63.3 million overseas and $159.8 million worldwide.

It does look like Paramount does have a weak spot in its overall dominating run with the debut of The Love Guru. While Michael Myers usually translates to a success, the film opened up in 4^th place this weekend by taking in $14.0 mil on its 3,014 theaters. Since the studio has marked it as costing $62 million, it still has some weeks to go before it can be considered a success.

And with that, let’s talk about another movie dropping over 60% in its second weekend of release. While the Hulk hero dropped 61.1%, M.Night Shyamalan’s The Happening found itself dropping 67.2% on its 2,986 theaters across the nation. Still, that doesn’t mean this film will be a bomb like Lady in the Water was. For one thing, the budget for The Happening is set at only $60 mil. With the $10.0 mil that the film took this weekend, its domestic gross is already at $50.2 million. If you count last weekend’s foreign debut of $31.5 mil, Fox already has a worldwide gross of $81.7 mil in 10 days of release. Big drop but the lower budget keeps things more on the positive side for M. Night Shyamalan this time around.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is getting ever closer to that $300.0 mil domestic mark that its brother Iron Man found this last Thursday. The fourth adventure of the serial adventurer pulled in another $8.4 mil in its fifth weekend of release. At this moment, it has a domestic gross of $290.8 mil while still getting shown in 3,171 theaters across the country. Iron Man found the $300 mark in its eighth week of release and there’s no doubt that Indy will be at that mark by its seventh or eighth week. Update: The film lead the international box office this weekend by adding another $25 million from 5,877 theaters in 62 markets, with over half of that coming via a $13.1 million Japanese launch. "Skull" has hit $392 million overseas -- more than $100 million ahead of its domestic total. Worldwide, the movie reached $683 million.

Sony finds their comedy You Don’t Mess with the Zohan dropping three slots to 7^th place in its third weekend of release. The Adam Sandler vehicle pulled in another $7.2 mil on its 3,278 theaters. Like The Happening, the film is very near its budget mark for the studio. The film’s cost is set at $90 million and the domestic gross is now at $84.0 million. The film is still yet to open in many foreign markets but from those that are showing it, the comedy has another $4 million, which has its worldwide gross sitting at $88 mil.

Next up is New Line’s hit Sex and the City landing in 8^th place and pulling in another $6.4 million. This film is already a success for the now WB consolidated studio. They spent $65 mil on the cable adaptation and it has a domestic gross of $132.3 mil after four weekends of release. The film is also doing very well overseas by taking in another $138.8 mil in foreign sales, which translates to its worldwide gross being at $271.1 million. A clear success for New Line even if it’s too late to save the studio.

And now, we talk about the first film to hit the $300 mil domestic mark in the year of 2008, Paramount’s Iron Man. The clear smash hit grabbed another $4.0 mil this weekend while still getting shown in 1,912 theaters across the nation. On Thursday, the film passed that mark and with this weekend’s grosses, the film is at $304.7 million for domestic grosses. It also has another $249.5 mil from foreign sales so it’s in second place for worldwide earners to the tune of $554.3 million.

The final 10^th place goes Universal’s Rogue Pictures and their cheaply marked The Strangers. The film only cost $9 mil to make and yet it’s at the $50 mil mark by its fourth weekend of release. With this weekend’s take of $1.9 mil, it has a domestic gross of $49.5 million. Not bad at all.

Overall Numbers for Summer Tent Poles

Indiana Jones 4 Numbers:

Budget: $185 mil
Opening: $100.3 mil
Domestic: $290.8 mil
Foreign: $392.0 mil
Worldwide: $683.8 mil

Iron Man Numbers:

Budget: $140 mil
Opening: $98.6 mil
Domestic: $304.7 mil
Foreign: $249.5 mil
Worldwide: $554.3 mil

Prince Caspian Numbers:

Budget: $200 mil
Opening: $55.0 mil
Domestic: $135.4 mil
Foreign: $123.4 mil
Worldwide: $258.8 mil

Kung Fu Panda Numbers:

The Incredible Hulk Numbers:

The Happening Numbers:

Speed Racer Numbers:

Budget: $120 mil
Opening: $18.5 mil
Domestic: $42.5 mil
Foreign: $37.6 mil
Worldwide: $80.1 mil

Friday June 27, 2008 Releases:

Wall-E (3,900 theaters)

Wanted (3,100+ theaters)