Pixar's robot travels the stars in WALL-E(2008).
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Box Office: WALL-E Victorious But WANTED Strikes Hard

It was a contest of wills in this weekend’s box office competition and it didn’t take a lot of guesswork to know who would end up on top. Surprisingly, it was much closer than expected though. One is a G-rated animation about an innocent robot from Pixar and Disney with a running time of 1 hr and 37 minutes and appearing on 3,992 theaters. The other newcomer is an R-rated comic adaptation about an elite group of hit men with a running time of 1 hr and 48 minutes and appearing on 3,175 theaters.

As I say, it doesn’t take a lot of guesswork to see know who would win overall. The demographic advantages never lie.

But both films did very well, Maniacs. Very well indeed. The top 2 films combined for $113.6 million. That’s saying something…

Pixar’s Wall-E took the top prize for the report by grabbing $62.5 million this weekend. Since Disney and his animation branch debuted the film on 3,992 theater prints around the nation, this has its average at $15,656 per showing. In terms of the film competing against previous Pixar release, Wall-E ranks third on the list behind Finding Nemo’s $70.2 mil haul in 2003 and only a few hundred thousand short of Monsters, Inc debut of $62.57 million.

Universal Pictures’ Wanted took away more of Wall-E’s cash than previously expected. The film is rated R and didn’t have the obvious family dynamic that Pixar had but it still managed to take $51.1 million in its debut this weekend. Yes, an R-rated comic film opened up with $51.1 million and still couldn’t grab first place on a non-holiday weekend! The people at Universal Pictures should be very pleased with the results coming in.

The fact that Wanted debuted on 3,175 theater prints means it had the top average showing rate of $16,100 over its Pixar counterpart. The numbers also has it as 2^nd place on the All-Time Opening Weekends Not at #1 chart behind The Day After Tomorrow, which took in $68.7 mil but still managed to lose to Shrek 2 in 2004. For All-Time Rated-R Opening Weekends, it’s ranked 7^th place on the list.

If you factor in that Universal Pictures kept Wanted’s budget at only $75 million, those executives should be very pleased this weekend even while dealing with the less than stellar numbers that Incredible Hulk is currently operating at.

Last weekend’s champion of Get Smart followed in 3^rd place this weekend by laughing up another $20.0 million in sales, which is only a 48% drop from its debut. The film is showing on 3,915 theater prints so this has Warner Bros. averaging $5,108 per showing with audiences a week into their theatrical release. Since their budget is at $80 mil and their domestic gross is at $77.2 million after 10 days of release, it’s easy to see why WB should be pleased with their product. Including last weekend’s foreign debut of $5.9 mil, their worldwide gross is currently at $83.1 million.

Paramount and co-distributor DreamWorks follows in 4^th place with its Kung Fu Panda kicking another $11.7 million into their pocketbooks. Just a few days after it was revealed that a sequel was already being planned, the original film is still tallying up profitable numbers for the studio. The studio has their budget set at $130 million and after 24 days of release, the animation currently has a worldwide total of $247.3 million. $179.3 of that is from domestic sales.

And now it’s time to talk about Universal Pictures’ other comic adaptation. While they’re likely very impressed with Wanted’s numbers, the fact that their Incredible Hulk dropped 60% in its second weekend and now another 58% in its third weekend doesn’t bode well for the studio. This weekend, that drop came with just a $9.2 million payday on its 3,349 theater prints around the nation. After three weekends of release, it has a domestic gross of $115.5 million and a foreign gross of $64.0 million. With a budget of $150 mil, these large drops so early into its theatrical release doesn’t signify anything positive for the executives.

About the same can be said for Paramount’s comedy The Love Guru, which also dropped 60% in its second weekend of release. Despite being shown on 3,012 theaters, the film found itself in 6^th place and took in only another $5.4 million. The studio set its budget at $62 milllion so there is some question that its domestic gross of $25.3 mil is good enough to give that push past the mark by the time it drops out of the top 10.

But that’s where concerns from Paramount end. After all, this is the studio that has crossed the $1 billion mark thanks to Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The former hit the domestic $300.0 mil mark 12 days ago in its eight week of release. The latter will hit the $300.0 mil mark sometime tomorrow while entering its seventh week of release. With the $5.0 mil that Indy pulled in this weekend in 7^th place, the film’s domestic gross is now at $299.9 million. It’s already the highest worldwide grosser of 2008 with a combined $690.8 million in sales.

Fox is reaching their budget mark with M. Night’s The Happening this weekend. The studio kept their budget at $60 million and with their film landing in 8^th place and taking in another $3.8 million, the studio finds its domestic gross at $59.0 million after three weeks of release. If you include the $60.0 million that the film has hauled in from foreign markets, M. Night has taken in $119.1 million worldwide for his latest effort.

New Line continues tacking on profits for its adaptation of Sex and the City. The film about the ladies in the big apple follows in the 9^th position and grabbed another $3.7 million in its fifth weekend of release. The studio has already more than doubled their profits with this one. They set the budget at $65 mil and thus far, the film has grossed $140.1 mil in domestic markets. Equally surprising, the film has grossed another $171.7 mil in foreign markets. This means the film has a worldwide gross of $311.8 million, which is the 3^rd best of 2008 in worldwide sales behind Indy and Iron Man.

Like The Happening, Sony Pictures has crossed their budget mark for You Don’t Mess with the Zohan in its fourth weekend of release. The film finished in the final 10^th spot with $3.2 million to show for its 2,147 theater prints around the nation. The studio set its budget at $90 mil and it has grossed $91.2 million as of this weekend. It has also pulled in another $12.8 mil in foreign markets.

Sidenote: For those wondering, Iron Man finished in 11^th place this weekend by grabbing another $2.2 million. The film is still showing in 1,379 theater prints in its ninth weekend of release. With this latest report, it has a domestic gross of $309.1 million.

Budget: $185 mil
Opening: $100.3 mil
Domestic: $299.9 mil
Foreign: $390.9 mil
Worldwide: $690.8 mil

Budget: $140 mil
Opening: $98.6 mil
Domestic: $309.1 mil
Foreign: $251.0 mil
Worldwide: $560.2 mil

Budget: $200 mil
Opening: $55.0 mil
Domestic: $137.6 mil
Foreign: $137.8 mil
Worldwide: $275.4 mil

Budget: $120 mil
Opening: $18.5 mil
Domestic: $42.8 mil
Foreign: $39.8 mil
Worldwide: $82.6 mil

Only one wide release next weekend for the July 4 holiday…We know Hancock will win. But how much money will it make? Predict your estimates below.

Wednesday July 2, 2008 Release

Hancock (3,900 theaters)