Movies Daily by Zach Cannon

Audiences went green this weekend, giving $54.5 million of their hard-earned gas money to The Incredible Hulk. That puts it just behind the 2003 Hulk’s opening-weekend gross of $62 million, a good sign for the franchise. A sometimes-proven rule in box office matters is that frequently a sequel does well just because the first movie was so good. Of course, there are exception to the rule (Fantastic Four comes to mind), but Spider-man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and X3 are all example of movies that ranged from OK to terrible but performed exceptionally well because the films before them were both commercial and artistic successes even if they weren’t. Since Hulk 2003 was such a disappointment, it would seem that The Incredible Hulk would suffer, but it doesn’t seem too affected, proof enough that the Hulk might be The Little Franchise That Could.

The other big release was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. Despite terrible reviews (20% on Rotten Tomatoes ), it still grossed $30.5 million dollars this weekend. So, will Shyamalan still be allowed to make movies? Probably. That $30.5 million is more than The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Lady in the Water made opening weekend (to be fair, it will never make as much as The Sixth Sense), but less than Signs and The Village opened with, and it’s half of the film’s budget. The Happening will undoubtedly break even, and M. Night Shyamlan will live to fail again another day.

Here’s the full list :
1. The Incredible Hulk: $54.5 million
2. Kung Fu Panda: $34.3 million
3. The Happening: $30.5 million
4. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan: $16.4 million
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: $13.5 million
6. Sex and the City: $10.2 million
7. Iron Man: $5.1 million
8. The Strangers: $4 million
9. Prince Caspian: $3 million
10. What Happens in Vegas: $1.7 million

Trackback URI | Comments RSS