Hollywood B.O.: Mark Harris vs. Superman in the Battle of the Centu...

Sunday June 23, 2013

Hollywood B.O.: Mark Harris vs. Superman in the Battle of the Century!!

This morning, Mark Harris, author of �Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood� (much recommended), tweeted the following:

So how do the “Screw the critics, the people have spoken!” defenders of Man of Steel explain a 71% drop?
� Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) June 22, 2013

Apparently he got into some arguments last weekend about �Man of Steel� and is crowing this weekend. I tweeted this back:

@MarkHarrisNYC Box office is always the lamest argument--whether made by your opponents last weekend or by you this weekend.
� Erik Lundegaard (@ErikLundegaard) June 24, 2013

The 71% drop is Friday-to-Friday, as he later tweeted, but the weekend drop for Supes isn�t much better: -64.7%.

How bad is that for a movie that opened this big? Let�s look at the 25 movies that have opened with more than $100 million domestic and sort by the second-weekend percentage drop. This is what you get:

MOVIE	1st WKND	DROP	2nd WKND	THTRS	TOTAL BO
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2	$169,189,427	-72.00%	$47,422,212	4,375	$381,011,219
The Twilight Saga: New Moon	$142,839,137	-70.00%	$42,870,031	4,042	$296,623,634
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1	$138,122,261	-69.80%	$41,683,574	4,066	$281,287,133
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2	$141,067,634	-69.10%	$43,641,448	4,070	$292,324,737
X-Men: The Last Stand	$102,750,665	-66.90%	$34,017,247	3,714	$234,362,462
Man of Steel	$116,619,362	-64.70%	$41,215,000	4,207	$210,006,000
The Hunger Games	$152,535,747	-61.60%	$58,551,063	4,137	$408,010,692
Spider-Man 3	$151,116,516	-61.50%	$58,166,256	4,252	$336,530,303
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	$114,732,820	-61.50%	$44,206,660	4,362	$309,420,425
The Dark Knight Rises	$160,887,295	-61.40%	$62,101,451	4,404	$448,139,099
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	$108,966,307	-61.20%	$42,320,877	4,234	$402,111,870
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1	$125,017,372	-60.70%	$49,087,101	4,125	$295,983,305
Iron Man 2	$128,122,480	-59.40%	$52,041,005	4,380	$312,433,331
Iron Man 3	$174,144,585	-58.40%	$72,525,615	4,253	$403,120,000
Shrek the Third	$121,629,270	-56.40%	$53,039,992	4,122	$322,719,944
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	$100,137,835	-55.30%	$44,754,615	4,260	$317,101,119
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$135,634,554	-54.00%	$62,345,264	4,133	$423,315,812
The Dark Knight	$158,411,483	-52.50%	$75,166,466	4,366	$533,345,358
Marvel's The Avengers	$207,438,708	-50.30%	$103,052,274	4,349	$623,357,910
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	$108,435,841	-49.10%	$55,205,972	3,663	$380,270,577
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	$102,685,961	-46.70%	$54,727,138	3,858	$290,013,036
Toy Story 3	$110,307,189	-46.20%	$59,337,669	4,028	$415,004,880
Alice in Wonderland (2010)	$116,101,023	-46.00%	$62,714,076	3,728	$334,191,110
Spider-Man	$114,844,116	-37.80%	$71,417,527	3,615	$403,706,375
Shrek 2	$108,037,878	-33.20%	$72,170,363	4,163	$441,226,247

Numbers via Box Office Mojo

Sixth-worst. Not good. And the five above it are sequels, which have a tendency to start fast and fade fast.

On the other hand, we are talking about Superman here. It�s not like people needed much of an introduction. He�s one of the most famous characters in the world. It�s a reboot, but fans were primed for it as if it were a sequel.

At the same time, �Man of Steel� has been a divisive movie, among both critics and fans, and the numbers reflect that. My own review reflects my own divisive feelings. But if I had to do the Siskel-Ebert thing, my thumb would be pointing up. There are some clever updates on the Superman myth. Plus a lot of POW! BAM! if that�s your thing. (It isn�t mine. Nor, apparently, Harris�.)

�Man of Steel� did face some tough competition in its second weekend, too: a sequel to a hugely popular Pixar film; and the zombie pic to end all zombie pics. Compare �Man of Steel��s performance to �The Hunger Games,� since both are �new movies� with vast name recognition. �Hunger Games� did better to open ($152 to $116) and dropped less steeply during its second weekend (-61.6% to -64.7%), but it also weaker competition that second go-round: �Wrath of Titans� and something called �Mirror Mirror� rather than �Monsters University� and �World War Z.� The joys of opening in March.

In non-Superman-related news, �Monsters University� won the weekend with $82 million, which is the second-highest opening weekend gross for a Pixar movie, after �Toy Story 3.� �World War Z� finished second with $66 million, which is the best open ever for a Brad Pitt movie.