‘Knight’ tops ‘Express’ at the box office…or does it?
Several box office number crunchers predicted yesterday that The Dark Knight would top new release Pineapple Express on its way to leading the box office for the 4th weekend in a row. As of Sunday, it appears Batman has pulled it off $26 million to $22.4.
It makes a good headline but it’s meaningless.
Had Pineapple Express opened on Friday instead of Wednesday, it’s safe to assume some of the $18 million it earned in its first two days of release would’ve been earned instead over the weekend.
Furthermore, if you compare the full five days Pineapple Express was in theaters to the same five days for The Dark Knight, the R-rated stoner action comedy out-earned the superhero juggernaut $40.4 million to $35.8.
Daily estimates from Box Office Mojo on 8/10
Nothing against The Dark Knight which is a great movie and has racked up an impressive $441.5 million and counting at the box office. By comparison, Pineapple Express is a throwaway - amusing for what it is, but ultimately forgettable.
The point is, you can carve up slices of the box office however you want and you can serve them up with attention grabbing headlines, but only history will show which is truly the better movie (my money is on TDK).
Filed under: Box Office, Business, News
Tags: Pineapple Express, The Dark Knight
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The official LiC position on box office reporting before The Dark Knight:
“…One by one, these compromises, these small corruptions destroy ‘character’…”
Post-Dark Knight:
“Join me… We can rule this universe together. You do not know the power of the dark side!”
Totally kidding, of course. If there was ever a film that merited box office analysis it’s The Dark Knight.
I agree, this is a debate based on semantics. Achieving the status of the #1 film at the box office doesn’t mean that much by itself, unless it’s based partly on the longevity of that accomplishment (like The Dark Knight). Variety et. al. asking, “Will Mummy 3 take the #1 spot at the box office and dethrone Batman?!” is so lame. Firstly who cares? And secondly, it doesn’t mean much. The latter film had been out for two weeks, the Fraser flick was just coming out.
Meanwhile, David Poland keeps qualifying The Dark Knight’s remarkable run. “Well, these things happen. A film can dominate the movie market, blah, blah”…
So, where do you think Dark Knight finally stops? Even just days ago people were saying with astonishing confidence, bordering on arrogance, that it would top out at 500 million. 500 million seems to be in the bag. People are going back to this film in a way that is remarkably rare for movies today. It’s like an equivalent to Raiders of the Lost Ark today. Each week’s drop-off is remarkably low for a film with such a massive opening and front-loading.
It’s $210 million from joining the Top Ten worldwide money-makers.
The Sony Metreon inSan Francisco has issued a statement saying that the Batman movie will remain in the IMAX auditorium for at least another month. IMAX situations have contributed approximately six or seven percent of the film’s earnings, evidently.
Someone at H-E said after opening night that it would crack $500 million and I laughed out loud. And yet here we are….
And I still don’t think it means anything. It doesn’t change my impression of the movie or the experience I had watching it.
When it comes to all things box-office, I really have no idea what is going on, it confuses the hell out of me and I have no idea what any of it means. The business of movies makes my head hurt.
We contributed to its box office longevity by driving to Tulsa (90 minutes away) and seeing it in IMAX this weekend. Sold-out crowd, as they all are there (apparently it’s the only IMAX in Oklahoma). We did a quick survey of the people in line beside us, and about half were back for their 2nd, 3rd or 4th time (we were on time 3) and about half were seeing it fresh.
Was it worth the drive to see it in IMAX JB?
As you know, Craig, I’m with you. A film can make 60 bucks or 600 million bucks and it doesn’t matter to me in the end with regards to what’s on the screen.
Top honors to anyone who knows where my first quote is from. The second one, well, I imagine most know.
does anyone sensibly report ticket sales vs cash accrued, cause inflation makes all these conversations repetitive.
Even unadjusted for inflation I suppose it still has a relevance in terms of how much of an available audience a film gets.
If you’re going to debate all-time records and such, the only remotely sensible measure to take is of the top films adjusted for inflation.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm
Based on that data, no movie from the aughts is in the top twenty. No LOTR. No Spidey. No Shrek 2. Just the old chestnuts like GWTW and Star Wars and Jaws. From this view, Titanic’s whopping $600 mil pales in comparison to Rhett and Scarlett’s $200.
Me, I’m with Craig. A blockbuster that fails to entertain or enlighten me is just a bad movie. Nothing more or less.
Conversely, a blockbuster (like Batman) that entertains is a good thing, no matter how much cash it pulls in.
Well, all of that crap pales in comparison to Rhett’s and Scarlett’s little adventure - on every level imaginable. Not just box office.
LOTR, Titanic and most of this superhero junk are godawful IMO. Sorry, kids.
But excuse me while I vomit. FOR HOURS.
GWTW is a bloody masterpiece. With my girl Viv giving the best performance IN FILM HISTORY by a lead female actor, how could it not be?
At least STAR WARS and JAWS are good films.
When the world changes, does it ever change for the better?
Apparently NOT.
Some things have changed for the better, Miranda. Butterfly McQueen (Prissy) and Hattie McDaniel (Mammie) turn in fairly nuanced performances with memorable moments, but their characters are little more than broad racial stereotypes. That said, GWTW still makes a more palatable #1 movie of all time than Titanic.
Well, what you just said is absolutely true, W.J.
GWTW and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA are my top two favourite films of all time.
However (much as I adore it) I do have SOME difficulty with GWTW’S portrayal of black people. But the film is far LESS racist than the novel, which, for all its riches and greatness, is quite blatant.
They both reflect a particular time. It’s a thoroughly disgusting mess. But the novel and the film both comment on what was actually going on at that point in American history - as completely unpalatable as all that was.
But there are always aspects that are positive in discussions such as these. Occasionally you have to really dig for them, though.
HATTIE McDANIEL did win an INCREDIBLY DESERVED Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
That really is something worth celebrating.