Wow!!! That is the one and only word to describe the coup of the weekend’s box office. Captain America busted into Harry Potter‘s farewell moment as the superhero/super soldier overpowered the wizard in a surprise trouncing. But don’t blame it all on Chris Evans and his co-star known as his bulging muscles. Meanwhile, Mila Kunis & Justin Timberlake used their sexy rom-com muscles in #3 Friends with Benefits ($18.622 million) to squash the heat out of Transformers‘ Shia LeBeouf & Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. The sexy but horrible boss of Jennifer Aniston in #5 Horrible Bosses ($11.884 million) topped off the top five.
At the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, director Joe Johnston showed very early footage from Captain America: The First Avenger as he was only four days into filming. One year later, it is 2011 San Diego Comic Con and the premiere of Captain America (with a Thursday pre-screening at the Con). The surprise #1 at $65.058 million may be the last superhero movie of the summer but was in no way last place. Captain America’s The Avenger’s colleague, Thor, debuted at a slightly higher $65.723 million while X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern opened at $55.101 million and $53.174 million, respectively. The movie has yet to enter the international markets so foreign box office numbers are unavailable. With audiences’ interests peaked for Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, Joss Whedon’s written-and-directed The Avengers will be next summer’s big superhero hit.
#2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 broke domestic and foreign box office records last week with a magical $481.489 million worldwide gross. The results of this weekend felt record-breaking too as the wizards fell 72% to $47.422 million from $169.189 million with the same theater count as last weekend. With such a severe drop, the movie is counting on overseas fans to fill seats, which so far it is. Fans, stateside and in Canada, may have sold-out screenings during the first day, including midnight screenings, of the movie but it has been slipping ever since although it currently holds the record for the second highest-grossing ten-day opening.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon fell two spots to #4 in its fourth weekend with $12.051 million. The sequel is proving to be quite successful as its worldwide gross is now at $882.441 million with more than 60% coming from international markets. Dark of the Moon‘s gross has surpassed both the original Transformers ($709.709 million) and Revenge of the Fallen ($836.297 million), which is a far cry from box-office forecasters’ predictions of the movie.
Check out ‘What To Watch – Theater Edition’ this Friday for this week’s new movie releases…aliens are invading the Wild West and South London.
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