I come not to gloat, but to mourn. It took a shockingly long 21 days, and it's pretty much finished at the domestic box office, but Watchmen has passed the $100 million mark as of Thursday. Truth be told, this will struggle to reach $110 million total, which means it will be by far the worst weekend-to-total multiplier for any movie to open at $50 million or more. Ironically, it will only be the third worst high-profile 'opening-weekend to total domestic gross' multiplier this season. Both Friday The 13th and The Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Experience will end their run having made well over 60% of their totals on opening weekend.Had Watchmen kept its budget at $100 million (and had WB made sure that it actually owned the rights to make the movie), then this figure would be embarrassing on the surface level, but something that could be eventually profitable. But the apparent $150 million cost, plus the Fox lawsuit, means that this flawed but ambitious film is going to lose quite a bit of money. This also puts far more pressure on Terminator: Salvation than it deserves. Plus, I'm sure Warner Bros is thanking the stars that they decided to move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince into July, 2009. I will say, that the only thing more surprising than Watchmen actually opening to $75 million (as certain parties had predicted) was its final gross coming in at barely $100 million. I don't think anyone thought it would collapse so quickly and so brutally.
Scott Mendelson
