Weekend Box Office (06/03/12): Snow White and the Huntsman opens strong while Prometheus excels overseas.

Putting a non-existent end to the non-existent box office slump, Snow White and the Huntsman (review/trailer/essay) topped the weekend box office with a pretty strong $56 million.  After the flop that was Battleship, Universal is somewhat relieved that the next of its 'let's make overpriced fantasy tentpoles like every other studio' entry might actually make a small profit in the end.  With about $39 million in overseas grosses, the film has amassed $95 million in its first three days of worldwide play. Alas the film cost $175 million to produce (and who-knows what to market), so this is another situation where a major picture is praying for $400 million worldwide just to break even.  That's obviously not healthy, but the opening is still a darn-good one. It's the second-biggest 2D opening of the year behind The Hunger Games and the fourth-biggest debut of 2012 behind The Avengers ($207 million), The Hunger Games ($153 million), and The Lorax ($70 million).

Powered by Kristen Stewart fans, the film's debut points to the fact that Ms. Stewart may be a genuine movie star (Charlize Theron adds class and prestige, but she's never been 'box office').  Yes the red-hot Chris Hemsworth didn't hurt either, but this movie, sans 3D uptick, basically sold about as many tickets on its opening weekend (7.1 million) as Thor did last May (8.1 million) with no competition.  Since the Twilight series began, Stewart has done a number a smaller indie films (Adventureland, The Runaways, etc.) but this was her first big-studio box office test.  The film earned a B from Cinemascore, but also had a strong 2.8x weekend multiplier (its grosses went up slightly on Saturday).  It played 53% female and 52% 30 years old and older.  We'll know more about the long-term prospects next weekend, but Stewart's agent will be very happy this morning no matter how much first-time director Rupert Sanders was allowed to overspend (he allegedly ran a right ship; it's not his fault Universal gave him too much money).  Either way, it's success in the shadow of John Carter and Battleship's failure is more evidence that female-driven tentpoles can succeed despite conventional wisdom.

Snow White and the Huntsman was the only new wide release, but there were a handful of smaller debuts.  Debuting in 86 screens, Weinstein Company dumped Piranha 3DD and the results showed as much.  The film pulled in $179,000 for a mediocre $2,000 per-screen average.  However, the film was also available on Video On Demand.  Considering the temptation to just pay $10, invite a bunch of friends over for beer and chips, and watch it at home, I'm frankly shocked that the film did as well in theaters as it did.  Anchor Bay's stoner comedy High School earned just $400 per each of its 200 screens.  Debuting on 575 theaters, the Mexican historical drama For Greater Glory earned about $1.7 million for the weekend.  The big international debut this weekend was Ridley Scott's 'not an Alien prequel' Prometheus (review), which earned a mighty $35 million in 15 international markets. It opens in 35 more places, including America, next weekend.  Fox is reporting that a huge majority of the sales were in the 3D format, with 73% of the UK grosses coming from 3D.  So for those wondering why Paramount chose to convert G.I. Joe: Retaliation to 3D (essay)...

In holdover news, The Moonrise Kingdom expanded to 16 theaters and pulled in another huge weekend, earning $53,000 per-screen for a $1.7 million cume. It further expands next weekend. Bernie continues to hold fast in limited release, and it expanded to 300 theaters and now has $3.6 million thus far. The lacrosse underdog sports drama Crooked Arrows had a major expansion this weekend, going to 328 theaters but earning just $728,000 for its troubles (it now has $1.2 million). Men In Black 3 (review) earned $29 million in weekend two, for a surprisingly not-bad 48% drop.  That gives the film a $112 million domestic total with a robust $386 million worldwide cume, so yeah I think it's time to call this one a hit.  The Dictator crossed $50 million domestic and $100 million worldwide while Titanic 3D now has $57 million in the US.  Oh, and The Avengers crossed $550 million this weekend and now sits with $1.34 billion worldwide.  It's now the third-biggest grossing film of all-time both in America and worldwide.  But it's not going to catch Titanic ($660 million US, $2.2 billion worldwide) so number three is where it will remain.


Battleship now has $55 million domestic and $290 million worldwide, meaning that $300 million is the likely end-game for this one.  Dark Shadows now has $70 million in America and $177 million worldwide, which again would be a fine result for the Tim Burton comedy had it not cost $150 million. It's looking to equal Sleepy Hollow's $206 million worldwide take, but that horror adventure cost just $100 million back in 1999.  What To Expect When You're Expecting has not matched its $30 million production budget, for whatever that's worth (Lionsgate sold off foreign rates and has already profited).  The Chernobyl Diaries dropped around 62% this weekend and now has $14 million after ten days of 'who cares?' play.  The Intouchables expanded to 46 theaters and earned $7,600 per-screen.  Finally, the official indie-sensation of summer 2012 (so far), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel passed $25 million in domestic sales this weekend.

That's it for this weekend.  Join us next time when Ridley Scott's Prometheus faces off against Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.   Until then, take care, keep reading and commenting, and have a great week.

Scott Mendelson