The record 2007 box office that industry analysts warned could not be beaten considering the lack of sequels and franchises this year fell behind 2008 box office year-to-date this past weekend. Through Monday, 2008 box office stands at $4,331,304,340 – roughly $10 million ahead of 2007.
More impressively, “Overall, ticket sales continued to outperform last summer for the fourth weekend in a row. The weekend’s estimated $139 million was up 6% from the comparable weekend last year, when “Evan Almighty” led the list with an opening take of $31.2 million, according to Nielsen EDI. As a result, summer boxoffice is now running 3% ahead of last summer.”
This box office performance comes without a single movie with a “3” in the title.
The comparisons for the rest of the summer remain tough:
|
2007 Film
|
Release Date
|
Opening Gross
|
Total Gross
|
2008 Film
|
Release Date
|
|
Live Free Or Die Hard |
6/27/2007 (Wed) |
$48,398,130 |
$134,529,403 |
Wall-E Wanted |
6/27/2008 |
|
Ratatouille |
6/29/2007 |
$47,027,395 |
$206,445,654 |
||
|
Transformers |
7/3/2007 (Tue) |
$155,405,412 |
$319,246,193 |
Hancock |
7/2/2008 (Wed) |
|
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix |
7/11/2007 (Wed) |
$139,715,157 |
$292,004,738 |
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D Hellboy II: The Golden Army Meet Dave |
7/11/2008 |
|
Hairspray |
7/20/2007 |
$27,476,745 |
$118,871,849 |
The Dark Knight Mama Mia!
|
7/18/2008 |
|
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry |
7/20/2007 |
$34,233,750 |
$120,059,556 |
||
|
The Simpsons Movie |
7/27/2007 |
$74,036,787 |
$183,135,014 |
Step Brothers The X-Files: I Want to Believe |
7/25/2008 |
|
The Bourne Ultimatum |
8/3/2007 |
$69,283,690 |
$227,471,070 |
Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor |
8/1/2008 |
|
Rush Hour 3 |
8/10/2007 |
$49,100,158 |
$140,125,968 |
Pineapple Express |
8/8/2008 |
|
Superbad |
8/17/2007 |
$33,052,411 |
$121,463,226 |
Tropic Thunder Star Wars: The Clone Wars |
8/15/2008 |
The 2008 summer films listed represent only my guess of likely suspects for comparison to 2007. There will be the usual box office disappointments and surprises. Nobody really knows anything until the audience shows up.
What are your guesses for summer box office contenders?