Well, no surprise that The Dark Knight is the world’s biggest summer hit with a take of $900m-plus (an astonishing $504m in the US – and still counting – and $400m-plus in the rest of the world), but further analysis reveals some intriguing ‘anomalies’.Its victory in the US was clear-cut, but second in the US was Iron Man, just out-grossing Indy 4 ($317.8m to $315.8m). However, factor in international grosses of $252m and $466m respectively and Dr Jones wins the fight for second worldwide and first place in the international market. It’s hard to gauge whether Indy 4 under-performed at home or not; there were some early expectations that its take would be closer to $400m in the US.
Iron Man’s success must be considered a shock: he’s hardly up there in the wider public consciousness with Spidey, Supes, the Bat and the X-Men (although he has gradually risen to be arguably the most important Marvel character of the past three or four years). But that crucial early May opening (Marvel month as it’s now known for the success of the Spidey and X-Men franchises) and strong word of mouth did the business, taking the leader of the Avengers to fifth place overall. It wasn’t quite the same break-out success in the UK, taking £17.2m for eighth place.
While Dark Knight was huge in the UK - £45.8m and counting, beating Indy’s £39.8m – it was beaten by Pierce Brosnan’s atrocious singing in Mamma Mia!, which has so far pulled in £54.5m, having spent eight weeks in the top three and will probably pass the £60m mark (only passed by Titanic, the first Harry Potter, and the first and last parts of the Rings trilogy). Indeed, the Abba-fest has now passed Casino Royale on the all-time UK list for fifth place. Mamma Mia!’s performance has been a little lop-sided, as more than one-third of its $258m international haul has come from the UK. Throw in a surprising $132.5m in the States, and its total takes it to ninth on the worldwide list.
Just shy of $600m worldwide was Kung Fu Panda, placing sixth in the US at $213.8m, but pulling in $385m internationally for third place overall. In the UK, it came in seventh on £19.6m.
Fourth-most successful movie worldwide was another super hero: Hancock. The Will Smith vehicle pulled in $350m-plus internationally, backed by $227.4m at home. In the UK, he came in fifth on £24.5m – where he was beaten by a gang of girls led by Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC was another surprise hit – not a surprise that it was a hit, but that it was such a huge hit: a cool $400m worldwide for seventh place, $248m from the international market alone. In the UK, it pulled in £26.3m.
Just ahead of the girls overall was Narnia’s Prince Caspian, picking up $405m. This was another surprise, falling well-short of the $700m-plus haul of the Lion & the Witch, principally due to the US and UK. In the US, the sequel was more than $150m short of the franchise launch, while in the UK it fell £30m short of its parent.
Wall*E finished just behind the girls for eighth place, just shy of $400m. A box office success or not? The reviews were off the charts, but this enchanting, mesmerising tale fell short of a number other Pixar films. Its take was geared slightly to the US ($218.5m), while the UK saw a not unhealthy £21.5m (which technically means fewer people in the UK paid to see saw Wall*E in the cinema than the first Toy Story...).
Now you might have expected The Incredible Hulk or Wanted to be scrapping over tenth place worldwide, but there’s another surprise. The sequel that surely no-one needed, Mummy 3, trumped the lot with $340m, more than two-thirds from the international market as it eked its way to just shy of $100m in the US. In the UK, it scored £11m.
What does any of this tell us? Not a whole lot. Don’t be fooled by the legs displayed by Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, both being driven by strong repeat business: big launch weekends are as important as ever. Comics rule, while clever promotion of a new type of chick-flick (Mamma Mia! And SATC are not your straight Julia Roberts rom-coms) can work and deliver big boy-threatening numbers. And the more product Hollywood pumps out at more cost, the greater the number of casualities…
