Summer's superhero
If it's the 4th of July weekend, it must be Will Smith on top. Hancock, the story of a hard-drinking, cantankerous superhero, topped the weekend with $66 million, marking the fifth time that Mr. Smith has opened a movie at No. 1 over the holiday weekend. Hancock earned $107 million from its July 1 opening to Sunday.
The up side
Will Smith has solidified himself as the king of the blockbusters. Hancock makes eight consecutive No. 1 openings for Big Willie and is his second-best opening ever behind I Am Legend, which opened with $77.2 million last December.
Bomb Squad
Everyone rightly stayed out of Hancock's way over the weekend, so the Squad claims no new victims. Keep an eye on Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, though. After playing for two weeks in limited release, it didn't make much of a splash in going wide last weekend, earning just $3.3 million.
Swami Sez
A .500 average would be great in baseball.
Prediction: Hancock tops the $100 million mark in its first six days.
Result: With $7 million to spare.
Prediction: This weekend tops the same weekend last year, making six consecutive weekends that 2008 has defeated 2007.
Result: Nope -- the weekend was down 4 percent from 2007, breaking the streak.
Crowded at the top
This weekend, the predicting gets interesting again. Three films (Hellyboy II: The Golden Army, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D and Meet Dave) open in wide release, but only one can top the charts. Who will it be?
Prediction: When in doubt, go with the comic book movie. Hellboy II earns $32 million to win the weekend.
The return of 'Hancock'
With Hellboy II at No. 1, that leaves Journey and Meet Dave to battle it out for No. 2. But it would be foolish to count out last week's $107 million behemoth, Hancock, from the race.
Prediction: Hancock holds on to the No. 2 spot with an additional $28 million.
Newsletter sign-up: 
Get Breaking News on your cell
E-mail 
Comments
Posted by Gary Satoe @ 10:52 PM Sun, Jul 13, 2008
When will there be an end to all these cartoon movies? When will cinema return to original screenplays with cinematography that are real takes from real places and not digitized? We aren't easly fooled any longer.