Tagged: Up

Up… way up!

The animated movie Up! has box office receipts headed in the same direction… Up… way up! The Buena Vista release snagged an impressive $68.2 million in its first weekend of release, easily beating all other contenders and all without a memory upgrade for the theaters that hosted the filmed marvel. The per-screen average of $18K per showing was also easily the highest of any film this week.

Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian fared second-best, ringing up an additional $25.5 million in ticket sales to bring its 10-day total to $105 million, but with a $150 million budget, the film’s still far from reaching black ink territory. Spider-Man filmmaker Sam Raimi’s return to horror with Drag Me To Hell underperformed, raking in only $16.6 million to barely capture third place; Terminator Salvation was close behind in fourth place with $16.1 million. After 10 days in release, Terminator Salvation has raked in barely $90 million against a $200 million budget and is fading fast, meaning the franchise’s first Schwarzenegger-free installment may be a box office bust.

On the opposite end of the scale, Star Trek may have been in fifth place, but it still raked in $12.8 million after a month since its initial release and has crossed already the $200 million barrier, with a domestic total of $209.5 million and an additional $92 million in foreign box office so far, meaning the blockbuster has now crossed the $300 million barrier in global ticket sales. Not bad. (And thanks to a stronger foreign box office, X-men Origins: Wolverine is still just ahead of Star Trek with $315 million worldwide, even though the film’s lost momentum in the US.)

Adamantium action worth $85 million to open

Marvel Comics’ first X-Men spinoff movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, enjoyed a healthy $85 million opening weekend against a $150 million production budget, meaning the film made more than half of its budget back in the first weekend, usually a sign of a successful run. The Hugh Jackman vehicle was, of course, the top draw of the weekend.

Coming in a very distant second was Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with $15.4 million, also in its debut weekend, and second-week underdog thriller Obsessed with $12 million. No other movie even came close to cracking the $10 million barrier.

The mutant drama will receive major competition in its second weekend, however, as the much-anticipated J.J. Abrams redeux on the Star Trek franchise takes its opening bow in what is anticipated to be the first film of the summer season to top $100 million in its opening weekend… anything less would probably disappoint.

Angels and Demons opens the week after that, followed by Terminator Salvation, before May closes out with the debut of the animated family film, Up, so hold off on the birth announcements until at least Terminator Salvation has made its opening bow, OK? May looks to be a hot month for movies.