Weekend Box Office Analysis: July 22-24

"A IS FOR VICTORY" indeed! Paramount and Marvel Studios scored another victory as Chris Evans starrer Captain America: First Avenger topped the domestic box office with an estimated $65.8M this weekend. That makes First Avenger the highest grossing superhero flick of the summer narrowly beating out Thor's $65.7M. Captain America did enough business to come in No. 1, ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which fell a steep 72% after its mammoth debut a week earlier.


Released in 3D and directed by Joe Johnston, Captain America was the main headline of the weekend. Together, Captain America and Thor which opened to sport the biggest openings of the summer for non-sequels and the best of any superhero pic. It easily bested the $53.2M debut of Green Lantern. However, Captain America only drew 40% of its grosses from 3D screens, a far lower ratio than Thor. Captain America, receiving an A- CinemaScore, did draw a younger audience than Thor, with 43% of those buying tickets under the age of 25. For Thor, only 25% were under the age of 25. The film is set for release overseas in the coming weeks.

Warner Bros.' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 had to settle for second place but still managed to add $48.1M for a domestic total of $274.2M. Its dip was no surprise to box office observers, considering it opened to $169.2M last weekend, the best showing of all time. The pic is destined to become the top earner of the series, and is already close to surpassing the $317.6M earned domestically by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Deathly Hallows 2 easily won the weekend race at the international box office, grossing an impressive $121.3M in its second weekend, a 61% drop for a foreign total of $560.4M and massive global cume of $834.6M as the pic races toward the $1 billion mark.

Screen Gems' new R-rated romantic comedy Friends With Benefits debuted in third place with an estimated $18.5M. That was slightly behind the $19.7M earned by the similarly themed No Strings Attached that opened in January of this year. The Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis starrer, made for a modest $34M, played best to women, who repped 62% of the audience, and drew a B+ CinemaScore. The Screen Gems film will need a good hold if its to overcome the lowest opening among the recent crush of R-rated comedies (Bridesmaids, Horrible Bosses and Bad Teacher to name a few). Sony worldwide president of domestic distribution Rory Bruer believes Friends With Benefits will accomplish exactly that.

"This film will be around for the rest of the summer. The chemistry between Justin and Mila is great," Bruer said.

In its fourth weekend, Paramount's Transformers: Dark of the Moon added $12M to push its domestic total to $325.8M. The Michael Bay-directed third installment was budgeted at $195M. WB's Horrible Bosses earned $11.7M in fifth place its third weekend for a total of $82.4M while Sony's Zookeeper took in $8.7M for sixth place to bring its three-week total to $59.2M. Disney's animated films Cars 2 added $5.7M for a total of $176.4M after five weeks and Winnie the Pooh received $5.1M for a total of $17.6M after two weeks.

Here's how the Top 10 shakes out:


1. Captain America 3D (Marvel/Disney/Paramount) NEW [3,715 Runs]
Friday $25.7M, Saturday $21.9M, Sunday $18.1M, Weekend $65.8M

2. Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows Pt 2 3D (Warner Bros) Week 2 [4,375 Runs]
Friday $14.6M, Saturday $18.4M, Sunday $15M, Weekend $48M (-72%), Cume $274.1M

3. Friends With Benefits (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,926 Runs]
Friday $6.8M, Saturday $6.5M, Sunday $5M, Weekend $18.5M

4. Transformers 3 3D (Paramount) Week 4 [3,375 Runs]
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $4.7M, Sunday $3M, Weekend $12M, Cume $325.7M

5. Horrible Bosses (New Line/Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,104 Runs]
Friday $3.6M, Saturday $4.5M, Sunday $3M, Weekend $11.7M, Cume $82.4M

6. Zookeeper (MGM/Sony) Week 3 [3,215 Runs]
Friday $2.7M, Saturday $3.4M, Sunday $2.3M, Weekend $8.7M, Cume $59.2M

7. Cars 2 3D (Disney) Week 5 [2,668 Runs]
Friday $1.7M, Saturday $2.8M, Sunday $1.7M, Weekend $5.7MM, Cume $176.4M

8. Winnie The Pooh (Disney) Week 2 [2,405 Runs]
Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.2M, Sunday $1.5M Weekend $5.1M, Cume $17.5M

9. Bad Teacher (Sony) Week 5 [2,035 Runs]
Friday $825K, Saturday $1M, Sunday $710K, Weekend $2.6M, Cume $94.3M

10. Midnight In Paris (Sony Classics) Week 10 [621 Runs]
Friday $508K, Saturday $900K, Sunday $551K, Weekend $1.8M, Cume $44.8M