Hulk Gives Headline Writers a Free Pass, Smashes Box Office Competition


Will people turn out to revisit a character they revisited only five years previously? It seems so. Universal's reboot of The Incredible Hulk owned the top spot at the box office this past weekend, grossing $54.5 million (down from the $62.1 grossed by Ang Lee's 2003 version, starring Eric Bana). Powered by voice work from Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie — and abetted by a lack of direct genre competition — the animated family flick Kung Fu Panda made a strong second week showing, earning an additional $34.3 million to push its accumulated domestic receipts to just under $118 million. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's R-rated The Happening, meanwhile, debuted in third place with $30.5 million.



Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess with the Zohan slotted fourth, with an estimated $16.4 million in its second week of release. Placing fifth was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which grossed another $13.5 million; the fourth film in the iconic period adventure franchise has now grossed $275 million domestically and another $327 million overseas. Rounding out the top 10 were Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and a bunch of shoes and handbags ($10.2 million for the weekend, just under $120 million in total); Paramount's high-flying Iron Man ($5.1 million, $297.4 overall); horror thriller The Strangers ($5.1 million, $45.3 million overall); The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($3 million, $131.7 overall); and Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz's What Happens in Vegas ($1.7 million, $75.8 overall).

In limited release, meanwhile, writer-director Steve Conrad's quietly funny The Promotion, added 75 screens and grossed $137,000; John Cusack's sprawling satire War, Inc. added nine more theaters and pushed its slow roll-out, month-long total to around $236,000. Werner Herzog's documentary Encounter at the End of the World opened in a single theater in New York City, to $17,500.

 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this post.
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.