Skynet this time around was not beaten by John Connor and the Resistance, but by a security guard and historical figures. That’s right, the family friendly Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian defeated the big action drama Terminator: Salvation for the weekend (53.5 million over 43 million). Some already say that the fourth Terminator movie was an under performer, even though it only missed the mark of tying with T3′s opening day numbers by just one million. Some speculate that the supposed ‘weak’ box office draw was due to the lack of an actual Schwarzenegger, others could say that it did fine if you included Thursday’s numbers.
Regardless of that, the biggest surprise was the performance of Night At the Museum 2 (to put it short). Not only does it appeal to mainly little kids who want to see the funny people, but its original release for the first film was a surprise in itself, accumulating up to 250 million domestically alone to trigger a green light for a sequel. Some, including myself, speculated that its sequel would not hold up well against the aritificial intelligence cyborgs, but families alike proved the skeptics wrong.
The last of the three films released this past weekend was the Wayan Brothers’ spoof comedy of sorts, Dance Flick. Even though it has been completely ripped apart by a many of critics, people still flocked out to see if it was even worth the price of admission. With only a 25 million dollar budget and already accumulating 11 million within it’s opening weekend, a little monster in my head tells me that this film will most likely make its money back (no surprise).
Honorable mentions among the weekend is how surprising not only Star Trek is doing, which must mean that Trekkies are definitely getting their helpings of it in theaters still, and Angels & Demons. Granted I do not get at all what the big hub bub is with Angels & Demons, and even though it has not fared well among others people are still power walking in to see it. Along with the rest of them, here’s the overall totals of the weekend.
Weekend Box Office (May 22-24)
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($53.5 Million)
- Terminator: Salvation ($43 Million)
- Star Trek ($21.9 Million)
- Angels & Demons ($21.4 Million)
- Dance Flick ($11.1 Million)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($7.8 Million)
- Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past ($3.7 Million)
- Obsessed ($2 Million)
- Monsters Vs. Aliens ($1.3 Million)
- 17 Again ($1 Million)
Coming up this week to hit the slab is the very hyped up and anticipated animated movie (which even I am looking forward to) Disney/Pixar’s Up, along with Drag Me To Hell & The Brothers Bloom. Stay here for the latest reviews, clips and more only on Atomic Popcorn!
