With only two new films out this weekend, "The Dark Knight Rises" had little competition at the box office.
Movie goers, whether enjoying the summer weather or still wary of the theaters after last weekend's horrific shooting, stayed at home for the most part.
Despite this, TDKR still had a great turn out. The film's totals still lie behind that of 2008's "The Dark Knight" which . Still, despite everything, the last film in Nolan's Batman franchise has earned the 3rd highest 10-day gross (domestic) behind "The Dark Knight" ($313.7m) and, of course, "The Avengers" ($373m).
Unsurprisingly, "The Watch," about a neighborhood watch group, bombed in its debut weekend. Granted, Fox didn't expect higher than a $15m opening; however, the comedy didn't even make that.
It was uncertain how the Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn comedy would fare after changing marketing tactics—and its title—after Trayvon Martin was killed by a member of a neighborhood watch group.
Though the film changed its name from "Neighborhood Watch" to the slightly more vague "The Watch," everyone knew the film was still about the same thing. The characters still prided themselves wearing "Neighborhood Watch" jackets. Even more, marketing for the film was mixed. During a midnight screening of TDKR, we viewed the film advertised as "Neighborhood Watch."
The next installment in the "Step Up" series also suffered. Though lead character of the franchise Channing Tatum wasn't in the film, the movie also included a controversial scene in the wake of the Colorado shooting which showed dancers wearing gas masks and using gas grenades to threaten people at a party.
Out of the top ten this week includes "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection" after a month at the top o the list and Woody Allen's "To Rome with Love" dips back below the radar. Here are this week's winners and losers at the box office:
10. "Moonrise Kingdom" holds out again for one more week in the top ten. Bringing in $1.38m, we expect this the last week for Bill Murray's comedy to stay afloat.
9. "Savages" drops two spots and 48.4 percent at theaters earning $1.7m.
8. "Magic Mike," Warner Bros. other current big film, dipped two spots with $2.5m.
7. "Brave" earns $4.2m, down less than 30 percent from last week. Pixar's latest film has grossed more than $309.2m in six weekends.
6. "The Amazing Spider-Man" drops three spots and another 37.5 percent with $6.8m. At week four, the reboot is far below its predecessors at the same mark (Spider-Man: $28.5m, Spider-Man 2: $8.6m, Spider-Man 3: $14.3m)
5. "Ted" continues to be a box-office winner with $7.3m. Seth MacFarlane's debut film has managed to gross $233m worldwide on an estimated $50m budget.
4. "Step Up Revolution" gets off to a rocky start with $11.8m. In comparison, "Step Up 3-D" earned $15.8m its opening weekend and earned more than $116m overseas. Typically, the franchise fares better in foreign markets.
3. "The Watch" earns $13m in its opening weekend. It will be an uphill battle to earn its estimated $68m budget.
2. Kid flick, "Ice Age: Continental Drift" grosses another $13.3m during week 3 to bring its total to $114.8m domestic.
1. "The Dark Knight Rises" easily leads the pack with $64m, despite dropping 60.2 percent at theaters in week two. The film has already earned $537.2m worldwide.
