Weekend Box Office
1) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $70 million
2) Terminator Salvation $53. 8 million
3) Star Trek $29.4 million
4) Angels & Demons $27.7 million
5) Dance Flick $$13.1 million
6) X-Men Origins: Wolverine $10.1 million
7) Ghosts of Girlfriends Past $4.8 million
8) Obsessed $2.5 million
9) Monsters Vs. Aliens $1.9 million
10) 17 Again $1.2 million
In a stunning upset, Shawn Levy's sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian beat out McG's sequel Terminator Salvation to become the number one film of this Memorial Day weekend. The comedy, starring Ben Stiller as museum guard Larry Daley, pulled in an estimated $70 million over the course of four days, proving that good old fashion family fun never goes out of style. The original Night at the Museum only pulled in $30 million on its opening weekend back in December of 2006, but then went on to gross more than $574 million worldwide.
Terminator Salvation debuted in second place with $53.8 million. McG directed this fourth installment of the popular killer robot franchise, which stars Christian Bale as John Connor, Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, and Sam Worthington as half-man/half-cyborg Marcus. The film opened on Thursday, but that one-day head start only brings its cumulative grosses up to $67.1 million, still not enough to beat Museum's Capuchin monkeys.
The only other major release this holiday weekend was the Wayans' clan's spoof comedy Dance Flick, which took in an estimate $13.1 million in fifth place. This was a particularly low opening for a parody film, proving that this type of movie should only be released in a slow month like March or September. Have we seen the last of the spoof? As this film will clean up on the home market, that's highly doubtful.
A number of smaller films opened on the art house circuit this Memorial Day weekend. Stephan Elliot's Easy Virtue, which stars Jessica Biel and Kristin Scott Thomas, pulled in $146,000 on ten screens. Steven Soderbergh's latest The Girlfriend Experience, starring porn actress Sasha Grey, took in $200,000 playing on 30 screens. And Bent Hammer's Norwegian drama O'Horten took in an estimated $32,900 playing on just eight screens.
Next week will see the release of Disney/Pixar's Up, as well as Sam Raimi's long awaited return to horror with Drag Me to Hell. Look for the Mouse House to win this battle.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was released May 22nd, 2009 and stars Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Robin Williams, Christopher Guest, Alain Chabat, Steve Coogan. The film is directed by Shawn Levy.
Terminator Salvation was released May 21st, 2009 and stars Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Common. The film is directed by McG.
Star Trek was released May 8th, 2009 and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg. The film is directed by J.J. Abrams.
Angels & Demons was released May 15th, 2009 and stars Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Thure Lindhardt. The film is directed by Ron Howard.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released May 1st, 2009 and stars Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will i Am, Lynn Collins, Kevin Durand, Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch. The film is directed by Gavin Hood.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was released May 1st, 2009 and stars Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer. The film is directed by Mark Waters.
Monsters Vs. Aliens was released March 27th, 2009 and stars Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd. The film is directed by Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon.
Easy Virtue was released May 22nd, 2009 and stars Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall, Christian Brassington. The film is directed by Stephan Elliott.
The Girlfriend Experience was released May 22nd, 2009 and stars Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan, T. Colby Trane, Peter Zizzo, Ron Stein, Marshall Gilman, Michael Roberts. The film is directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Comments (41)
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Alyce (Uh-Lease)
VIS i agree that was an excellent movie...and from me thats high marks....i saw night at the musum tho and wasnt all that impressed...
3 years agoby @alyceepoohFlag
T.Clark
I don't care what anyone says, Terminator Salvation was a fantastic movie
3 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag
Vamp
I'm not exactly surprised by this. "Terminator Salvation" is more for the Sci-Fi fanatics and fans of the original series taht have been looking for a reboot, whereas "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" is a movie that is family oriented, meaning that everyone was going to flock to it. So I'm not exactly bummed, or anything.
3 years agoby @vampire2000Flag
Newkill3000
Yes!! Terminator's number one, today.
3 years agoby @newkill200Flag
Shelley
No need to apologize, I just thought you were interjecting your opinion as well.
3 years agoby @shelleyFlag
Oli
Good thing.
3 years agoby @reviloleeFlag
Chris
I don't care what any one says I rather watch Terminator again and again then night at the museum it was that good, it was better then part 3 McG knows his sh*t.
3 years agoby @unknown21Flag
slysnide
to Shelley: sorry, i thought you were referring to me in the comment where you wrote about 'moviemanic.' i forgot that "moviemaniac" is a user on the site, and didn't see his comment.
3 years agoby @slysnideFlag
Shelley
Museum was shown in exactly 566 more theaters than Terminator (Museum 4,096 and Terminator 3,530). Everyone is so excited about Museum making 3 million more than Terminator (based on figures as of yesterday afternoon, Museum estimated $70 and Terminator estimated $67), but no one ever states in their article how many theaters. I think they should change their numbers on Movieweb to reflect Terminator's actual total.
3 years agoby @shelleyFlag
Newkill3000
why the f*ck is Terminator given less theater counts than some damn Museum. It's the only reason why it isn't number one.
3 years agoby @newkill200Flag
Newkill3000
Well, Marcus. I hope you like it. For me, it was the greatest movie i've seen in a long time. Definitely, hits my number one for top 10 of 2009.
3 years agoby @newkill200Flag
Marcus-07
I agree with J.A.Ottley. Why was Wolverine so succesful in box office?.....Answer: It had been released all around the globe at the same time like a big blockbuster. I am from Croatia and I have to wait to see Terminator Salvation till 4.6. I can't wait for the this f*cking film! Critics are devided...There are some saying that the movie is awsome and others who say that the movie is ok but nothing special. Pozitive reviews...and If it was released everywhere like NATM2...Museum would be terminated. Trust me...and Chad Vital,I agree. People are becoming more and more stupid when you look at it from distace of the point. Sad but true...XD
3 years agoby @marcus-07Flag
Chad Vital
BD, that statement about the Trek fanbase is most likely flawed (or at least can be for that matter- no offense to you at all.) If you notice closely you'll see that Star Trek has had nothing but good reviews and positive word of mouth from anybody, whereas Terminator has not. On here is a prime example. Over on the other box office topics people are saying Terminator sucked and others saying Terminator is good. Kinda a mixed review from people on here. Whereas, if you can still find Star Trek box office numbers topics on here, and you read through the comments, everyone says they liked it. I seriously have not heard one bad thing about it, which is suprising, given that a lot of the general/casual moviegoer distinctly dislikes Star Trek cause of the old shows etc. They think it's lame/boring. But since people who saw it came home and told their friends and family that it was really good, they go and see it with THEIR families (since it is an adventure film after all). Terminator, about robots killing real people, isn't really family friendly for the holiday weekend lol. But still, I liked both Star Trek and Terminator Salvation and I like to think I have good taste in films so I'll defend T4 properly lol. For NOT being a James Cameron movie, it's pretty dang close. I think it's just because we are so used to and saturated by the violence and these past storylines, it doesn't seem new or fresh. Which I suppose is hard to do with a movie that has to follow a timeline and events that were explained to you in the previous films, so they can't do whatever they want, but then again that kind of stuff interests me, I like well thought out plotlines. Are people upset that they can't remember the story? Are we as a society getting stupidier? Is it asking too much for people to use their imagination nowadays? I noticed the same thing happened with Watchmen, which is f*cking annoying. People want simple because they are too dumb to understand the movie. Maybe instead of 3D glasses in theaters, we should replace them with helmets so the people going to see the movie won't hurt themselves lol.
3 years agoby @chad-vitalFlag
CelluloidDreams
"Terminator Salvation" was a C- ..... Ok ...but nothing special!
3 years agoby @2movieguysFlag
Brainiac
so wait, Moviemaniac, u knew Terminator was awful yet u saw it anyway? or u didn't see it, so u really don't know that it is awful and ur talking out of ur ass again just to piss ppl off?
3 years agoby @thebdFlag
Brainiac
Star Trek is doing awesome. in its third week it made more then half of wut Terminator made in its first. this also proves that Trek has more fans then Terminator.
3 years agoby @thebdFlag
Structure (ONSTRA)
for what I know, this year's may had passed with no WOW, look at the dollars that movie made. I am pretty mad because of that, every year we usually see at least 2 of the may movies pass the 200 million range in an easy quick 2 week time. this year, None of the movies did that. this is pretty bad and cause some shivers about this summer. no movie opening this may was more than 100 mill. this is bad, really bad. and I know t here is still one more weekend. but I seriously don't think UP was the movie I excpected to pop off the page. bad summer start guys, very bad. STILL, our hope is based on many movies to come in June, july and august, SO lets ROCK THE FREAKIN' HOUSE OFF TRANSFORMERS 2, HARRY POTTER 6, PUBLIC ENEMIES, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, GI JOE, and district 9.
3 years agoby @gaj1992Flag
Structure (ONSTRA)
I really think that nuseum was a good laugh. but nothing more. Terminator was actually better. so I am shoked with this. and what I am shocked with is that there is no battle at all between both of them. there is arround 27 million diffrence between the movies. this is TERRIBLE.
3 years agoby @gaj1992Flag
J.A.Ottley.Writer / Director
What did i tell people was i right, or was i damn right.....
Its because T4 ain't here yet.
God knows how many people in UK have watched T4 on the net, the gap is a traversty
3 years agoby @chronicFlag
ed_wood
Terminator was really good, I'm actually shocked at the numbers. Museum was quite terrible, and I liked the first one.
3 years agoby @ed-woodFlag
slysnide
i didn't hate it. i was just hoping it wouldn't overly dominate when the author who wrote the box office beatdown for "A&D" last weekend said it didn't stand a chance against T4, but "museam" taking #1 is even worse. I rated T4 at 3.5 if you saw my review. and what's "moviemanic" mean?
this site needs to stop posting these "Box office beat down" stories during the last day of the weekend, and wait till the day AFTER when all the #s are in. It would do them well.
3 years agoby @slysnideFlag
Shelley
There are people who did enjoy Terminator and think it is a great film, just because you think it is terrible does not make it so moviemanic. The numbers at 10:00 this morning show Terminator at a little over $67 million, so I am sure by tomorrow morning it will be close or over the $70 million prediction.
3 years agoby @shelleyFlag
slysnide
My calculations were just off by $5 mil for T4, which I predicted would rake in $58 mil, but with $53.8 mil, it works even better into my wishes. lolz. "N@TM: BOTS" being #1 with $70 mil in 4 days is the biggest box office surprise I've ever seen...considering how poorly it scored with critics prior to the release date.
And for "A&D" to score so much better after Friday's $6 mil intake is impressive. So $6 mil subtracted from $27.7 mil gives $21.7 mil added onto $60.1 mil as of 5/21, thus now totaling $81.8 mil here in the US (having been $81.6. mil worldwide as of 5/22), meaning it probably grew elsewheres.
Oh, and here are my previous calculations & predictions I posted on the T4 Day 1 Intake story from Friday:
$13.3 mil from 5/21 subtracted from a 70 mil speculation based on stats for the weekend gets $56.7 mil, minus $14.9 mil from 5/22 being Day 2 of release and a Friday would cut the intake even more...OR if you cut Saturday & Sunday's intake being Memorial Day Weekend that could also make a dramatic drop in box office intake...OR if you subtract Sunday's intake from tomorrow's intake STILL being Memorial Day Weekend then perhaps it'd STILL drop significantly, seeing as with $70 mil in 5 days (PROJECTED PREDICTION) means that since $13.3 mil X 5 = $66.5 mil (not $70 mil), meaning it must gain more in at least 1 of the 3 days thereafter (being 5/23-25), since $14.9 mil on 5/22 is a 12% gain, so by the end of tomorrow being Memorial Day itself, then the intake for 5/23-24 will be in, and it'll probly rise another $7-$10 mil minimum on either 5/23 and/or 5/24, raising the final 4 day Memorial Day Weekend (Huge Factor) intake to $48.2 mil maximum, PLUS Memorial Day itslef (Another Huge Factor) probly reigning in another $9-$12 mil could bring the final 5 day intake to $58 mil.
Point being, "Angels & Demons" made $16.6 mil on day 1 to finish with $48 mil in its 3 day weekend, totalling $50.941 mil by the end of Monday 5/18. And it's currently at $81.6 mil. Reviews ARE powerful, as it only made $2.6 mil on the Thursday before Memorial Day, being a 12% drop from the previous days 18% drop from 5/19's 24% drop. BUT it jumped 131% to $6 mil on 5/22 from 5/21's intake, meaning it did better after a rough week, but may fare worse this weekend...thus bringing its final Memorial Day Weekend intake to a PROJECTED $97 mil max if it hovers at $5 mil per day on 5/23-25.
And I wrote all this since the guy who authored the "BOX OFFICE BEATDOWN" for the 5/15-17 weekend blasted "Angels & Demons" by saying it wouldn't stand a chance against T4, but based on my projections, MW's own projections, and the reviews it's been getting all 'round the board, then it seems it'll only beat A&D by $10-15 mil max based on comparing their opening weekend intakes, with T4 having an extra 2 days added on to its weekend, as well as being released on Memorial Day Weekend. That's two major helpers for it. So that all considered, it would not be that great of a defeat. Though of course, I'm not saying I'm right, for I could be wrong on this. Though those two HUGE factors considered, it still wouldn't be that great of a defeat if it did meet MW's projection of $70 mil by Memorial Day's end, since it would be only a $22 mil increase from A&D cuz of its two extra days, and its popular Memorial Day Weekend.
==================
ok, he didn't blast A&D, but it was a joking/fun jester. It was still fun doing all that thinking at midnight 17.5hrs ago. lolz
3 years agoby @slysnideFlag
Forrestgump1
I Was Not Surprised-I prolly will not see Teminator untill DVD! and i will prolly go see NATM2 After bout 4weeks-I plan on finally going to see Star Trek this weekend cause i just finnaly saw X-Men on Saturday night-(Check out my review). NATM2 got # 1 cause
1. It's a Family Film
2. It was in way more theaters then T4
3. It's a Family Film-& thats all the matters-LOLZ!!!!!
3 years agoby @forrestgump1Flag
Moviemaniack1993
Um I absolutely hated the first Museum movie and have no intentions of seeing the sequel. You're just pissed because you were wrong. Terminator was awful as I knew it would be.
3 years agoby @moviemaniack1993Flag
GK
Not suprised. Maybe people thought Terminator Salvation is bad because of Terminator 3.
3 years agoby @indianajonesFlag
Avian
The sad thing is NATM2 is just plain bad, where T4 was pretty good.
3 years agoby @avian005Flag
shaw78
2 things that need to be taken into consideration. 1: I don't believe that this tally above includes Salvation Thursdays opening/midnight #'s its midnight alone was 13.4 million. And 2: Museum was released in 500+ more theaters than Salvation. I mean if you sent a movie out into more theaters against a movie that wasn't and had most of its fan base go and see it on a night that's not even counted in the net takings than of course Museum did better. But no one's really putting those little facts out there are they. Wonder why? I liked Salvation, I'll see again and I'll rent Museum if I find myself really bored night.
3 years agoby @shaw78Flag
Diaigma
Star Trek and NATM was sold out today, but not Terminator. Strange.
So far Star Trek is reaching the higher numbers, but that's sure to change. Let's go, GIANT ROBOTS, let's go! :P
3 years agoby @diaigmaFlag
Chad Vital
Moviemaniac shut the f*ck up already. I'm sorry that an adult film didn't win against your favorite genre, kid films. Get the f*ck over yourself already. That'd be like me going over to a Up pixar topic and laughing at it's high numbers. Are you that immature to make fun of something that's a cult classic like Terminator? It's not even funny, it's a disapointment that it's numbers are so low. Almost doesn't even make sense. It simply looks like Musuem got all main moviegoers apparantly.
3 years agoby @chad-vitalFlag