The box office battle for Memorial Day weekend shaped up to be a one-sided victory for the family film. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian made an estimated $53.5 million from Friday to Sunday easily crushing $43 million returns for Terminator Salvation.
The NATM sequel made much more the original’s opening at $30.4 million and became star Ben Stiller’s biggest live-action opening ever (second overall to Madagascar 2). The family flick should finish with around $70 million at the end of the holiday, a strong opening for a film that will certainly have legs through the rest of the summer. The first made $250.8M domestically.
It was a close race after Friday’s numbers, but Saturdays usually favor kid pics and Terminator Salvation was left behind. After a strong $3M at midnight showtimes, the science fiction movie ran out of steam when poor word of mouth and sliding reviews (34% positive on RottenTomatoes) discouraged fans from seeing the fourth installment. The movie opened Thursday to $13.4M. McG/Christian Bale just doesn’t live up to James Cameron/Arnold. The opening figure is a disappointment for Warner Bros. as the movie came in under analyst predictions and studio expectations. It’s down around a similar debut for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in July 2003.
The other new release, Dance Flick, tanked with only $11.1 million. It’s a far cry from the mid 40’s put up by the Scary Movie spoof comedies started by the same Wayans brothers. It’s even lower still than the openings for disasters like Little Man and White Chicks. It may be time for the Wayans to try something else. Maybe something funny.
The parody was bested by a close race between Star Trek ($22 million) and Angels & Demons ($21.4 million). Trek came out on top even after an extra week in theaters. It’s the second largest of 2009 with $183.6 million total stateside (first is Monsters vs. Aliens with $193 million).
3-Day weekend estimates:
1. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $53.5 million
2. Terminator Salvation $43 million
3. Star Trek $22 million
4. Angels & Demons $21.4 million
5. Dance Flick $11.1 million
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine $7.8 million
7. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past $3.7 million
8. Obsessed $2 million
9. Monsters vs. Aliens $1.3 million
10. 17 Again $1 million
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