'Battle of the Smithsonian' wins box office race
Franck Tabouring
Weekend of May 22 – 24, 2009
“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” outran its competition at the North American box office this weekend with $53.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Shawn Levy’s sequel to the 2006 hit family adventure stars Ben Stiller as a former museum security guard who heads to the Smithsonian to rescue his pals from the hands of a ruthless Egyptian leader. The film pulled $23.1 million more during opening weekend than its predecessor.
At No. 2, McG’s “Terminator Salvation” debuted with $43 million ($56.3 million total gross). The fourth installment in the popular “Terminator” series stars Christian Bale as John Connor, who leads the human resistance in the battle against the machines in the year 2018.
Meanwhile, J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” slipped to third place, earning $21.9 million and reaching a domestic total of $183.5 million. Following closely in fourth place was Ron Howard’s “Angels & Demons,” which picked up $21.4 million for a cume of $81.5 million after two weeks in release.
The Wayans brothers’ latest spoof comedy “Dance Flick” finished at No. 5 this weekend with $11.1 million. The film follows a small-town girl who heads out to pursue her dream and get into Juilliard.
Gavin Hood’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” dropped to No. 6 this weekend, taking home $7.8 million for a total haul of $163 million after a decent four-week run. At No. 7, Mark Waters’ comedy “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” brought its cumulative gross to $45.8 million after weekend earnings of $3.7 million.
At the bottom of the top 10, Beyonce Knowles’ thriller “Obsessed” scored $2 million, lifting its domestic total to $65.9 million. Meanwhile, “Monsters vs. Aliens” collected another $1.3 million in ninth place ($192.9 million total gross).
At No. 10, Zac Efron’s “17 Again” brought its total haul to $60.3 million after pulling $1 million this weekend.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)
Reader Comments (3)
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.
Read closer and you will see that 'Salvation' has a $56.3 million total gross that includes Thursday.
Yes, I see that now. But my 2nd point is still valid. If the 2 movies had been released into the same amount of theaters I don't think Museum would be #1. I also think that Salvation will have a little bit more staying power than Museum. Its Memorial weekend, the last weekend of school there are tons of graduations and family stuff going and I know once UP comes out next weekend Museum run will be over. Salvation may just find a second wind in the coming weekends.