Universal’s Battleship, which is loosely based on the Hasbro board game, took a major hit at the North American box office as it debuted with an estimated $25.9 million, well below the $35-$40 million that had been forecast.  Uni’s $200 million+ tentpole was swamped in the wake of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, which easily topped the box office for the third week in a row with an estimated $55 million, a mere 46.6% drop from its second frame.  Sasha Baron Cohen’s savage satire The Dictator, which debuted on Wednesday, performed about as expected, earning an estimated $17.4 million, while Lionsgate’s comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting stumbled to a $10.5 million debut.  Overall the total of the top 12 films was down 16.1% from the same weekend last year when Pirates of the Caribbean 4 opened with $90.1 million, a decline that was due largely to the fact that Battleship didn’t hold up its end of the donkey.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): May 18-20, 2012
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	The Avengers	$55,057,000	4,249	$12,958	$457,078,000	3
2	Battleship	$25,300,000	3,690	$6,856	$25,300,000	1
3	The Dictator	$17,415,000	3,008	$5,790	$24,456,000	1
4	Dark Shadows	$12,770,000	3,755	$3,401	$50,908,000	2
5	What to Expect When You're Expecting	$10,500,000	3,021	$3,476	$10,500,000	1
6	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	$3,250,000	354	$9,181	$8,257,000	3
7	The Hunger Games	$3,000,000	2,064	$1,453	$391,631,000	9
8	Think Like a Man	$2,700,000	1,722	$1,568	$85,888,000	5
9	The Lucky One	$1,765,000	2,005	$880	$56,921,000	5
10	The Pirates! Band of Misfits	$1,450,000	1,840	$788	$25,362,000	4

 

Analysts had noted that Battleship was tracking like Disney’s ill-fated John Carter (see "Will 'Avengers' Torpedo 'Battleship'?”), but today’s numbers indicate that the film didn’t even manage to match John Carter’s debut total of $30.2 million.  The patriotic, alien invasion-themed Battleship has one more chance over the coming Memorial Day weekend to cut into the enormous losses that Universal will face.  But that won’t be easy with opening weekend audiences giving the film a mediocre "B" CinemaScore.  Battleship played to older (66% over 25) and predominantly male (57%) crowds during its opening frame. 

 

Battleship, which cost over $200 million to produce and millions more to promote (including a pricy full-minute Super Bowl spot), opened overseas a month ago and has earned $220 million outside of North America.  The film’s weak U.S. debut means that it will have a hard time even making $70 million domestically unless it does dramatically better next weekend.  With that sort of domestic gross, the loss on Battleship looks like it could end up matching Disney’s $200 million write-off on John Carter.  It now appears more and more likely that Battleship and John Carter star Tyler Kitsch will have the dubious distinction of starring in the two biggest flops of 2012.  While Kitsch, who demonstrated considerable talent on Friday Night Lights, might not have to take a job at In-N-Out Burgers as some have suggested, it will take a courageous studio executive to place the actor as the lead in a future tentpole.

 

Meanwhile The Avengers amazing run continues.  After 17 days Whedon’s superhero team-up movie has earned $457 million domestically compared with $394 million for The Dark Knight at the same point in its run.  With a total worldwide gross of $1.18 billion The Avengers is Disney’s highest-grossing film of all time as well as the fastest film ever to hit the $400 million mark domestically.  The next objective for The Avengers is The Dark Knight’s domestic total of $533.3 million (The Avengers, which has earned $720 million overseas has already surpassed The Dark Knight in its global total), which is tops for all superhero movies.  While it might appear that The Avengers, given its current lead, should easily surpass TDK, Nolan’s film was released late in the summer movie season and faced much less competition that what is awaiting Whedon’s movie, which torpedoed Battleship this week, but faces a new challenger in Men in Black III next weekend.

 

Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator avoided the shame of losing out to another new comedy release, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, but its opening total lags well behind the actor’s Borat.  The $65 million production attracted a crowd that was predominantly male (65%) and younger (56% under 25), but they gave the film a poor "C" CinemaScore, which doesn’t bode well for its future box office performance.

 

Warner Bros.’ Dark Shadows is another pricy comedy ($150 million) that hasn’t been able to prosper in a box office environment where The Avengers is siphoning off all the oxygen.  Tim Burton’s vampire comedy slipped 57% in its second frame as it earned $12.7 million, which brings its domestic total to nearly $51 million.

 

Lionsgate’s What to Expect When You’re Expecting debuted in fifth with a disappointing total of $10.5 million.  As might be expected females made up 67% of the film’s opening weekend audience, which was definitely on the older side with 77% over 25.  It’s "B-" CinemaScore spells eventual doom for this ensemble comedy.

 

Even though it was on fewer than one-tenth as many screens as What to Expect, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which appeals to an even older crowd, ended up in 6th place, and while its earnings are modest ($3.2 million), the movie managed the best per-venue average in the Top 10, a very substantial $18,258.

 

Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games fell to #7 in its ninth weekend in theaters, earning an additional $3 million and bringing its domestic cumulative to $391.6 million.  Lost in the furor over The Avengers mammoth opening, The Hunger Games appears poised to possibly crack the $400 million barrier, which would put the cherry on top of a magnificent franchise-establishing debut.

 

Check back next week to see how Men in Black III fares over the Memorial Day weekend along with yet another “found footage” horror film Chernobyl Diaries.  Will MIB III be able to dethrone The Avengers and gain some momentum back for the 2012 summer movie season, which, after a strong start, faltered this week in comparison with 2011.