Who needs action movies?  Maybe a heat wave that hits most of the country is just as effective at driving folks into the air-conditioned confines for some entertainment as any testosterone infused action movie.  When it’s too hot for tennis, baseball, or other outdoor activities for much of the day, are the movies a great alternative?  Whatever the reason, Seth McFarlane’s Ted, a raunchy "R" rated comedy about a talking Teddy Bear dominated with the third best opening ever for an "R" rated comedy trailing only The Hangover, Part II and Sex and the City.  With Stephen Soderbergh’s Magic Mike also debuting strongly, the total of the top 12 films nearly reached $200 million.  While comparisons with last year when the weekend included the July 4th holiday, don’t look all that great, make no mistake, this weekend was a solid win for Hollywood, and it was accomplished without a new action film (and without an action film in the top 5).

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): June 29 - July 1, 2012
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Ted	$54,100,000	3,239	$16,703	$54,100,000	1
2	Magic Mike	$39,155,000	2,930	$13,363	$39,155,000	1
3	Brave	$34,011,000	4,164	$8,168	$131,685,000	2
4	Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection	$26,350,000	2,161	$12,193	$26,350,000	1
5	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	$11,815,000	3,715	$3,180	$180,012,000	4
6	Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter	$6,000,000	3,109	$1,930	$29,034,000	2
7	Prometheus	$4,925,000	1,951	$2,524	$118,262,000	4
8	Moonrise Kingdom	$4,873,000	854	$5,706	$18,406,000	6
9	Snow White and the Huntsman	$4,405,000	2,337	$1,885	$145,591,000	5
10	People Like Us	$4,306,000	2,055	$2,095	$4,306,000	1

 

McFarlane’s Ted staked a solid claim to the "R" rated comedy crown of 2012 with the best debut ever for an original "R" rated comedy.  A savvy marketing campaign that made the most of McFarlane’s "bully" pulpit of a TV show, Family Guy, got viewers into the seats for Ted.  Strong reviews (68% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) and an "A-" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences mean that Ted, which opened well beyond expectations with an estimated $54.1 million, has a chance at a Hangover-like success and could end up with a domestic total well north of $200 million.  The audience for Ted was primarily male (56%) and, as might be expected for an "R" rated film, older (52% over 30).

 

Women were making their way to the male stripper drama Magic Mike, which attracted a crowd that was 72% female.  The gritty, slice-of-life drama, which is a good deal darker than its commercials might want you to believe, earned an estimated $39.2 million, not bad considering its $7-$10 million cost.  As is befitting for a male stripper movie, Magic Mike’s performance was heavily front-loaded with a 42% drop from Friday to Saturday.  That drop, coupled with the film’s mediocre CinemaScore of "B," will likely mean a fast fade for the film, but since it is already well in the black, it can hardly be seen as anything short of a major success for those involved, especially for Channing Tatum, who has already scored major successes this year with The Vow and 21 Jump Street, and who was saved from possible embarrassment when Universal pushed G.I. Joe Renegades well into 2013 for extensive retakes.

 

Last week’s winner Brave declined 49% in its second frame as it brought in $34 million and raised its ten-day total to $131.7 million.  Right now Brave is closely following the box office path of another Pixar movie, Wall-e, which suggests that it will finish in the vicinity of $225 million domestically, though predicting the final tallies of animated features, which tend to have fairly long runs is fraught with difficulties.

 

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection opened with $26.4 million, a slight increase over the debut of Perry’s most recent Medea film, Medea’s Big Happy Family, which opened with $25.1 million in 2011.  With the $20 million Medea’s Witness Protection earning an "A-" CinemaScore, it definitely has a solid chance to turn a profit for Lionsgate.

 

Dreamworks’ Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted took fifth place as it dropped just 40% in its 4th weekend, earning an estimated $11.8 million and bringing its cumulative to $180 million. The movie is on track to become the franchise’s highest-grossing film domestically (not adjusted for inflation).

 

Put a stake in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the $69 million film plummeted 63.2% and fell to sixth place in its second weekend in theaters. So far the film has earned just $29 million domestically and will be lucky to make $40 million by the end of its run here.

 

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus remained in the Top Ten as it earned an estimated $5 million and brought the $130 million film’s domestic total to $118 million and its worldwide cumulative to $284 million.

 

Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom keeps looking like the "indie" hit of the summer as it moved up to #7.  The film, which cost $16 million to produce, is now in 854 theaters and has earned $18.4 million.

 

The slice-of-life drama People Like Us, which represents the directorial debut of Roberto Orci (Star Trek, the new Hawaii Five-0), another modestly-budgeted ($16 million) film, debuted disappointingly in tenth place.

 

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, finally slipped out of the Top 10 in its ninth weekend, but it still managed to add $4.2 million to its mammoth domestic total.  The superhero team-up film has now earned $606.3 million.  It seems increasingly unlikely that it will be able to match Titanic’s $658.7 domestic performance (which was mostly accomplished with 1997 dollars, which means that adjusted for inflation there is no possible way The Avengers could catch it).  In case anyone is interested, The Avengers is #27 on the all-time list when that list is adjusted for ticket price inflation.

 

Stop back here next week when the verdict will be in on the second major superhero movie of the season, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man.  Since Marc Webb’s movie is bowing on Tuesday, its weekend total will be hard to predict, but analysts are already predicting the film will be a hit.