Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins earned the top spot in the weekend box office derby with an estimated take of $46.9 million, well ahead of last week's winner, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which dropped 45% and earned an estimated $27.3 million. Batman Begins, which debuted mid-week (see 'Batman Has $15 Million Wednesday'), ran its cumulative total to a respectable $71 million, but in spite of strong reviews, its opening weekend's performance was hardly competitive with those of the top rung of comic book-based films such as Spider-Man ($114.8 million) or X2 ($85.6 million). With no other films of note opening this past weekend, many Hollywood forecasters felt that Batman Begins would at least crack the $50 million mark with its initial weekend run at the domestic box office.
Batman Begins' per theater average of $12,165 was good, but noticeably lower than previous weekend box office winners including Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which earned over $14,000 per location last weekend. Exit polls for the film have been strong, so perhaps it can avoid the more than 50% first-to-second week drop that is typical of most heavily hyped summer action blockbusters. Batman Begins has earned an additional $41.1 million overseas so far so the franchise is not exactly in jeopardy, although the $150 million film will face stiffer competition in ten days with the opening of Steven Spielberg's adaptation of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith dropped from third to fourth place but still earned $9.7 million running its total to $347.8 million good for eleventh place all-time. By next weekend the final installment of the Star Wars saga should move into the all-time top ten.
Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle expanded from 36 to 202 theaters and earned an estimated $802,00--good enough for thirteenth place on the list. While Howl's per location average declined to an estimated $3,970, it was still the third best average take for a film available in more than 100 locations trailing only Batman Begins and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.