Box Office Update for 6/30-7/2: Superman Return's is Solid but Unspectacular

Superman Returns opened to wildly mixed reviews, and even more mixed viewer reaction. The end result being a solid three-day of over $52 million and a five-day over $108 million. The problem is that expectations were very high, as the superhero flick was expected to be one of the biggest hits of the year, and it looks like it may not overtake the third X-Men outing, and with the Pirates of Caribbean sequel opening next week, the skies don't look all that clear, and it is likely that Superman Returns may not have very strong legs. This writer enjoyed the film very much, it was certainly flawed, but not fatally. It will be interesting to see how it does over the next couple of weeks.

Coming in second, and above industry expectations was The Devil Wears Prada. It is a sweetly subversive film which features Meryl Streep in the deliciously diabolical devil of the title, and the rising star of Anne Hathaway as her assistant struggling to keep her head above water. It pulled down over $27 million dollars on it's way to that second place finish. It is an excellent film, and could prove to have the legs that Superman doesn't, besides, models look better in tights.

Click took a beating from the new releases, as it fell to third place, losing over 50% from last week. It is a decent film,, but I don't see it having very strong legs and will quietly slide down the charts. Cars, on the other hand, may not be the powerhouse that Pixar had hoped it would be, is still holding pretty steady, bringing out the families. it slipping just over 37%.

Surprising me is the number six placing film. The Lake House held on for the same sixth place finish it had last week. This is a wonderful film, and I am glad to see it hanging on. Meanwhile, The DaVinci Code is still hanging on to the top ten with its second straight tenth place finish. It is the second biggest film so far this year, trailing only X-Men: The Last Stand.

Next week will possibly see the biggest disparity between the first place film and the rest of the list, that is, if the pundits are correct and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest does indeed make a play for the box office title of 2006. It could be interesting. I think it stands the best chance of doing that as I don't see any surefire monster hit films coming down the pipe to challenge it.

Two films dropped from the list this week: X-Men: The Last Stand(11) and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (13).

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	N	Superman Returns	$52,535,096	$108,091,711	1
2	N	The Devil Wears Prada	$27,537,244	$40,135,062	1
3	1	Click	$19,919,470	$87,627,835	2
4	2	Cars	$14,569,356	$190,506,108	4
5	3	Nacho Libre	$6,600,962	$68,493,525	3
6	6	The Lake House	$4,811,192	$41,371,251	3
7	4	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	$4,485,585	$53,535,225	3
8	5	Waist Deep	$3,431,691	$16,571,366	2
9	7	The Break-Up	$2,990,680	$111,720,225	5
10	10	The DaVinci Code	$2,425,158	$211,239,443	7

Box Office Predictions Recap
I got just about everything wrong, particularly in the gross prediction arena. It's fun trying to guess them, but I still haven't quite gotten it down. I'll keep trying, eventually I'll figure it out.

Actual	Prediction	Title	Wknd Gross	Prediction
1	1	Superman Returns	$52,535,096	$85 million
3	2	Click	$19,919,470	$32 million
2	3	The Devil Wears Prada	$27,537,244	$28 million
4	4	Cars	$14,569,356	$24 million
5	5	Nacho Libre	$6,600,962	$8 million
7	6	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	$4,485,585	$7 million
8	7	Waist Deep	$3,431,691	$6 million
9	8	The Break-Up	$2,990,680	$5 million
6	9	The Lake House	$4,811,192	$4 million
11	10	X-Men: The Last Stand	$2,207,609	$3.5 million

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