2008 box offices slips ahead of 2007

by
Reel Blog   


The record 2007 box office that industry analysts warned could not be beaten considering the lack of sequels and franchises this year fell behind 2008 box office year-to-date this past weekend. Through Monday, 2008 box office stands at $4,331,304,340 – roughly $10 million ahead of 2007.

More impressively, “Overall, ticket sales continued to outperform last summer for the fourth weekend in a row. The weekend’s estimated $139 million was up 6% from the comparable weekend last year, when “Evan Almighty” led the list with an opening take of $31.2 million, according to Nielsen EDI. As a result, summer boxoffice is now running 3% ahead of last summer.”

This box office performance comes without a single movie with a “3” in the title.

The comparisons for the rest of the summer remain tough:

2007 Film

Release Date

Opening Gross

Total Gross

2008 Film

Release Date

Live Free Or Die Hard

6/27/2007 (Wed)

$48,398,130

$134,529,403

Wall-E

Wanted

6/27/2008

Ratatouille

6/29/2007

$47,027,395

$206,445,654

Transformers

7/3/2007 (Tue)

$155,405,412

$319,246,193

Hancock

7/2/2008 (Wed)

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

7/11/2007 (Wed)

$139,715,157

$292,004,738

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Meet Dave

7/11/2008

Hairspray

7/20/2007

$27,476,745

$118,871,849

The Dark Knight

Mama Mia!



7/18/2008

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

7/20/2007

$34,233,750

$120,059,556

The Simpsons Movie

7/27/2007

$74,036,787

$183,135,014

Step Brothers

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

7/25/2008

The Bourne Ultimatum

8/3/2007

$69,283,690

$227,471,070

Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

8/1/2008

Rush Hour 3

8/10/2007

$49,100,158

$140,125,968

Pineapple Express

8/8/2008

Superbad

8/17/2007

$33,052,411

$121,463,226

Tropic Thunder

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

8/15/2008

The 2008 summer films listed represent only my guess of likely suspects for comparison to 2007. There will be the usual box office disappointments and surprises. Nobody really knows anything until the audience shows up.

What are your guesses for summer box office contenders?