Updated on December 10, 2021
Anticipation for “Lucy” seems to have been pretty strong, as the film used 100% of Scarlett Johansson’s star power to easily beat “Hercules” for the top spot at the box office. “Lucy” raked in $44 million, which easily made back its modest budget of $40 million. Hopefully, Hollywood gets the message (if it hasn’t from “Gravity,” “Frozen,” etc.) about women being able to headline films, though I somehow doubt it. Don’t suppose we’ll be seeing a Black Widow solo film anytime soon; this weekend’s big movie news at San Diego Comic-Con involved next week’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the Xena-like genericness of Wonder Woman’s movie costume being released.
Meanwhile, “Hercules” starring the Rock made $29 million in its opening weekend. While I expect it to have a tough time with the August film slate, it has made $28.7 million overseas so far (for a global total of $57.7 million), where I assume it’ll make the bulk of its money.
Elsewhere, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” claimed third place, earning $16.4 million. The film’s totals stand at $172.1 million domestically and $108.6 million overseas, for a total of $280.7 million.
“Planes: Fire & Rescue” fell to fifth place, earning $9.3 million. Its totals currently stand at $35.1 million domestically and $21 million overseas, for a total of $56.1 million. While Forbes thought its earnings/box office drop was disappointing, it’ll still linger in theaters a bit longer, plus there’s the merchandising sales of the “Cars”/”Planes” franchise, of course.
“Transformers: Age of Extinction” still isn’t on the endangered species list yet, as it came in seventh place earning $4.6 million. The fourth shapeshifting-giant-robots-based-on-toys film everyone loves to hate (but makes megabucks anyway) has earned $236.4 million domestically and a whopping $730 million overseas(!). “Transformers 4” is now the top-grossing domestic film this summer, passing “Maleficent.” Its global total stands at $966.4 million, and it shouldn’t be long before it crosses over $1 billion.
Finally, “How to Train Your Dragon 2” has finally fallen out of the top 10, with a domestic total of $165.6 million domestically and $258.5 million overseas, for a global total of $424.1 million. Its overseas total seems close to the original’s $277 million, but it’s fallen well short of the original’s domestic total of $217.6 million (the original made $494.9 million globally).
Next week will see “Guardians of the Galaxy” open, as well as a biopic about the life of singer James Brown.
