Box Office: Watchmen Hauls in $55.6 Million

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 8, 2009

rr-watchmen

The numbers are in for Watchmen here at the Reject Report — and as expected it was a very big weekend for DC superheroes, again. Number one at the box office for a weekend box office haul of $55.6 million — the best so far in 2009.

Not a record, though. It needed around $71 million to beat the numbers of 300, and, well, it didn’t do it. For a while, it looked like Watchmen was going to take down 300, because it was outpacing 300 in pre-sales and so on. As it turned out, the midnight-movie showings easily beat 300 with a haul of $4.6 million, outpacing the $2.5 million that 300 took in. The haul for the day was a staggering $25.1 million. By contrast, the second place movie of the night, Tyler Perry’ Madea Goes to Jail, only brought in $2.6 million. That haul ended up falling short, though, of the $28.1 million 300 took in on its Friday opening.

Based on those numbers you would have thought Watchmen would have been on pace for a weekend haul in the $60-million plus range. Instead, bad word of mouth is being blamed by a lot of people for hurting the flick on Saturday and Sunday. There’s been quite a divided reaction to the picture. A lot of the comic-book geeks are complaining about all the liberties director Zack Snyder took with the story, particularly the ending. So many of these comic-book die-hards are mad that it wasn’t true to the comic book. On the other hand, a lot of people who didn’t read the comic book seemed to like it. The critical reaction has been somewhat divided as well — most of the reviews have been positive, but a vocal minority just hated the flick. I noticed Michael Phillips absolutely trashed Watchmen in the Chicago Tribune and gave it one and a half stars! On the other hand, Roger Ebert gave it four stars!

Anyway, plenty of folks think that was part of the reason the drop happened — there has not been a uniformity of opinion on this movie, to say the least. So the opening-day momentum failed to carry over to the rest of the weekend. Others are blaming the drop on the long running time of the movie, but I don’t entirely buy that explanation. The Dark Knight was long, too, and it made a billion dollars! So I’m more likely to think the divided reaction from fans and the public was more of a factor.

Now, I am not surprised that this box-office drop happened for Watchmen. I fully expected it to happen given the nature of the material, and I am not surprised at the divided reaction as well. I had thought, though, the big drop would happen NEXT weekend and not right away! I figured there would be plenty of uptight people who would have been freaked out when they heard about the violence and all the nudity in the flick. After all, this was rated “R”. Maybe people went in expecting another masterpiece like The Dark Knight. I don’t know. Anyway, I figured the impact would be felt from all this next week, but instead the impact was felt right away. From what I gather, business dipped on Saturday to $19 million, and then Watchmen was walloped on Sunday. People now are predicting $11 million for Sunday. So that is why the numbers ended up being what they are.

It sort of reminds me of what happened with Sex and the City — that was another movie that had a massive Friday opening thanks to its legion of fans, and then it sort of fizzled out. This happens a lot.

So to sum up, that’s the showing for Watchmen — a solid first-place finish and the best opening of 2009 by a hefty amount of money. Yet for all the hype and buzz, the opening weekend haul was really no better than what The Incredible Hulk pulled in last year. Look on the bright side, though. After all the problems getting this movie to the big screen in the first place, it’s incredible this movie made ANY kind of money. The folks at Warner Bros. should be pleased — not to mention 20th Century Fox and their attorneys.

The box office from this weekend:

  1. Watchmen $55,655,000
  2. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail $8,800,000
  3. Taken $7,450,000
  4. Slumdog Millionaire $6,925,000
  5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop $4,200,000
  6. He’s Just Not That Into You $4,020,000
  7. Coraline $3,313,000
  8. Confessions of a Shopaholic $3,121,000
  9. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience $2,785,000
  10. Fired Up $2,600,000

Overall, box office numbers remain very strong for 2009, with Media By Numbers reporting that domestic ticket sales are up for the year at 16.5 percent.

That is all for me for now! See you later this week when we preview the box office for more movies right here at the Reject Report.


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  • Wow, talk about a bizarre split...it seems like there's no middle ground for this movie. Critics love or hate it, comic readers love it or hate it.

    Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, all of the diehards that are pissed off about the fact that it isn't a four hour shot-for-shot opus really need to get stuffed. The fact that someone tackled this and made an entertaining and cohesive movie out of it is a miracle.

    I didn't read the source material but absolutely loved the movie. After seeing it in IMAX on Friday night, a friend and I pulled out the bound graphic novel to try and find the differences and were very happy to NOT see a giant squid attack New York in the movie. I was also happy to not have to see an additional hour about pirates. The changes made were apt and just. Flame on.
  • andrew c.
    as a fan of the novel i loved the movie. probably one of the most exciting heartful experiences watching a movie for me. especially that first half of the movie where i was in awe of how much of the material snyder put in. what hooked me right away, i know this is minor and all, was that he used the first shot from the first page of the novel right away at the very start of the movie and right after the opening credits. little things like that got me head over heels for the movie right off the bat. loved it. met and exceeded expectations even though some of my favorite parts of the graphic novel were not executed as well (i.e. rorschach's origin, dr. manhattan's origin, and laurie/dr. manhattan debate on mars). i kinda expected that thought. so i'm still thankful he tried. also too bad people didn't like it. i saw the movie on friday at 6 and there was group of high school students there. after the movie i heard them say they didn't understand it and thought it was horrible. so yeah i think stupid ignorant movie goers and youngsters who like lowest common denominator stuff is going to hurt the BO of the fim.
  • Don B.
    Wow,it was walloped on Sunday.And Sunday isn't even over.
  • kate
    i didn't like the movie at all but i liked the book.
  • CMW
    Are we talking about a record in terms of money, or how many times you can use the word "haul" in an article?
  • Mladen
    I haven't seen it yet... I'm a bit torn. I'm re-reading the book now and enjoying it all over again, (especially the rorschach issue where gibbons/moore managed to get the panel arrangements, motifs and story to be a perfect mirror of itself from the half-way point... absolutely amazing), but nothing I've seen of the trailers/clips has me particularly excited about seeing the film...

    I think I'm mostly put off by the ultra-slick production design, at least what i've seen of it in trailers. That and Ozymandias' outfit is reminding me WAY too much of Robin's outfit in Batman & Robin... And as somebody else stated, the reviews swing wildly between loving and loathing.

    I need help from you guys deciding whether its worth seeing or not (and why)? I don't normally care that much for choreographed fights or special effects, so is the film just one long progression of slooooooow-motion-FASTMOTION-sloooooow-motion shots like 300? Or are they just picking those bits for the trailer? What can i expect, and what film/s is it similar to?

    Thanks.
  • Mladen,
    I would go see the film but walk in with the understanding that this was a near impossible graphic novel to adapt. There are a few scenes that have Snyder's style written all over them, including one pointless sex scene, but Snyder does his best to honor the work of Alan Moore, sometimes to the point that he doesn't allow the story to breathe on its own.

    The slow/fast/slow-motion scenes take place a lot less often than the trailers set you up for. There aren't many fight scenes, which I think many viewers were disappointed with since they expected to see a traditional comic film.

    I enjoyed the film on many levels. I loved the acting of Billy Crudup and Jackie Earle Haley. Both actors were superb. Was the film perfect? Not a chance. The narrative is choppy to a degree that I would compare it to building a brick house without the mortar in between each layer (Largely due to the removal of Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood portions.) I am still very grateful that the film was made. I don't think I ever expected it to happen, so temper your expectations and go check it out. If you hate it, it will only serve to increase your affection for the graphic novel.
  • Many people did expect some thing like an original superhero flick. I thought the movie had the same dark tone as the graphic novel/comicbooks. For my stand point TDK made billions of dollars is the 'Heath Ledger' death hype and his good performance lived up to the expectation of the movie. You cannot compare that hype to the 'Watchmen' I loved the movie. Zack Snyder's signature in that movie the slow motion capture and gory scenes (and was really looking forward to the whole 'rape scene' with Sally and Eddie). And I personally can't belive that the sex scene between Malin and Patrick would be as somewhat arousing. Note that if you notice both actors likes to be naked on screen (Malin seen naked in Heartbreak Kid and Wilson on a graphic sex w/ Kate Winslet in Little Children and I do somewaht envy Patrick for an amazing body even though he gains a few pounds of weight). But in my predictions I will think it will surpass 300 but it will take a bit of time to get there.
  • David G
    I liked the movie for the most part. It is true that the soundtrack threw off some scenes in the movie. I guess Im not a big Dylan fan or just they were misplaced throughout. A strongly agree that the sex scene was pointless to the movie. Then there was the ending. Too happy of an ending for this type of movie, really. Dont get me wrong, I didnt like the original ending of the novel, but it could have taken more balls to give us a harder and darker ending, to fit this film. Otherwise I liked it for the most part.
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