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Watch Watchmen Worldwide Box Office

Transcript:

After last week’s predictions of a $70 million weekend, I’m a little disappointed with Watchmen’s opening numbers.

In the US, Taken came in at the third place with 7.5 million. Madea Goes to Jail did another 8.8 million. And Watchmen made the first place with 55.6 million. That’s not the 70 million most expected last week. And it isn’t the 60 million plus everybody expected at the beginning of the weekend. It looks like Watchmen is suffering from the mixed reviews.

Zack Snyder’s previous hit, 300, did 71 million in its first weekend and it only cost 65 million. While Watchmen’s budget is rumored to be as high as 150 million.

Overseas, it wasn’t the 40 million I talked about earlier this weekend either. At the third place Marley and Me opened with 8.2 million. Gran Torino did 12 million. And at the first place, Watchmen with 27.5 million.

So that’s a worldwide total of 83 million. Not bad, but not a great performance when you have no competition. Worldwide, both Gran Torino and Marley and Me are closing in on 200 million. Especially an impressive number for the rather low profile Gran Torino.

Watch Box Office: first Watchmen numbers

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Warner Bros owns it, Paramount does the overseas distribution and Fox gets a percentage after a legal battle. Needless to say, Hollywood wants Watchmen to do well this weekend. And it is. Friday’s box office numbers indicate a strong opening for this year’s first blockbuster.

Watchmen was able to pull in $25 million at the box office this Friday. That’s not just a good opening for any picture, it’s a great opening for an R-rated picture. This means Watchmen will end the weekend with around $60 million.

Now this doesn’t mean it’s a major hit yet. The movie might be front-loaded, with fanboys filling the theaters the first weekend. And the movie practically doesn’t have any competition.

But with its tremendous marketing push and no big releases the coming weeks, there’s no question this movie will recoup its losses in no time. With a possible $40 million overseas, the movie might stand at a worldwide total of $100 million on Monday. But I’ll have more on that when the final numbers are in.

Watch the Box Office Preview: Watchmen

Transcript:

The coming weekend is Watchmen weekend. Can Zack Snyder satisfy the people who never heard of the Watchmen comic before? Can Zack Snyder even satisfy the Watchmen faithful?

The reviews have been mixed so far. The New York Post gave it 4 out of 4 stars and compared it to Kubrick’s ‘2001’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange.’ Entertainment Weekly was less positive and said it’s too faithful to the comic book. And The Hollywood Reporter calls it the first real flop of 2009.

Still, Movietickets.com reports pre-sales are much higher than they were for ‘300,’ Zack Snyder’s previous hit. ‘300’ opened with over 70 million. And tracking numbers indicate the same for Watchmen. So there’s no question it’ll do at least 50 million this weekend, but if it’s influenced by some of the reviews, it might not be too far above that boundary. I’ll try to squeeze in a Watchmen review later today and I’ll have the first box office estimates on Saturday.

At was a long time coming actually, but The Dark Knight made it. One B-I-L-L-I-O-N! Up next later, this weekend’s box office news. But first, watch ‘The Dark Billion‘