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The Incredible Hulk Makes $8 Million LESS Opening Weekend Than Ang Lee’s Hulk
In the days leading up to the release of the new Incredible Hulk film, some people started speculating that it was possible for the new Hulk to break the $100 million opening weekend mark and perhaps beat Iron Man’s opening. This speculation alone was a victory for Universal and Marvel since just a few months ago most people seemed to believe that The Incredible Hulk wouldn’t even pass the $100 million mark in TOTAL let alone the opening weekend.
Still, as much as I’ve been saying for months that this Hulk movie would surprise a lot of people (and clearly it has), I never bought into the new hype that thought it could break $100 million opening weekend. Last Wednesday on the Live Uncut show a listener asked for a prediction, and I said in the $70’s somewhere… and I was still over.
Turns out The Incredible Hulk took the #1 spot at the Box Office by a mile coming in at $54 million. Not bad… but not as good as I thought it would do… still, not bad all things considered.
Little piece of perspective here though. The much maligned Ang Lee’s Hulk movie back in 2003 (which I’m in the vast minority for liking), made $62 million opening weekend. That’s right… This new Hulk film made $8 million LESS than the old one.
Keep in mind though that this Hulk film had a couple of VERY large hurdles to get over that the original Hulk film in 2003 didn’t. Namely… the hatred towards the 2003 film. This film had to battle pre-existing pessimism due to the last Hulk incarnation and some lingering confusion with people who thought this was a sequel to the last one. Both of which are none of this movie’s fault, but it had to deal with it anyway.
So at the end of the day, should Marvel be happy with $54 million opening weekend? I’d say yes all things considered. Also, unlike the last Hulk film this movie is getting some very good word of mouth which will only help it in the coming weeks.
They should be thanking GOD. I thought it wouldn’t even clear $50 million. What I’m interested in now is the 2nd weekend drop. How much will it fall off?
They should be happy they got as much and even the #1 spot even though it didn’t bring in the 100mil they wanted it to it will still get word of mouth from everyone that went and seen it and should hopefully keep racking in the $ for the weeks to come. Most likely won’t be #1 next week with Get Smart & The Guru but in a way I hope it does since it’s really a good flick.
Not bad at all considering the bad rep the last flick got. The movie will pick up due to good word. I saw it twice now and I could see it a 3rd time.
Well Batman begins opened to 48 million and ended at 205 million, word of mouth made it grow and i bet the same will happen with IH.
Im not suprised, look at Batman Begins and what it had to follow… Also the 2003 Hulks traliers made the movie look good. No one knew how bad it was gonna be till you seen the film. As far as I know this movie is getting mixed reviews all over. So its not all about what this Hulk had to follow before it, there is more to look at for the lower than expected box office. However, I think at this point Marvel should be happy for a good opening weeking with later expecting to break even at least.
you also have to consider the last hulk had no competition, this one when up agaisnt the happening and kung fu panda.
Ang Lees HULK also had a 60 something percent drop in week 2, I think this version will have much better legs.
I wouldnt be suprised if The Incredible Hulk two week totals beat out Ang Lees Hulk.
Hey Kevin,
You said:
”
Ang Lees HULK also had a 60 something percent drop in week 2, I think this version will have much better legs. I wouldnt be suprised if The Incredible Hulk two week totals beat out Ang Lees Hulk.
“
Don’t count on it man. 2 very high profile studio comedies are opening next week… I don’t see Hulk making $30 million next weekend at all. Hope I’m wrong about that.
Check that, it dropped almost 70% in week 2. So if this one drops a typical 40% and makes about 21 million next week it will beat out HULK by 5 million for two week totals.
Yeah I read that it made less than Ang Lee but you have to expect that from a film thats coming out about 6 years after the other one. To be honest thats a pretty decent figure.
Ang Lee’s flick probably took that much more because we hadn’t seen a Hulk flick and it was highly anticipated, also all the work being done on it initially looked amazing. I mean hindsight is always 20/20.
I dont know John, I think the people that may have stayed away opening week and hear some positive buzz may check it out. I agree $30 mil would be a big suprise, but 20-25 is doable methinks.
did hulk have a worldwide opening? or is that just US figures?
Hey John
Unless we specifically say “WORLDWIDE”, we mean North American.
I hope Hulk shows some strong legs. By all means not the strongest opening but considering the last version was pretty unpopular (though I liked it), that’s not bad. Maybe word of mouth on it should be pretty strong, and it has no action competition until Hancock.
Colour me shocked and eating my words. I thought the film would be lucky to hit $40 million this weekend. It shows how many people love the Hulk.
2003 Hulk made $62.1 million. At today’s ticket price, thats $73 million.
I have to say,this news really isn’t surprising to me.Although I enjoyed seeing IH,I also realized that this movie would have some serious hurdles to jump do to the dredfulness of the first HULK,having said that,I think IH did an exelent job of overcoming the opposition it faced.It did essencially reclaim and revive the hulk franchise.And because this film retook so much ground,it cleared the way for a great opening for a sequel.I have no doubt that the next film could double its opening weekend mark set this year,and break 100mil.
This version was way better than Ang’s. I hope the DVD of this movie to be awesome.
I think overall the movie will do well. I’m planning to see the movie on Tuesday with many friends. I don’t believe first week-end box office has to manner or should be used to claim the success or failuire of a movie.
i didnt think the happening would do anywhere near 30 mil.
I think the opening weekend numbers tell you A. How good the marketing was and B. How amped up the built in fanbase was for the movie. In this case both were good, not great.
The second weeks numbers, mainly the percentage drop off tells you if people are going back to see it again and if there is good word of mouth.
If you look at HULK 2003 opened big because people were amped to see it and it was marketed well. However, the dropoff was 70% from the opening week to the second. That is HUGE and tells you there was no repeat viewing and bad word of mouth.
If The Incredible Hulk can come in this week and make 20-25 million that would be about a 40% drop. Based on the understanding that this is a good movie (in my opinion it comes in a little under Iron Man) and that alot of average movie goers who were burned by Ang Lees Hulk may have stayed away initially, I can see this movie grinding out good box office numbers (40% drops from week to week) for 3-4 weeks and doing very well overall.
Did anyone seriously think this was going to break 100 million though? The studio said it was tracking better then Iron Man but of course they are going to say that. I didn’t believe it for a minute and it didn’t even do half of Iron Mans numbers even so $54 million is a pretty good start considering there are a lot of people who have no idea that this is a complete reboot. Most people I know have said something along the lines of “why would they make a sequel to that piece of shit:
It is such a shame the way the box office works now. Films are declared hits or bombs after the first three days. If that first weekend doesn;t hit your a bomb. it sucks really. I remember when King Kong came out and Drudge Report had a headline “King Bomb” after the midnight screenings!! It had not even been out one full day. It had had midnight advance screenings and he was trying to declare it a bomb already. After it had been out 3 hours. It is insane.
It is very rare now that a film builds because once it has the stigma of having had a “bad” opening weekend people think its a failure or that it must be bad as it didn’t do very in its first 72 hours of release. Thats all a film has these days – 72 hours.
It’s mental.
Incredible Hulk Worldwide:
$85,533,439.
According to boxofficemojo.com.
I saw it twice this weekend and it is WAY better than Ang’s version (though that one did have a few shining moments).
Was it IRON MAN good? No, but it was still pretty good.
I would like a sequel, no question. After all, this is the movie that should have been made first.
Speaking of The Hulk, how does cover art like this make it through production. Click on my name to check it out. Very scary.
Also, I can’t believe “The Happening” made $30 million. That movie was absolute shit. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I really wanted it to do well. I like “Signs” and “The Sixth Sense,” but man, talk about blatant message movie. Beware the poisonous pissed trees! Egad!
Yes, it made less than the Ang Lee Hulk film on opening weekend.
Yes, the 2003 film was longer than the new film.
Yes, there wasn’t a lot of competition at the time for Hulk 2003.
But there was that whopping drop and mixed reaction to the film.
Here’s why I think Incredible Hulk made less:
1) A good number of people thought this was a sequel to the previous film. To us movie nuts and comic book commandos, we know it is not. But to an average person, it’s like that ‘Batman Begins’ situation where some people – including some people that work at video and theatre chains – think it isn’t a reboot or remake but a sequel. It doesn’t help when the early part of the new film has Bruce Banner in South America on the run- where he was at the end of the 2003 film.
2) There wasn’t a ton of promotion for Incredible Hulk until Iron Man opened. In addition, Ed Noroton didn’t do a lot of press and the promotion Hulk did get was the “nasty’ rumors and half-truths about the conflict behind the scenes with Norton, the producers, the director, Marvel, the studio, blah blah. Yet, that’s front and center: and folks could (fairly) conclude that it’s a sign of trouble. This sort of thing has happened before, and the negative publicity can cause some people to stay away.
3) We have seen the Hulk. Up until last May, we haven’t seen Iron Man. New/Fresh character=more interest. Returning/character been done already and done not so well=less interest.
4) There won’t be a huge drop like there was for the Ang Lee film. Besides, the biggest drop this summer award is held by Sex and The City.
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Hey, out of curiosity, since Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Stark for a cameo, is this the *first* time an actor has played the same character in two movies that were in the box office top ten at the same time? (Iron Man holds at #7)
plus, it was father’s day weekend and most people just take their dad to lunch or dinner.. maybe a bar b q. I think they should have marketed this as the movie to take your dad to see- a man’s movie
Some of this may have to do with the economic down turn. Quite a few folks don’t have as much money to spend these days as they did a few years ago.
the movie was OFF THE HOOK, i loved it. but- i blame the timing. horrible.
TDK comes out next week, the happening is on this week and we have a bunch of good movies do up for next friday.
fucking amazing movie- but horrible timing…
HAOLE
please enlighten me on how much more the hulk needs to do to be “a man’s movie”
that movie had everything
The Dark Knight doesnt come out for another month. The Incredible Hulk has a good 4-5 weeks to make a run. It will be interesting to see if it can break $200 mil. I think it will and more importantly I think it should, but it will be close.
This movie is going to kill in dvd rentals!!!!
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There is no way the hulk will make over 200 Million. Worldwide perhaps but domestically no chance.
oh and I don;t know if many films can be more manly than the hulk.
I still say that Lee’s version is a better movie.
Box office for Hulk dropped from friday to saturday. Such trend usually makes for poor staying power.
GREAT NEWS, i hope it wont make anymore money so others arnt made
After watching The Hulk in the theatres and suprisingly enjoying it, I thought I’d rewatch the first Hulk and compare it…. The first Hulk is HORRIBLE!!!! It’s like a really, really bad, cheesy 70’s movie!!! They actually tried to make it look like a comic book! I forgot they actually added frames like in a comic book to that film. That is one of the worst attempts at melding CGI and real life I have ever seen in my entire life!!!
And even though I liked the new Hulk movie, they could have improved the CGI soooo much more! My thing is this… if they can’t get a handle on making the lines between CGI and real life disappear, then they should either make the entire movie CGI, or revisit using a real big guy like they did with Lou Ferrigno back in the days! There are guys that are a lot bigger than him nowadays, so it wouldn’t be that hard to find them.
this new Incredible Hulk is a lot more fun than the first one with Eric Bana; as usual Ed Norton has gravitated to a “split personality” role…