Weekend Box Office (Finally!): July 29 - 31

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Cowboys & Aliens - $36.4 million

2.  The Smurfs - $35.6 million

3.  Captain America: The First Avenger - $25.5 million

4.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 - $21.9 million

5.  Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $19.1 million

6.  Friends With Benefits - $9.2 million

7.  Horrible Bosses - $7.1 million

8.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $6 million

9.  Zookeeper - $4.3 million

10.  Cars 2 - $2.3 million

It's been too close to call all weekend, but as of today's actual weekend box office tally, we finally have a winner.  Cowboys & Aliens finished the weekend in first place, earning $36.4 million.  It's not exactly a winner, though, since it finished the weekend well below expectations, which were originally estimated to be between $45-$50 million, an estimate that steadily fell through the weekend as it became obvious that the crowds just weren't showing for this one.  The opening was on par with last month's Super 8, which opened with $35.5 million - but that movie cost a lot less to make.  So the future isn't looking too bright for Cowboys & Aliens, which is too bad.  I thought it was actually pretty good.

If that wasn't bad enough, Cowboys & Aliens also nearly suffered the indignation of being beaten out by The Smurfs, which was a big hit with the family crowd this weekend, earning $35.6 million.  It's not quite Alvin & The Chipmunks territory (that opened with $44 million in 2007), but still pretty popular.  Only 45% of those tickets sales for The Smurfs were for 3D showings, so once again, the 3D craze continues to fade. 

Captain America: The First Avenger suffered an ugly 61% drop in its second weekend with $25.5 million, but it did cross the $100 million mark to bring its domestic total to $117 million.  By comparison, May's Thor had earned $119 million at the same point, but that movie had no competition in its second weekend.  Overseas, Captain America has earned an additional $53 milllion. 

As reported earlier, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office this weekend, earning $21.9 million to bring its domestic total up to $318 million.  That puts it just past 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to become the highest-grossing Harry Potter film in the series.  Overseas, the final Potter film has grossed $690 million.

This weekend's other new release, Crazy, Stupid, Love. opened with a decent but unspectacular $19.1 million.  This being the summer of the R-rated comedy, Horrible Bosses had another good weekend, dropping only 39% to earn another $7 million.  It should pass the $100 million mark at some point this week.

Summer movie season continues to wind down next weekend as Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Change-Up opens in theaters.