Weekend Box Office: July 27 - 29

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Dark Knight Rises - $64 million

2.  Ice Age 4: Continental Drift - $13.3 million

3.  The Watch - $13 million

4.  Step Up Revolution - $11.8 million

5.  Ted - $7.3 million

6.  The Amazing Spider-Man - $6.8 million

7.  Brave - $4.2 million

8.  Magic Mike - $2.5 million

9.  Savages - $1.7 million

10.  Moonrise Kingdom - $1.3 million

We're back with the box office report.  After the events of last weekend, and studios deciding to withhold the weekend's box office totals, it seemed wildly inappropriate at the time to report on whether or not anything was breaking records and making gazillions.  But we have some updated totals to report to catch everyone up to now.

The Dark Knight Rises easily held the first-place spot in its second weekend, earning an estimated $64 million to bring its domestic total to $289 million.  Friday's numbers looked a little light ($17.9 million) due to having to compete with the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, but it picked up nicely over the rest of the weekend, earning $25 million on Saturday and $21 million on Sunday.  Overseas, the film has earned $248 million, bringing it up to a worldwide total of $537 million.

Now, has the shooting in Aurora affected the box office?  Yes, it has.  By how much?  Who cares.  In the grand scheme of things, it truly doesn't matter.  But despite that awfulness, The Dark Knight Rises is still doing very, very well.  So that's a good thing. 

However, the lackluster performances of this weekend's new releases The Watch ($13 million) and Step Up Revolution ($11.8 million) can really be attributed to both movies having the same problem:  they looked awful and nobody wanted to see them anyway.  Neither film was able to beat the latest Ice Age film, which earned $13.3 million in its third weekend in theaters.  That could switch places with The Watch once the actuals come in tomorrow, but seriously...that's not going to make The Watch look any better.

Belive it or not, as it's currently standing at $193 million domestically, we are just a few days away from Ted being a $200 million-grossing movie.  Really.

Next weekend sees the releases of the endlessly over-promoted remake of Total Recall, as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3.  So...The Dark Knight Rises has a decent shot at first place again.  And that's still a good thing.