Caped Crusader soars but can’t save box office

The Batman franchise lives -- but not enough to reverse the worst box office slump in 20 years.

With an estimated $46.9 million Friday through Sunday and $71.1 million in the five days since it opened Wednesday, “Batman Begins” got off to a good start in the U.S., with an additional $41.7 million reaped overseas, Warner Bros. distribution executives reported. All films combined brought in about $133 million this weekend, according to tracking service Nielsen EDI.

That aside, overall box office business is down for the 17th consecutive week, tying a 1985 streak that is almost certain to be eclipsed next weekend -- unless the combined forces of “Batman Begins” and newcomers “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and “Bewitched” can somehow turn the tide.

Year to date, the $3.84-billion total box office haul is roughly $271 million, or 7%, behind the $4.11 billion the domestic business had tallied by the same time last year, according to EDI. That’s a deficit that will take multiple weeks of boffo business, as the trades might describe it, to erase.

But to give the Dark Knight his due, “it’s been eight years since we’ve done a ‘Batman,’ ” said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Director “Chris Nolan has definitely brought this franchise back to life.”

On a dollar basis, the “Batman Begins” numbers were in keeping with pre-opening projections. Its performance is also better than the openings for the first and fourth in the “Batman” series -- but those movies opened in 1989 (“Batman”) and 1997 (“Batman & Robin”) in fewer theaters.

It’s closest to the opening number for the second film in the series, “Batman Returns,” which grossed $47.7 million when it opened in June 1992. The numbers for “Batman Begins” include more than $3 million taken in at 55 Imax locations averaging a healthy $56,000 per venue.

In terms of demographics, as Warner Bros. predicted, exit surveys indicated the gender gap narrowed to 57% male and 43% female from 64% male and 36% female on Wednesday, Fellman said. The film also skewed adult, with 56% of the audience surveyed 25 and older and 44% younger than 25.

Fellman said that “Batman Begins” is doing comparable business to “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” which took in $46.7 million in its first weekend and $70.6 million in its first five days in July of 2003. “Pirates” went on to gross $305.4 million domestically and an additional $348.5 million overseas, according to figures posted on Boxofficmojo.com.

In addition to the 3,858 theaters in North America, “Batman Returns” opened in 73 international markets on about 8,000 screens.

“Batman Begins” began rolling out Wednesday overseas, reported Veronika Kwan-Rubinek , WB president of international distribution, adding theaters and markets each day. For example, it opened in France on Wednesday, the U.K. on Friday and in Japan on Saturday.

The weekend’s only other film opening in general release in the domestic market, “The Perfect Man,” which stars Hillary Duff and Heather Locklear, grossed an estimated $5.5 million to open at No. 7, Universal reported.

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” held up acceptably well in its second weekend, Fox reported, taking in an estimated $27.3 million at No. 2, bringing its 10-day total to just under $98 million. It is expected to surpass $100 million Monday.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Batman Begins $46.9 $71.1

Mr. & Mrs. Smith 27.3 98.0

Madagascar 11.1 147.2

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith 9.7 347.8

The Longest Yard 8.0 131.9

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 6.6 24.0

The Perfect Man 5.5 5.5

Cinderella Man 5.2 43.6

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3.2 30.2

The Honeymooners 2.6 9.5 Source: Nielsen EDI Inc. Los Angeles Times

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