Weekend box office: Ted and Magic Mike make it a raunchy weekend
Brad Sturdivant
July 1st, 2012
I’m trying to think of the last time R-rated films finished in first and second place at the weekend box office, in the summer. I’m drawing a blank, but that’s exactly what TED and MAGIC MIKE managed to do this weekend. These two movies owe just about all of their success to the great marketing campaigns their respective studios put on. Women packed the theaters to see Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey play male strippers and Warner Bros. knew exactly how to sell that since they did such a great job with the SEX AND THE CITY films. TED, on the other hand, could have been easily passed over as another failed raunchy comedy, but Universal did a fantastic job of promoting the humor in the trailers and TV spots and the results obviously paid off. Tyler Perry scored another semi-hit with MADEA’S WITNESS PROTECTION and I don’t understand the appeal of his films, so I’m not even going to comment on it.
On July 4th, we have the release of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (click the link to read our review), which will probably make bank, but I have this feeling it’s not going to pull in nearly the kind of cash that the original Spider-Man films made. However, the films that did well this weekend appeal to a slightly different audience than Spidey, so maybe it will be a smash hit after all. I just can’t shake the feeling that America will realize they’ve seen it before. Then on Friday we have SAVAGES, which could be Taylor Kitsch’s third box office disaster this summer. That has to be some kind of record. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.
1. Ted $52.5m
2. Magic Mike $38m
3. Brave $35.5m
4. Madea’s Witness Protection $27m
5. Madagascar 3 $12.5m
6. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter $6.2m
7. Prometheus $5.1m
8. Moonrise Kingdom $5m
9. Snow White and the Huntsman $4.5m
10. People Like Us $4.2m
(Deadline)
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