Weekend box office: The Bourne Legacy and The Campaign dethrone The Dark Knight Rises

Brad Sturdivant August 12th, 2012

Weekend box office: Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy

It looks like Universal’s decision to push back THE BOURNE LEGACY one week to avoid going head to head with TOTAL RECALL and competing with THE DARK KNIGHT RISES at the weekend box office was a good call after all. I’m also guessing the execs at Sony wished they would have pushed back TOTAL RECALL a week or two as well. But the grand experiment Universal conducted with the Bourne franchise seems to have paid off moderately well. Replacing a beloved lead actor with an unproven one, reinventing the franchise and naming it after a character that doesn’t even appear in the film are all risky decisions, but with about $40 million, I’d say they were successful. Granted, the last two Matt Damon led Bourne films took in $52.5 and $69.3 million on their opening weekends, but expectations were lower for THE BOURNE LEGACY, so we have to give it some credit.

The surprise of the weekend has to come with Will Ferrell’s THE CAMPAIGN. The film has over-performed and will end up taking the number two spot at the weekend box office, behind THE BOURNE LEGACY. I think the combination of timing and Will Ferrell helped the film out, even if it didn’t give us as many laughs as it probably should have. While we’re talking about surprises, how about HOPE SPRINGS, which features Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones trying to work on their sex life. Old people having sex is not something I want to see in theaters, but people love their Meryl Streep movies.

Speaking of old people, next week sees the release of THE EXPENDABLES 2, which should easily take the top spot at the weekend box office. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. The Bourne Legacy $41m

2. The Campaign $26.8m

3. The Dark Knight Rises $19.7m

4. Hope Springs $14m

5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days $9m

6. Total Recall $8.5m

7. Ice Age 4: Continental Drift $7.2m

8. Ted $3.5m

9. Step Up Revolution $3.4m

10. The Amazing Spider-Man $2.1m

(Deadline)