Weekend Estimates: Will Smith Still King of July 4th Weekend

July 6, 2008

It's six years since Men in Black 2, and twelve since Independence Day, but Will Smith has again shown that he has what it takes to fill movie theaters over the July 4th weekend. The $66 million Friday-Sunday opening for Hancock tops all of Smith's previous holiday openings, and stands as his second-best opening weekend ever, behind December's I am Legend. It's also the third-highest weekend for the July 4th holiday. Spider-Man 2 remains top of that list with $88 million back in 2004, while last year's Transformers debut will most likely retain second place with $70.5 million.

Overall, the weekend is looking as though it will be almost exactly on par with last year. While Hancock is a little behind the pace of Transformers, WALL-E is outpacing Ratatouille, although the Pixar movie had a slightly disappointing 47% drop in its second weekend in release. The weekend's other wide opener, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl was soft, with $3.6 million in 1,843 theaters. Despite great reviews, it looks as though Kittredge had little cross-over appeal when faced with strong family-friendly alternatives.

- Weekend Estimates

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Hancock, WALL-E, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl