Weekend Estimates: Heavily Front-Loaded Watchmen Posts Big Opening

March 8, 2009

Watchmen opened big over the weekend, earning a mighty $55.655 million, according to Warner Bros.' Sunday estimate. Impressive as that debut is, the movie did fade quite dramatically through the weekend after posting a $25.135 million opening day on Friday. Saturday's estimate stands at $18.7 million, down 25% from the movie's opening day, although the decline is slightly artifical because Friday's total includes $4.55 million from midnight shows. Sunday's projected of $11.8 million would be down 37% from Saturday, which is fairly typical for an opening weekend. Overall, it's a debut that Warner Bros. (and Fox, who has a gross participation deal) will be happy with, but the long-term performance of the movie is very hard to judge at this point.

Elsewhere this weekend, Jonas Brothers crashed an estimated 78% from their opening weekend to finished in 9th place on the chart with an estimated $2.8 million. Madea Goes to Jail lost 46%, but still finished second with $8.8 million. Taken was once more the hero of the top 10, falling 24% in its 6th weekend in release to $7.45 million and a total cume of $118 million. Slumdog Millionaire lost a little of its Oscar lustre, falling 42% to $6.9 million and a total of $125 million.

- Weekend Estimates

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Taken, Slumdog Millionaire, Watchmen, Madea Goes To Jail, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience