I really love movies, and it’s amazing how much money is put into making films, but the profit that can be returned from them is even more insane. The opening weekend for a film is make or break; how well the movie is doing along with how much money it makes sets an immediate tone for future viewers and can drive the motion picture’s profit up or down. Some movies get marketed well enough to draw a crowd but usually still end up flopping while others are very anticipated and actually live up to the hype, bringing in big bucks.
Here are the five biggest opening weekend box office totals.
5. The Dark Knight – $158.4 Million
It’s not really a surprise to see superhero movies on this list because they are so generally popular, but The Dark Knight is a great one to start off with. The sequel to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was easily one of the most anticipated films of all time; Batman Begins was amazing and really nailed the character but the follow up film was bringing back Batman’s arch enemy, the joker, which gained more attention with the casting of Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight fulfilled all of the hype surrounding it and was once again, pretty much perfect.
4. The Dark Knight Rises – $160.8 Million
Immediately after The Dark Knight, people wanted nothing but more Christopher Nolan Batman, so it’s no shock to see The Dark Knight Rises surpassing its predecessor. As I mentioned, people were craving Batman more than ever before, especially knowing that this would be the final film in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. More big names were added to the cast with Anne Hathaway playing Catwoman while Tom Hardy got huge to nail the role of villain Bane.
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – $169.1 Million
Just like The Dark Knight Rises, the last movie in the Harry Potter series brought out the biggest crowd on its opening weekend. This series was massively popular for its books and pulled in even more fans through the movies, so plenty of people were making the trip to watch the hugely built up finale, especially because it was split between two movies, creating more suspense.
2. Iron Man 3 – 174.1 Million
People just love their sequels… Iron Man is what sold everyone on Marvel and established one of the best film studios ever. Robert Downey Jr. stole the show as Tony Stark (which completely revived his career) and has been the centerpiece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since. Iron Man 3 wasn’t as good as the first one, but obviously had the most people jump on by the time this released.
1. Marvel’s The Avengers – $207.4 Million
Marvel’s set up and execution of creating superhero movies has been perfect so far, and The Avengers proved that. In what was the first live action cinematic modern team up of superheros in a group, The Avengers did something so simplistic that had never been done before and made a huge amount off of it. I think all of their movies have been successful with huge opening weekends.
Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Bombay Sapphire
