Warner Bros.' Speed Racer was barely able to go from zero to 20 -- $20 million,
that is -- and could turn out to become one of the biggest box-office wrecks in history.
Most analysts low-balled their predictions at around $30-40 million, a conservative figure
in itself given industry estimates that it cost as much as $300 million to produce
and market. Warner Bros. estimated that it would actually end up with $20.2 million,
putting it in second place behind Paramount/Marvel Studio's Iron Man, which grossed
$50.5 million in its second week. That extra $200,000 may have been tacked
on in a face-saving effort to put it ahead of What Happens in Vegas, which
opened with an estimated $20 million to place third. Some box office trackers forecast
that Speed Racer might well trade places with Vegas when final figures
are released later today (Monday).
The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media
by Numbers:
1. Iron Man, $50.5 million; 2. Speed Racer, $20.2
million; 3. What Happens in Vegas, $20 million; 4. Made of Honor, $7.6
million; 5. Baby Mama, $5.8 million; 6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $3.8
million; 7. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay, $3.2 million;
8. The Forbidden Kingdom, $1.9 million; 9. Nim's Island, $1.3 million.
12/05/2008
See Also
