BOX OFFICE: Bourne-ified Success

Matt Damon's third and last outing as Jason Bourne was his biggest yet as the The Bourne Ultimatum took home $70.2 million. Universal's spy series which is seen as a 'smarter' version of James Bond has been steadily growing after each film with the latest earning $20 million more in it's opening weekend than The Bourne Supremacy. However, it must be noted that this was the costliest Bourne movie to date, as it was made on a budget of $100 million, some $25 million more than the last movie so if it's to be more successful than Supremacy it needs to end up earning over $300 million worldwide. At two, The Simpsons Movie dropped a huge 60% to earn another $25.6 million to it's total that now stands at $128.5 million. I think we all expected a big drop after such a big opening which enticed everyone who was ever mildly interested in the show to go and see it. As far as the other new releases go, Disney's talking dog-superhero movie Underdog took home a quiet $12 million to open at third which in truth was a little more than I expected given it's marketing. The awful looking Hot Rod and the 'we all knew it would flop' Bratz: The Movie can be considered failures opening at 9 and 10 respectively. The latter movie is currently voted as the 12th worst movie of all time on IMDB. Transformers is edging ever closer to a $300 million domestic total that I honestly never thought it would ever reach and Evan Almighty has now earned $97.3 million domestic ($110 million worldwide) as it looks to leave the theatres for good. Remember that movie was made for $175-$200 million and it now needs some big over-sea's business for some damage limitation. 1 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) $70.2M $70.2M 2 The Simpsons Movie (2007) $25.6M $129M 3 Underdog (2007) $12M $12M 4 I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) $10.5M $91.7M 5 Hairspray (2007) $9.32M $79M 6 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) $9.29M $261M 7 No Reservations (2007) $6.57M $24.2M 8 Transformers (2007) $5.95M $296M 9 Hot Rod (2007) $5.01M $5.01M 10 Bratz (2007) $4.31M $4.31M OPENING NEXT WEEK: Rush Hour 3, Stardust, Skinwalkers, Rocket Science, Daddy Day Camp (8th August opening), Descent (limited), Inside Paris (limited), source - box office mojo, imdb