As the fifth comic book or superhero-based movie of the summer, Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal) was coming into the weekend with questions whether it might beat Will Smith’s own superhero movie Hancock (Sony). Another strong marketing campaign from Universal paid off as the second movie based on Mike Mignola’s comic character topped the box office with an opening weekend of just under $36 million, a 55% increase above the opening of the original Hellboy in April 2004, as well as surpassing the opening of del Toro’s previous dark comic book sequel Blade II two years prior. The movie averaged $11,200 in 3,204 theaters, and it will be vying to make $100 million over the summer despite heavy competition in the next few weeks.
Hancock (Sony) held up well after its 4th of July opening, grossing $33 million in its second weekend for a strong second place. It dropped just 47% from last weekend, bringing its total gross to $165 million and making it the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year after just 13 days.
You can read the rest of ComingSoon.net’s Box Office Report here.
Source: Box Office Mojo, Edward Douglas
