Ticket sales for Warner Bros.’ “The Dark Knight Rises” came in below projections made before a shooting at a premiere of the movie killed 12 people in Aurora, Colo., according to an analyst.
The movie earned in the range of $155 million to $165 million, estimates Jeff Bock, an analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co. Before the violence at the Cinemark Holdings theater, it was expected to generate $170 million to $198 million in its first three days, the estimates of researchers Fizziology and Boxoffice.com.
That would still place the film among the top five weekend openings ever, according to Box Office Mojo, an online publication tracking ticket sales. The first in the series, “The Dark Knight,” with $158.4 million in opening weekend sales, is ranked third after “Marvel’s The Avengers” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the site says.
Here is this weekend’s Box Office list:
U.S. and Canada Box Office Weekend of Jul. 13, 2012 -Jul. 15, 2012
| This Wk | Last Wk | Title | Distributor | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Wks Out | # of Theaters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice Age: Continental Drift | 20th Century Fox Distribution | $46,629,300 | $46,629,300 | 1 | 3881 | |
| 2 | 1 | The Amazing Spider-Man | Sony Pictures Releasing | $34,628,100 | $200,500,000 | 2 | 4318 |
| 3 | 2 | Ted | Universal Pictures | $22,410,900 | $159,257,000 | 3 | 3303 |
| 4 | 3 | Brave | Walt Disney Studios Distribution & Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | $11,160,500 | $196,061,000 | 4 | 3392 |
| 5 | 4 | Savages | Universal Pictures | $9,393,840 | $32,125,300 | 2 | 2635 |
| 6 | 5 | Magic Mike | Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution | $9,021,120 | $91,841,200 | 3 | 3090 |
| 7 | 6 | Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection | Lionsgate | $5,584,030 | $55,611,700 | 3 | 2004 |
| 8 | 8 | Katy Perry: Part of Me | Paramount Insurge | $3,800,610 | $18,653,500 | 2 | 2732 |
| 9 | 9 | Moonrise Kingdom | Focus Features | $3,704,510 | $32,483,000 | 8 | 924 |
| 10 | 7 | Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted | DreamWorks Studios & Paramount Pictures | $3,669,680 | $203,901,000 | 6 | 2285 |
| 11 | 10 | To Rome With Love | Sony Pictures Classics | $2,469,240 | $8,587,860 | 4 | 744 |
| 12 | 12 | Marvel’s The Avengers | Walt Disney Studios Distribution & Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | $1,398,750 | $613,660,000 | 11 | 747 |
| 13 | 15 | Snow White and the Huntsman | Universal Pictures | $1,022,270 | $151,631,000 | 7 | 677 |
| 14 | 14 | Prometheus | 20th Century Fox Distribution | $978,655 | $124,307,000 | 6 | 559 |
| 15 | 16 | Men in Black 3 | Sony Pictures Releasing | $875,835 | $174,788,000 | 8 | 497 |
| 16 | 11 | People Like Us | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | $793,313 | $11,194,500 | 3 | 961 |
| 17 | 21 | Beasts of the Southern Wild | Fox Searchlight Pictures | $790,535 | $1,692,680 | 3 | 81 |
| 18 | 13 | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | 20th Century Fox Distribution | $767,753 | $35,915,800 | 4 | 655 |
| 19 | 17 | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Fox Searchlight Pictures | $651,051 | $43,040,800 | 11 | 342 |
| 20 | Cocktail | Illuminati Films Pvt Ltd | $647,956 | $647,956 | 1 | 96 | |
| 21 | 25 | Intouchables | The Weinstein Company | $356,333 | $3,581,490 | 8 | 83 |
| 22 | 26 | Safety Not Guaranteed | FilmDistrict | $339,234 | $2,621,820 | 6 | 182 |
| 23 | 19 | That’s My Boy | Sony Pictures Releasing | $309,444 | $36,723,500 | 5 | 172 |
| 24 | 22 | The Hunger Games | Lionsgate | $279,755 | $404,865,000 | 17 | 212 |
“Out of respect for the victims and their families, Warner Bros. Pictures will not be reporting box office numbers for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ throughout the weekend,” Warner Bros. said in a statement on July 20. “Box office numbers will be released on Monday.”Warner Bros., owned by Time Warner, and other Hollywood studios aren’t reporting official sales figures, with some issuing statements citing sensitivity to the victims. Studios typically report figures for weekend sales every Sunday. Warner, based in Burbank, Calif., also has curbed promotion of the movie, one of the year’s most anticipated.
Warner Bros. canceled its Paris premiere and some network TV spots were pulled, people familiar with the situation said. The studio also scrapped plans for events in Tokyo and Mexico City, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box-Office, estimated the total from July 20 at as much as $80 million. Both said projections are difficult because of the unprecedented circumstances.
