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Prince Caspian takes Iron Man’s box office throne

By M&C Movie News May 19, 2008, 11:48 GMT

Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” took in an estimated $56 million from 3,929 theaters and took the No. 1 spot from Paramount’s “Iron Man” – sending the superhero to the No. 2 spot with an estimated $31.2 million from 4,154.

Variety reports the Prince Caspian opening was a strong, but not extremely great start for the fantasy film which saw director Andrew Adamson reteam with many of the cast from the first Narnia movie. The film was not able to match the $65.5 million domestic opening of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” in early December 2005. It made an estimated $20.7 million overseas where it premiered in its first 12 territories. The overseas debut did best the opening performance of the first Narnia film.The two Narnia films are said to be very different with the first being the best known book in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, and this film being more action oriented with a somewhat darker look.In Variety, Disney prexy of domestic distribution Chuck Viane stated: “This is a marathon for us, not a sprint. This is about play time. The true advantage is that we are going to have better play time, with the Memorial Day and kids beginning to get out of school for the summer, even with ‘Indiana Jones.’ We’ll have strong weekday numbers.”“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” took in $291.7 million domestically and $453 million internationally. Disney is holding onto much of “Prince Caspian’s” international rollout until later this month and in June. The studio also wouldn’t confirm the film’s production budget, but it is expected to be well above $100 million.“Iron Man” became the first film of 2008 to break the $200 million mark at the domestic box office and only declined 39% in its third week. The film has made an estimated $222.5 million since its release.Warner Bros.’ “Speed Racer” continues to struggle in its second week with only an estimated $7.6 million from 3,606 runs. The film dropped 59% and has only brought in $29.8 million in its first 10 days, according to Rentrak.In Variety, Warner exec VP of distribution Jeff Goldstein stated the studio was encouraged by the fact “Speed Racer” (which was directed by the Wachowski Brothers and produced by Joel Silver) had jumped 72% percent from Friday to Saturday.The film was the highest uptick of any film in the top 10 box office chart, and Goldstein said it indicated the movie does have potential.The Cameron Diaz-Ashton Kutcher comedy “What Happens in Vegas” from Twentieth Century Fox has proven to be a strong performer and captured the No. 3 spot with an estimated $13.8 million from 3,255. It dropped 31% in its second week and has made an estimated $40.3 million since its opening.Overture’s “The Visitor” managed to reach the top 10 list for the first time with an estimated $687,000 from 224 runs. The film has made an estimated $3.4 million in its six weeks. The movie is also the first specialty film of the spring and summer to make it to the upper levels of the weekend box office chart.

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