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By Adnan Tezer May 25, 2009, 23:18 GMT

'Museum' takes out 'Terminator' at box office

Twentieth Century Fox’s sequel “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” went past Warner Bros.’ “Terminator: Salvation” to gross $70 million in its domestic debut.

“Smithsonian” profited from its all-inclusive PG rating as well as from being the first family comedy of the summer. “Smithsonian” scored the top Memorial Day opening ever for a PG-rated film.

“Terminator” grossed $53.8 million from Friday to Monday in a lower-than-expected opening for the film. This film marked the first in the highly popular series that did not star Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film opened Thursday to $13.4 million, putting its five-day total at $67.2 million. Directed by McG and starring Christian Bale, “Terminator” played heavily male.

According to Variety, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said “Salvation’s” debut was a victory considering that it practically matched the $68 million, five-day opening of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” six years ago.

“Star Trek” placed a strong No. 3 for the weekend, declining only 49% to an estimated $29.4 million for a total of $191 million in its third weekend.

The other summer event film, Columbia’s “Angels and Demons,” continued to see more action overseas in its second weekend. Domestically, the film slipped a steep 54% to an estimated $27.7 million for a two-week total of $87.8 million.

Internationally, “Angels” won the weekend, grossing $60.4 million for a foreign total of $198.3 million and worldwide tally of $286 million. Sony expects the film to jump the $300 million mark Wednesday.

“Smithsonian” placed No. 2 in its foreign debut opening to $50.1 million. The first film in the Ben Stiller franchise, “Night at the Museum”, grossed more overseas ($323.6 million) than domestically ($250.9 million.)

“Smithsonian” benefited from being accessible to a broad audience, as evidenced by the fact that families made up only 48% of the audience. Fifty percent of the non-family group skewed under the age 25.

The third film to open over the holiday was Paramount’s “Dance Flick.” The film grossed an estimated $13.1 million for the four-day holiday weekend.

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shaw78May 26th, 2009 - 01:16:58

2 things that need to be taken into consideration. 1: I don't believe that this tally above includes Salvation Thursdays opening/midnight #'s its midnight alone was 13.4 million. And 2: Museum was released in 500+ more theaters than Salvation. I mean if you sent a movie out into more theaters against a movie that wasn't and had most of its fan base go and see it on a night that's not even counted in the net takings than of course Museum did better. But no one's really putting those little facts out there are they. Wonder why? I liked Salvation, I'll see again and I'll rent Museum if I find myself really bored night.

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'Museum' takes out 'Terminator' at box office

And Also

Amy Adams - View Amy Adams Pictures - Amy Adams News

Ben Stiller - View Ben Stiller Pictures - Ben Stiller News

Christian Bale - View Christian Bale Pictures - Christian Bale News

Owen Wilson - View Owen Wilson Pictures - Owen Wilson News

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