Captain America Tops US Weekend B-O

JULY 25, 2011 - It was a dollar-spangled debut for Captain America: The First Avenger. Despite being the last to strike, the most famous superhero of Summer 2011's comic-book onslaught delivered the best opening salvo of the bunch. Meanwhile Harry Potter's last stand fell prey to the adage, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Captain America made an estimated US$65.8 million on approximately 7,100 screens at 3,715 locations, edging out fellow Avenger Thor's US$65.7 million as well as Green Lantern's US$53.2 million and X-Men: First Class's US$55.1 million to top the summer's superhero launches. While the gross difference was trivial, Captain had nine percent greater estimated attendance than Thor, which received more bolstering from 3D (and had IMAX): Captain's 3D share was 40 percent at 2,511 3D locations, compared to Thor's 60 percent at 2,737.

With a whopping US$274.2 million tally in just 10 days, Deathly Hallows Part 2 was still the fastest-grossing Potter film yet, topping Deathly Hallows Part 1's US$219.1 million 10-day run. In fact, Deathly Hallows Part 2 posted the second highest-grossing 10-day opening ever, behind The Dark Knight's US$313.8 million, and it ranked 15th in estimated attendance.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for July 22-24, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) Captain America: The First Avenger (Paramount) $65.8 million ($65.8 million) 1

2. (1) Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2 (WB) $48.1 million ($274.2 million) 2

3. (-) Friends with Benefits (Sony/Screen Gems) $18.5 million ($18.5 million) 1

4. (2) Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Paramount) $12.0 million ($325.8 million) 4

5. (3) Horrible Bosses (Warner Bros.) $11.7 million ($82.4 million) 3