'Superbad' is pretty good at boosting box office total

By Josh Friedman

Aug. 20, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The geek comedy “Superbad” was surprisingly popular in its opening weekend, racking up $31.2 million in the U.S. and Canada and putting Hollywood squarely on pace for a record summer at the box office.

Starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera, the loser-teens-on-the-make comedy is the latest R-rated mixture of raunch and heart from producer Judd Apatow, whose hits include “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”

Seth Rogen, who co-wrote “Superbad” and plays a secondary role as a goofball cop, said he was stunned by how well the Sony Pictures film had been received by audiences and critics alike.

“I always think our filthy, disgusting humor will be universally rejected,” Rogen said Sunday from Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was attending the premiere for “Knocked Up,” his other surprise hit this summer.

“It’s amazing that they not only accept it but embrace it,” said Rogen, who is also an executive producer of “Superbad.”

Industrywide box-office totals were up from the same weekend in 2006 for the sixth straight time, according to Sunday’s studio estimates.

At $3.83 billion in ticket sales, this summer is running 10% ahead of last year -- and with two weeks to go it looks certain to break the record of $3.95 billion from summer 2004.

“Superbad,” directed by Greg Mottola, had been expected to haul in about $25 million over the weekend.

The action comedy “Rush Hour 3” fell a relatively steep 56% in its second weekend but still ended up being the weekend’s No. 2 movie. The high-octane thriller “The Bourne Ultimatum” continued to hold up well and finished No. 3.

This had been billed as a summer of blockbusters, and indeed, four films topped $300 million at the domestic box office -- “Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” this summer and, most recently, “Transformers.”

But it will also end up being a season of solid breadth, as more modest hits like “Superbad” will help push total box-office receipts over the top.

“Superbad” and “Rush Hour 3” will end up joining “Knocked Up” and 13 other movies this summer with more than $100 million each at the domestic box-office, meaning at least 16 films this season will reach that level. Last summer, by comparison, 12 releases reached the $100-million mark.

“Superbad,” which cost about $20 million to produce, had generated enthusiastic reviews and loads of prerelease buzz. But with its low-profile cast most analysts had expected it to take in about $25 million in its first weekend.

“I’m McLovin’ my day,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of domestic distribution, as the results rolled in Sunday. “McLovin’ ” is the name one of the movie’s most popular characters, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, gives himself on his fake ID.

“At first we had thought this was a movie for older teenagers,” Bruer said, “but it ended up being a movie that made everybody laugh, and laugh hard.”

By the end of Hollywood’s extended summer season, which by tradition runs from early May through Labor Day, industry box-office revenue is likely to reach $4.1 billion, according to research firm Media by Numbers.

Even so, ticket price inflation is one of the big reasons the summer box office will exceed $4 billion for the first time.

Attendance is the strongest in three years but running behind the 2002-2004 period.

This summer will end up with about 600 million tickets sold, Media by Numbers projects, well shy of the record 650 million from summer 2002. That year the original “Spider-Man” and “Star Wars: Episode II” led the way.

josh.friedman@latimes.com

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

For ticket buyers, film’s super

“Superbad” opened ahead of expectations that were generally in the $25-million range.

“Rush Hour 3” dropped steeply in its second weekend. It will top $100 million but is not the blockbuster New Line Cinema was hoping for.

“The Bourne Ultimatum” is on track to be the biggest hit, by far, of the three Bourne thrillers.

The Nicole Kidman thriller “The Invasion” landed with a thud, well below even the modest predictions of most analysts.

Outside the top 10, “Becoming Jane,” starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen, went wide and took in a respectable $3 million, bringing its three-week take to $9.2 million. In narrower release, the global warming documentary “The 11th Hour” averaged $14,000 per theater in its opening at five venues, the video game documentary “The King of Kong” averaged $10,000 in its opening at five theaters and the comedy-drama “Death at a Funeral” averaged $5,000 in its debut at 260 venues.

But “The Last Legion,” a battle epic with an all-star cast, grossed only $2.6 million in wide release for Weinstein Co., which is struggling at the box office this year.

Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* -- Movie 3-day Total Weeks -- (studio) gross (millions) -- -- (millions)

1 Superbad (Sony) $31.2 $31.2 1

2 Rush Hour 3 (New Line) 21.8 88.2 2

3 The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) 19.0 163.8 3

4 The Simpsons Movie (20th Century 6.7 165.1 4 Fox)

5 The Invasion (Warner Bros.) 6.0 6.0 1

6 Stardust (Paramount) 5.2 19.1 2

7 Hairspray (New Line) 4.3 100.6 5

8 Underdog (Disney) 3.6 31.7 3

9 Harry Potter and the Order of the 3.5 278.6 6 Phoenix (Warner Bros.)

10 I Now Pronounce You Chuck and 3.5 110.4 5 Larry (Universal) *--*