Box Office Aftermath: ‘Man of Steel’ Soars to the Top and Breaks June Records

Rounding out the weekend of June 14-16, 2013, Man of Steel flew circles around This Is The End, leaving the box office battlefield victorious. Box Office Aftermath is an ongoing column dedicated to recapping the weekend’s total ticket sales. Each week, combatants enter the cinematic war zone, bloodthirsty for your cash. But there can only be one true winner. In Box Office Aftermath, we will take a look at the numbers, how previous contenders fared, and provide a brief analysis of the results.

The 2013 summer movie season continues in full force with the debut of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, which grossed a record $116.61 million this weekend. This breaks the original June record held by Toy Story 3 ($110 million). Man of Steel ends up right behind The Hunger Games as the second highest-grossing non-sequel film to be released ever. To date, Man of Steel has outperformed every iteration of a Superman film in its opening weekend, including Superman Returns which made $84.6 million in its first five days. As a DC Comics property, Man of Steel ranks third right above Watchmen ($55.2 million), and below The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8 million).

This Is The End proved to be a bit too niche for movie goers. Over the course of its five day opener the film was only able to capitalize on $33 million. In comparison, The Hangover Part III – review here – earned $53 million in a four-day span, and has currently breached $200 million after this weekend overseas. Even though This Is The End is a hilarious film – check out the review – Seth Rogen and pals just did not have what it takes. Based on the trailers and marketing alone, I don’t think anyone was given a clear enough picture of what the story is about.

Flopping hard in it’s second weekend, The Purge – review here – managed to scrap by landing fifth this weekend, but dropping 75-percent in domestic ticket sales. The home invasion thriller grabbed $8.31 million this weekend, taking it over $50 million. Not bad with a budget of $3 million.

Also in its second weekend, The Internship – review here – took home $7.14 million and only dropping 58-percent. Unfortunately, the movie is still in the red with a budget of $58 million with a domestic total gross of only $31 million so far.

Keeping their heads held high, Now You See Me and Fast & Furious 6 – review here – kept a spot in the top five at third and fourth respectively. The street artists pulled away with an additional $11 million while Diesel and crew made $9.58 million more.

Capping off the top 15, The Croods, in its thirteenth weekend, and 42, in its tenth, are still commanding a presence at the box office with a total gross of $182 million and $93 million respectively.

With the Man of Steel the box office saw an influx of revenue up over 37 percent. Pixar’s Monsters University is just over the horizon and should be a force to take the box office even higher.

(Click the image below to enlarge the chart. All figures are domestic box office.)