Both films opening this weekend…it ought to be a race to the finish line to see which film comes out on top of the box office!
Wow, this is going to be a tough call.
Your predictions?
My mom wants me to go see Mama Mia with her. So that’s 2…
Nitpick: It’s MAMMA MIA! dammit.
I think Dark Knight will, with Heath Ledger as The Joker.
The question is will The Dark Knight be the biggest weekend box office opening ever?
Dethroning Spiderman 3? I’ll guess yes.
Dark Knight by a long shot. It has a much broader appeal.
I’m pretty sure you just got whooshed.
Space Chimps!!!
Am I being whooshed?
: : a sudden gust of air blows by so fast that poor Runs With Scissors is lifted into the sky : :
I see you lack a female significant other. MAMMA MIA! is likely to open big because of women dragging their men to it, and their men going along in hopes of getting laid. And don’t tell me those guys won’t leave the theatre humming an ABBA tune. Those songs are scientifically crafted to be international earworms.
I am eternally blessed that my SO bucks the trend and almost refuses to see movies that do not involve, “monsters, things blowing up, monsters blowing up things, and things blowing up monsters.” I am also thankful that I will be able to see the new Journey to the Center of the Earth because this one does not star Pat Boone, about whom she has fantasized punching in the stomach for forty-some years.
However, a local station has taken to showing Star Trek at 6PM so, likely as not, I’m on my own for dinner. Y’see, way back in the 60s she sent Shatner a painting of him and, like Marge Simpson and Ringo, she keeps hoping for a thank you letter. I get home and she’s stretched out on the sofa. I have to look at the children I watched come out of her to be sure she isn’t a guy, and in the Star Trek universe that’s no guarantee.
Well, granted it’s only been one day, so Mamma Mia has plenty of time to catch up…
…but Variety is now estimating that The Dark Knight made somewhere between 60 and 63 million dollars… in one day. That would be the biggest opening day ever.
To put that in perspective, Mamma Mia actually did a very respectable 9 or 10 million bucks Friday. Dark Knight did $18.5 million in its midnight showings alone.
Well obviously Dark Knight. Which I saw tonight and was close to awesome. But I’ve already promised two female friends I’d see Mama Mia with them, so I’ll probably end up seeing that more. Although I’ll be using my free movie pass, so Dark Knight will end up making more money off me. I loved Dark Knight, but I’m not sure I’d call it highly rewatchable. Not that that’s a bad thing. Mama Mia got bad reviews but I love ABBA and have heard great things about the stage show so maybe it will be fun. I have a feeling it might work better as an audience participation thing ala Rocky Horror and Buffy’s Once More With Feeling.
But next week… X-Files or Stepbrothers?
Hmm, Summer Blockbuster versus Kitschy Broadway Musical. Man, that one is so tough to call. 
I have no desire to see “Mamma Mia,” and I know the OP wasn’t seriously suggesting it could make as much money as “Batman,” but I have no doubt it will rake in huge bucks this weekend.
I mean, this is counterprogramming at its best and most blatant. How many guys are going to drag their girlfriends/wives to “The Dark Knight” this weekend, find out that it’s sold out, and hear, “Oooh, Honey, let’s see ‘Mamma Mia’ instead”
Or, how many more will HAVE to see “Mamma Mia” NEXT weekend as payback to those ladies?
I think Dark Knight again, actually.
I’m so lucky. My husband and I both have eclectic taste in movies and never have to “drag” each other to anything. We saw the midnight show of The Dark Knight (and are seeing it again in IMAX on Tuesday) and will be going to see Mamma Mia! tonight. We both wanted to see both movies (in fact, he brought up Mamma Mia! before I did).
There’s some kind of weird competition between Dark Knight fans and Mamma Mia fans that I do not understand. Part of it is homophobia on the part of Dark Knight fans, which I see on the IMDB boards. I don’t think that’s the motivation here, for the starting of this thread, but it’s still downright bizarre. Why even bring it up? It makes no sense whatsoever. It’s obviously a slap at Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! fans, but why? What’s the point?
I read the many, many, many reviews of Mamma Mia!. None of them mentioned homosexuality.
BTW, what was Heath Ledger’s most famous role before he played The Joker? 
:rolleyes:
I’m not talking about normal reviews. I’m just going by the Comments section of the Mamma Mia! IMDB boards, where admittedly many people with IQs under 80 post, quite often (not just on the MM! boards). I’d imagine the same thing is happening at the AICN talkback boards, but I try not to go there because I can literally feel the brain cells popping when I do. For some reason, Dark Knight fans seem to love tweaking Mamma Mia!/ABBA fans, and you can bet there’s a whiff of homophobia behind at least some of it.
And a lot of comic book/Batman fans aren’t going to associate Heath Ledger’s Joker with Heath Ledger’s Ennis del Mar. Most of those who know are smart enough to not care, and many of those who don’t know might just have their tiny little minds explode if/when they find out.
I’m that apparently rare thing: a heterosexual male who enjoys musicals. I’ll go see Bollywood films to feed my musical jones when Hollywood is not making them.
Who made up these “rules” anyway? I like what I like…and if you have any problem with that, piss off. An attitude that, to be frank, feels more “manly” than worrying about what others may think.
I’ll be seeing “Mama Mia” this evening with my wife…who loves Hong Kong action movies.
I doubt it’s homophobia so much as this is Batman Weekend. Geeks have been eagerly awaiting this day since Indiana Jones came out. It’s the latest “big” movie of the summer and, if the box office numbers so far are any indication, will be the biggest movie of the Summer.
The fact that Mamma Mia opened on the same day, and is such a different movie, and is not even on the geek’s radars as a good movie, and will likely have a much smaller viewership is where all the jokes come from.
If making fun of musicals is hobophobic, then I guess that’s where you get the homophobic vibe from? Can’t I just think 95% of musicals are silly without being labeled a homophobe?