EDITORIALS

'Is that kind of enthusiasm not enough to prove that The Dark Knight is going to take the cake?' Not really. A lot of Batman fans cheering for what they love at a Comic Con is expected. Go and stand in a crowded street and shout out the name Christopher Nolan, there will probably be one or two cheers...if that. All of this viral stuff is mainly internet related. Only the fans and online community follow that stuff, who only make up a small % of who will see the movie overall. I can't wait for The Dark Knight and I expect it do do great at the box office, more so than Batman Begins. However, more people will see it because of Heath Ledger than because of viral websites and comic conventions.

No way Hancock will hit those numbers. I've heard so little buzz for it. Narnia? I say 270ish million. Hancock? WTF? I expect the Dark Night to make some good money, probably around 300 million.

do you know how many people are gonna see the dark knight? many many people because there is so much buzz on heaths performance as the joker. this movie is gonna blow every other movie out of the water. it will break 300 million easy.

I get EW and actually agree on quite a few things. I am a big B.O. buff too so I like these number games and I think they hit the mark on quite a few of their points. Here is my over/under/dead on/safe bet take. 1. Indiana Jones-Safe Bet-While Indiana Jones is this summer's nostalgia it has quite a large fan base of all ages to join in. $355.9M seems reasonable. While I think it will debut under it has a pretty good chance of surpassing the $400M mark too. This is one film that I can see hitting all demographics. Overall it is a safe prediction tohugh I would target it a bit lower. 2. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian-Dead on-Narnia has grown as a franchise and I think the first one appeased enough people for them to come back. With adjusted ticket inflation accounted it should round out to be about the same. However, some competition can come from IRON MAN, I can't see parents bringing their small ones to that. INDY will be the main competition but like last summer we learned that two big films can thrive. I would compare this one to SHREK 3. Also they have the dark marketing approach to this one too to bring in more teens. 3. Hancock-Dead on-Believe it or not Will Smith is truly a MOVIE STAR! I am Legend with any other lead I can guarantee you it wouldn't have done as well and he has never had a flop to his name yet (ok, Wild Wild West) in the blockbuster drama. Horror, Drama, Action, Romantic Comedy and each film is a big hit. Also the cushy 4th OF JULY spot will give it the extra boost to reach this high. Also this time usually lets more than one film thrive witht he increased attendance so the second weekend of Wall-E and Wanted shouldn't cause too much interference. Next week is HB2 which shouldn't be too much trouble and Meet Dave so...yeah. If not for the 4th of JULY release I would say it would be less. 4. Wall-E-Over-I love Pixar but their movie trailers don't look appealing to me. Hwoever I always see the films and end up loving them so I learned to ignore their trailers. Don't know why I don't like their trailers but anyway , I see this doing Ratatouille numbers. I feel that it again is a harder sell. There is enough of a distance between this and KUNG FU PANDA but Panda has the advantage (like Iron Man) of being first. Also the week before you have half the girl audience flocking to the AMERICAN doll movie and I feel that GET SMART can provide some competition. However, $280M is achievable. I wouldn't expect it too go much higer though. I would peg it down at around $230M. 5. Iron Man-Safe Bet-Being the first film out of the gate is a BIG advantage and I really don't see Speed Racer doing terrific B.O. numbers to be too much of a threat. The cinemas are EMPTY now and as soon as this comes out people will jump on it. Being a second-tier, or even third-tier hero the number could be lower or it can be very well higher with the positive buzz and critical consensus as of now. I say this is a safe bet. I can't see this going much lower than $250M or higher than $300M though so actually I would say dead on ! 6. The Dark Knight-Under-Anyone that knows me knows that I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE Batman fan. And as sad as this soudns I believe that this is pretty close. I can see a $300M final but not much higher. The Ledger last COMPLETED (he still has the GIlroy film (don't know how to spell the name, Dr. P )!) performance and the franchise definitley grew from the last one. Also the more recognizable villan of The Joker compared to the Scarecrow is a plus. So I saw under but possibly not by much. However, $255M is a pretty safe bet. 7. KUNG FU PANDA-Over-Indiana Jones will have legs and Dreamworks are known to have big numbers but I think this is too high of a peg. On average they are around $150M. I see this doing similar to Madagascar with around $195M. The all-star cast is a plus though to make it crack the $200M barrier but after Wall-E hits it will go down fast. Though it may catch some over-flow when Wall-E's sold-out. 8. THE MUMMY 3- WILD CARD- This film is truly an enigma to me. I LOVE the Mummy series and can't wait to go but the signs are bad with Bello instead of Weisz and half of the cast gone. ALSO THE VERY NEXT WEEK Fraser has ANOTHER! MOVIE COMING OUT that Alex already professed his love for called, Journey 3-D (new title, sounds less cheesy). We haven't seen more than two still frames of the movie yet or a POSTER! The next Universal films are HULK and WANTED so if the trialer is attached to those, that is only TWO MONTHS before it comes out! This could do well but Universal seems to be burying it alive with its August realse date too (though their Bourne flick last year faired well). As of now, WILDCARD! 9. The Incredible Hulk-Over-Did America have enough time to wash out that sour taste from Hulk 1????? I don't think so. I think this will struggle to reach $100M and fi it does it won't reach into that high. I could be wrong but I think this will be a dissapointer. 10. Tropic Thunder-Dead On-I think this looks hilarious but will the R-rating hilter its grosses? Well, yes. If it was PG-13 I would target this in the $200M but it depends if adults want to see this to buy tickets for their kids. Kids will for SURE sneak into this one so it will lose some profits if their parents won't go along and buy tickets. As of now this looks pretty safe and Dead on. DON'T LEAVE OUT: -X-Files 2-The first one did well and if Hulk and Thunder fail this has a chance of getting into the top 10. -What Happens in Vegas...-I have faith in this one. I doubt it will get into the top 10 but it does have an outside chance. -Get Smart-This has a wide appeal and looks excellent. Could very well be in the top 5! -Wanted-Well this be the summer's 300 or the new Matrix???? It has the potential but until some reviews come out the fate is up in the way. -Sex and the City: The Movie-Don't underestimate the power that is women -Mama Mia!-I doubt it but it can crack the $100M mark. -The Love Guru-Sadly but truly I really do think America is that dumb....

To SMY....no way in hell "The Dark Knight" is going to make 400 million. Maybe worldwide, but not domestic. And Anthony, what "buzz" on Heath's performance? No one has seen this movie yet. The buzz is because of his death and how to market to film. Sure, he'll be great. As will the movie. But if this movie makes 275 million it'll be lucky. The first only made 205 million. "Indiana Jones" will make at least 300 million. But will most likely be the number #1 film of the summer. As it should. "Hancock" will be a hit, but I think EW's numbers are a bit lofty.

Rob, don't think for a second that Warner is gonna be quiet on the marketing front with this film. "Batman Begins" made $205 Million because people thought that it was going to be like every other Batman. Personally, that film was 10X better than I expected. There's been an ongoing pattern in Hollywood over the last decade. Sequels do REALLLLY well. Add that to an increased marketing campaign, an already huge fan-base, the increased fanbase because the strongest viral marketing campaign ever, the success and awesomeness of the first film, and the buzz over Heath Ledger's last role..... you have yourself the biggest earner at the Box Office this summer! Worldwide? Over $800 million easy.

The Dark Knight #6? Gotta be crazy. And How does Hancock beat The Dark Knight? Haha.. Call me crazy *rolls eyes*

uh-oh, pissed off the kid who runs the site... *deletes bookmark* oh, and Rob's right. you'll sooner see G.I.Joe take home Oscars for Best Movie, Screenplay, Actors, Cinematography, Music and Costume Design before Dark Knight hits $800 million.

1 dark knight 2 speed racer 3 wall E 4 iron man 5 Prince Caspian 6 hell Boy 2 7 Wanted 8 The incredible hulk 9 Indiana Jones 10 Mummy 3 Reason for dark Knight as no.1 simple its something kids want to see but it has that dark edge that also gets adults into the theatre. well iron man its no.3 because its a character that not much people knows about but the trailers look really good and has a good campaign behind it and thats what would make it big. Wanted is actually not in the predictions up there but to me this film looks fuckin insane(in a good way),hell you get smokin hot angelina jolie, a visionary director, a great cast and over the top action sequences. better yet it would be rated R so no screaming kids would be there.The inredible hulk was difficult to predict since the second trailer is due on the opening of iron man. Any who the reason i rate it no.8 because its up to the viewers to agree or disagree if the cgi hulk looks good. personally it looks great but more importantly passable. I love hulk so does everyone, a dude turns big and smashes everything what more do you want. Everyone would be pissed since i said indiana jones is no.8. honestly fans of the original would want to see it but havin harrison ford with alot of background cgi won't do for everyone, the action scenes wouldnt be that exciting and although you got steven speilberg to direct, this film wouldnt cut it for anyone. Well no.10 hey its rob cohen directing, the same guy that brought you fast and furious, xxx, hell should be fun but we need a trailer soon. The films i didnt review like caspian and wall E we should already know, its walt fuckin disney, they always make money and caspian looks pretty good. The great speed racer is well for everyone, the past, the present, even if you weren't a fan like me you know deep down the film looks wicked. some say it looks too cartoonish hell thats the point and the first trailer sucked but did u see the others, i hope so then you would understand what im saying. finally hell boy 2. show looks awesome, giant monsters, selma blair on fire and big frickin guns, im down with that.

sorry indiana jones no.9

I seriously am flabbergasted on how anyone cannot put TDK at LEAST in the top 3. Obviously there is a lot of nostalgia with Indiana Jones. It has Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison Ford...It'll do very well. Pixar is always gold, so Wall-E will crush everything it touches for a couple of weeks. BUT WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! To elaborate on an earlier point, Batman Begins made $205 million domestically. That is really impressive because people we fed up and completely turned off by anything batman thanks to Schumacher and Clooney. Batman Begins has had two years on DVD to add on to the box-office fan base, from people who were skeptical to see it in theaters due to past Batman film debacles (Forever and Batman and Robin). Because of this, Batman has gained back its credibility, prestige and coolness. Nolan has created open-mindedness and the willingness of moviegoers to see his films in theaters. Christian Bale is one of the hottest actors in Hollywood right now. Academy award nominees and winners in the cast include: Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman. Automatic credibility among adult movie-goers. And for the idiots who site that it is too "adult" and "dark" for parents not to bring their kids to...that is so fucking irrelevant. I believe The Matrix Reloaded was rated R and is super violent, but it still made $281 million at the box-office. Is Lord of the Rings Two Towers and Return of the King for Kids? No! It is violent, DARK, with epic battle scenes, with monsters and orks. Is that for Kids? NO! But it still managed to make over $350 million each. Every one knows the Joker. He is a favorite villain for millions of people around the world because of the comic books, Burton's batman and the animated series. That itself bumps up its box-office gross by $100 million. It is still 3 months away...Warners hasn't even begun to MASS market the movie to the world, even though it has thousands of people jumping through hoops already in its revolutionary viral campaign. Lastly...HEATH FUCKING LEDGER!!!!...So many people know this is his last COMPLETED FILM...That alone is going to draw, Ledger fans (non-bat fans) to the theaters. On top of that, worldwide bat-fans and even non-bat fans, but who are action fans, will want to see his performance that already seems brilliant and revolutionary. If tracking the buzz and anticipation surrounding summer blockbusters to make in-the-ball-park, accurate box-office predictions, then this person who made these predictions from Entertainment Weekly should LOSE THEIR FUCKING JOB! peace

I like to point out to Ryan that Ledger was working with Terry Gilliam on his last film. Not Tony Gilroy.

1st of EW is S-T-U-P-I-D. u can tell em i said it. 2nd of all, who are they to predict what a movie is gonna make... they aint nobody. and why is errbody hating on will smith, dude makes a killing every summer. but the summer is almost here so we'll see if there's in accuracy in there list. if not, they should jump off the nearest mountain.

From what I've heard, Speed Racer is going to be the talk of the town after its released, because it's offering the most unique spectacle with a very wide appeal. How it's not even on that list (and yet The Mummy 3 is there?! ) is beyond me.

Listen... I can see the reasoning behind EW's perdiction about Iron Man. Since it's the first movie of the summer season, moviegoers hungry for some action will flock to this film. However, it will only last a week and then Speed Racer comes in and blows IM out of the water. But, I think that Dark Knight will definitely make more money than IM, a whole lot more. The #1 prediction of IJ4 is acurate, but Narnia: Prince Caspian?????? The first one didn't do too well and it is way too close to other heavy-hitters in theatres, so EW's pick of #2 is stupid.

I also wanted to comment on the whole "buzz" concept. It can truly be misleading towards the box office performance of a movie (ie. snakes on a plane). I know Batman has a strong following and the viral marketing is great, however like someone said earlier, these are usually only followed by the fans who will watch the movie even w/out this.

indiana will take will take number 1! not to say dark knight will do bad but i think you guys are giving the dark knight way too much credit! will it possibly be a better movie then indiana jones?!? maybe, but it will NOT bring in more money! You have to look at it from a bigger prospective then just all of us huge movie fans and comic geeks which i myself am one but it seems like im the only one who can see why indiana jones will do better at the box office. The only thing that can even mkae the dark knight come close or possibly beat it is the fact that heath ledger is dead, if he was still alive there would be no competition what so ever!

Also, regarding Heath Ledger and people rushing to see "The Dark Knight" because of his untimely death. That may be true on some very small degree. But guys, Ledger was never a huge box-office star. And "The Patriot" aside, this was his first true big Hollywood blockbuster. But it's not a Heath Ledger vehicle. It's a successful franchise that just happens to have him as one of the supporting roles. Up until now, "The Patriot" was his biggest film at 113M. But that was only because it was a "Mel Gibson film" (starring, not directing). The second biggest HL film was "Brokeback Mountain", at 83K. For more of his box-office results, go to http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?id=heathledger.htm

Re: "Narnia". Built in audience. The church. It will do the same or better than the original. But not that much more. Re: Will Smith. He's still white hot at the box-office. As long as it's not another "Wild West", he's safe.

they're making another Mummy?... i dont know whether to be stoked or mortified

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 will be the biggest movie of the Summer!!! yea, right. well i think everyone is right with the fact that the dark knight will be huge and might even overcome indiana jones and prince caspian, but i think many ppl won't admit that heath ledgers suicide is what will catapult this movie to the $300m mark.. and btw why is everybody hatin on the mummy 3, i'm not a fan but ppl say it has no hype. it's april, APRIL!!! the movie comes out in AUGUST, i'm sure the movie (with the addition of Jet li) will gain more attention and do terrific, just like the last one ===anyways let me give you my predictions. disagree if you want, but this is how it will go down!!=== 1- INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF W/E: $335M (THIS IS THE OBVIOUS BIG ONE) 2- DARK KNIGHT: $306M (BELIEVE THE HYPE, EW, BELIEVE IT!) 3- PRINCE CASPIAN: $256M (WILL DO JUST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST 1) 4- SPEED RACER: $215M (THE SUPER UNDERDOG BLOCKBUSTER HIT OF THE SUMMER) 5- WALL-E: $211M (PIXAR SCORES BIG ONCE AGAIN) 6- HANCOCK: $200M (SAY WHAT YOU WILL, BUT WILL SMITH RULES INDEPENDENCE DAY, AGAIN) 7- INCREDIBLE HULK: $178M (I'D SEE THE HAPPENING INSTEAD, BUT W/E IDC) 8- kUNG FU PANDA: $178M (AN ANIMATED COMEDY FOR THE YOUTH IS THE PERFECT SOLUTION) 9- THE MUMMY: $178M (THIS, PINEAPPLE XPRESS AND TROPIC THINDER WILL ALL RULE AUGUST) 10- IRON MAN: $175M (THE MOVIE KICKING OFF THE SUMMER KICKS OFF THE COUNTDOWN)

Don't forget to account for Star Wars - The Clone Wars. Yeah, it's animated, but never underestimate the power of Star Wars nerds.

With regards to TDK finishing in the top five summer box office, I would just like to say, your dreaming. Number one-The movie is such a dark movie it will not attract women and children. It will just attract fan boys, fans of Batman. If Batman Begins was such a good movie then why did Alvin and the Chipmunks beat it at the box office! Number two-this buzz that you keep talking about, is created by the Batman fans. Again, look to Batman Begins, which was a disapointment at the box office, as was Superman Returns. Number three- And the biggest problem is the Batman fans don't realize just how bad Batman Begins really was so they will not take the necessary measures to ensure that TDK does not follow in it's foot steps. You're not making a movie for Batman fans, you are suppose to make a movie for movie fans. I am not a fan of Batman but you are destroying an iconic character all because of your own inability to accept that he is not as beloved as you would like him to be.

it seems to me that i might be the only one looking at this page, so i am probably just talking to my self . but i have some new insight into what i think will win the summer box office. as with indiana jones unless it is a really good movie i just don't see people interested in a harrison ford movie. iconic character are not, superman returns proves, it better be a good movie. as for the dark knight, the batman fans and their hype machine are driving me crazy. i have heard some predict 300 million and even 400 million domesticly. look, tickets cost say 10 dollars, so 20 million people saw batman begins, that means tdk will have to bring in another 10 million people to reach 300 million. go back to batman begins and tell just how that movie could possible inspire people to see the sequel and bring in new fans. batman fans obviously loved the film, but you make a movie to bring in new fans not to please Batman fans. If Batman was so good why is Ironman better at the box office? batman begins was good for the first hour but then turned into a heaping pile of junk. spider-man fans will gladly admit that number 3 was horrible, so as to take the necessary changes to the fourth. batman fans are the only ones who seem to have liked batman begins and seem to shout down anyone who didn't, all the while maintaining it was the best movie ever. i really tried to like it but it really was horrible. With regards to Heath Ledger, it will not effect the box office at all, plain and simple. Good movie - good box office, bad movie - bad box office. TDK is unfornately will be made in the image of Batman Begins and that is a real bad idea. Looking at the trailer when the Joker says, "It's simple, kill the Batman" you just elimanated women, children and families from seeing the film. The trailer doesn't inspire new fans, just the already existing Batman fan base. Along with a running time of over 2 and a half hours , it will not appeal to families. it will i am sure have a big opening but with such dark themes it will not have the legs to sustain itself. again batman fans are their own worst enemy. you are not making a titanic or braveheart movie, you are making a superhero movie . i just saw the trailer for wall e, and that is how you make a trailer. everyone i was with howled. i think wall e could possible win the summer box office because it all the quadrants of the movie spectrum. box office predictions wall e-305 million indy- 275 million tdk- 235 million which for the hype batman fans should be happy but it will be closer to 225 ironman- 260 prince caspian-250

Iron Man has already hit $311 (with a final tally of 320-325 possible) and Indy 4 is over $305 with 20 fewer days in release than IM (with a possible final tally over 330 million possible) and I think Wall-E will finish close to $300 and The Dark Knight has the chance to finish in the $300-320 million range, maybe no worse than $280-290...so with everyone saying this would be a down summer we could still have four films finish above 300 million with Hancock, Kung Fu Panda and maybe the new Mummy movie finishing over 200 million

LOL! @ the Predictions now. TDK>>>>>>ALL

Well, TDK 395 m in 17 days..with 48% women audience...here you go...

Yeah ! Eat that Chester.. Your so f***kin' stupid to underestimate the power of the caped crusader to attrat and win MOVIE fans not just batman fans as you put it