Battleship Sinks in the U.S.

How big a flop is BATTLESHIP (Universal)? Even bigger than the catastrophic John Carter, that's how big. According to early Friday numbers at Deadline, Battleship is headed for a $9.5M opening day, and if that number holds, it'll be less than John Carter's $9.8M. Carter made it to $30M in its opening weekend, thanks to a 25% Saturday bump because it played as a family movie, and Battleship may not get that high. It could be looking at a $70M US total, disastrous for a movie that cost over $200M to produce (probably over $350M including marketing). 

FRIDAY 11 PM, 4TH UPDATE: My sources have these Friday and weekend numbers for North America. As I’ve been posting all day, everything is tanking except Marvel’s The Avengers which sucked all the air out of the box office for the 3rd straight weekend. Tomorrow it will become the highest grossing domestic release in Disney’s history. Joss Whedon’s superhero assembly is already the studio’s highest grossing film of all time globally, and will pass the $450M mark this weekend. Demonstrating just how lackluster the new movies are, audiences gave Universal’s Battleship only a ‘B’ CinemaScore, Lionsgate’s What To Expect When You’re Expecting a ‘B-’, and Paramount’s The Dictator a ‘C’. So don’t expect word of mouth to improve these numbers much, if at all. Overall moviegoing this weekend is looking like $130M, which is -18% from last year. Refined numbers and full analysis in the AM. Here’s the Top Ten (by Friday estimates):
1. Marvel’s The Avengers (Disney) Week 3 [4,349 Runs] PG13
Friday $15.5M, Weekend $52.5M, Cume $454.5M
2. Battleship (Universal) NEW [3,690 Runs] PG13
Friday $9.5M, Weekend $26M
3. The Dictator (Paramount) NEW-Wed [3,008 Runs] R
Friday $5.5M, Weekend $16.0M, Cume $23.0M
4. What To Expect When You’re Expecting (Lionsgate) NEW [3,021 Runs] PG13
Friday $4.4M, Weekend $12.0M
5. Dark Shadows (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,755 Runs] PG13
Friday $3.7M (-61%), Weekend $11.5M, Cume $49.6M
6. The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) Week 9 [2,064 Runs]
Friday $850K, Weekend $2.4M, Cume $391.0M
7. Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight) Week 3 [354 Runs] PG13
Friday $800K, Weekend $3M, Cume $8.7M
8. Think Like A Man (Screen Gems/Sony) Week 5 [1,722 Runs] PG13
Friday $800K, Weekend $2.4M, Cume $85.6M
9. The Lucky One (Warner Bros) Week 5 [2,055 Runs] PG13
Friday $650K, Weekend $1.8M, Cume $57.0M
10. Pirates! Band Of Misfits (Aardman/Sony) Week 4 [1,840 Runs] PG
Friday $450K, Weekend $1.4M, Cume $25.7M

The overseas haul for "Battleship" goes part way to justifying its reported $209 million price tag. But after subtracting splits with theater owners and marketing costs, it is estimated to need about half a billion dollars at box offices to turn a profit.

Hah! It's Saturday, so why not... and after you read this, if you haven't already, read my post on director Peter Berg's lengthy explanation on his decision to cast her in the film (despite reservations) HERE.
Courtesy of New York magazine's Vulture... every line of dialogue Rihanna says in Battleship:

Rihanna's film debut is a memorable one. The Barbadian singer is wet for much of Battleship, her Navy uniform is uncommonly flattering, and the majority of her dialogue is composed of exclamations. It's a veritable masterclass in one-line utterances. Most of her lines fall into one of several categories: sassy ("Get up, princess!"), confused ("What the hell is that?") or surprisingly competent  ("Contact 2 miles out.") But enough of this. Let Rihanna speak for herself.

- "What's wrong with you drama queen?

- "Get up princess! Come on!"

- "Typical"

- "Shut up. Shut up."

- "Oh, this gon' be sweet. He hates the man."

- "You go mess with him and see what happens!"

- "Chicken!"

- "Kentucky Fried Chicken!"

And that's only about a third of it; Click HERE for the rest of the story.
Anyone seen the movie AND loved it? Reviews have been mostly terrible.