Instead of “missing it by that much,” the movie version of the popular ’60s spy spoof “Get Smart,” roared out of the gate this past weekend to win the movie box office by generating $38.7 million in gross ticket sales in its opening weekend, based on industry estimates.
The Steve Carrell/Anne Hathaway/Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson comedy trounced the other big debut movie for the weekend ending June 22, Mike Myers’s “The Love Guru,” which came in fourth with a disappointing $13.9 million. However, Myers has had films in the past, namely the first “Austin Powers” movie, that did middling business at the box office only to clean up in cable television, international and DVD sales.
In second place was the previous week’s number one movie “The Incredible Hulk,” which generated $22.1 million, bringing its two-week total to just a few clicks shy of $100 million. The Edward Norton/Liv Tyler action movie, the second in the Hulk franchise from Marvel Comics, is on pace to out gross its predecessor and register the second hit of the summer for the comics powerhouse after “Iron Man.” Coming in third for the weekend was the animated family film “Kung Fu Panda,” which generated $21.9 million, bringing its three-week total to $156 million.
The M. Night Shyamalan-directed thriller “The Happening” came in a distant fifth, generating $10.5 million, for a two-week total of $50.7 million. Shyamalan, an exacting director who appeared to have the midas touch with “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable,” has seen his box office prowess diminish with recent films “The Village,” “Lady in the Water” and now “The Happening,” which was his first R-rated suspense film.
Box Office Grosses
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| Rank | Title | Weekend | Total Gross | 1 | Get Smart (2008) | $39.2M | $39.2M |
| 2 | Kung Fu Panda (2008) | $21.7M | $156M |
| 3 | The Incredible Hulk (2008) | $21.6M | $96.5M |
| 4 | The Love Guru (2008) | $14M | $14M |
| 5 | The Happening (2008) | $10M | $50.3M |
| 6 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) | $8.41M | $291M |
| 7 | You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008) | $7.2M | $84.1M |
| 8 | Sex and the City (2008) | $6.46M | $132M |
| 9 | Iron Man (2008) | $4M | $305M |
| 10 | The Strangers (2008) | $1.95M | $49.6M |
