The Bourne Legacy got off to a decent start at the US box office, scoring a $40 million three-day opening. That’s less than the previous Bourne sequels, but that’s not surprising considering the lack of Matt Damon in this one, but it’s still ahead of the first film, which took $27 million on its first weekend. The real question is whether the movie will have legs, which remains to be seen, but the film has had okay reviews and may well do well in the coming weeks.
The Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis political comedy The Campaign came second with an okay but not spectacular $27 million. It’s good news for Ferrell, whose last couple of movies have severely underperformed at the box office (neither Case De Mi Padre or Everything Must Go passed $3 million on their openings).
The only other new entry was Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a married couple looking to spice up their lives. It took $15.6 million over the weekend and $20 million since it hit cinema last Wednesday. It’s not a terrible opening, but with Steve Carell also starring, the studio was probably hoping for a little bit more.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of August 10th-12th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | The Bourne Legacy | $40.2 | $40.2 |
| 2 | The Campaign | $27.4 | $27.4 |
| 3 | The Dark Knight Rises | $19.5 | $390.1 |
| 4 | Hope Springs | $15.6 | $20.0 |
| 5 | Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days | $8.2 | $30.5 |
| 6 | Total Recall | $8.1 | $44.1 |
| 7 | Ice Age: Continental Drift | $6.7 | $144.0 |
| 8 | Ted | $3.2 | $209.9 |
| 9 | Step Up Revolution | $2.8 | $30.1 |
| 10 | The Amazing Spider-man | $2.2 | $255.5 |
The Dark Knight Rises has handily won the US box office race for a third week running, taking $36 million for a very good take so far of $354 million. Batman beat out newcomer Total Recall, which took $26 million. That was at the lower end of expectations, and with suggestions it’s not going down well with audiences, it’s unlikely to keep its grosses up in the coming weeks. It may now be hard for Sony to make back the $125 million is spent on the 2012 makeover of Recall.
Going into this weekend, there was a lot of debate over whether the US public was still put off going to the cinema by the terrible events in Colorado. In the end, while there probably was still a bit of a knock on effect, it wasn’t as bad as some had predicted. The Dark Knight Rises handily won the weekend, taking another $60 million for a 10 day total of $289 million, just behind the $313 million The Dark Knight had taken at this stage.
This weekend’s box office numbers were understandably delayed out of respect for the victims of last week’s Colorado shooting. However now they’ve been released, with The Dark Knight Rises taking a massive $160 million, the third biggest opening weekend ever after The Avengers and Deathly Hallows Part 2, and the biggest ever for a 2D release.