With only M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening as competition, The Incredible Hulk is expected to smash the box office this Father’s Day Weekend. The big question, though, is how much money the Green Goliath will rake in.
Downplaying its expectations, Universal Pictures claims it doesn’t look for the new Hulk to make as much as Ang Lee’s version, which opened in June 2003 to $61.2 million. Variety says that’s because comic-book fans may wait to hear how Louis Leterrier’s take plays out before they head to the box office.
I think that shows a lack of understanding of hardcore fans, who generally want to be the first to see or read something — and the first to say how great it is, or how much it sucks.
While the studio may be playing its cards close to the vests, pre-release tracking shows The Incredible Hulk should open “comfortably north of $40 million,” and well ahead of The Happening’s expected $25 million haul.
But according to The Hollywood Reporter, at least one industry analyst projects as much as $60 million for Hulk‘s first weekend, placing it in the neighborhood of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which bowed around the same time last year with $58.1 million.
That figure’s well above the general consensus — “substantially overheated,” The Hollywood Reporter calls it — and exactly the kind of forecast Universal is trying to downplay. Aim low and you’re less likely to be disappointed. Or embarrassed.
