As predicted, the second in the Chronicles of Narnia series, Prince Caspian, was tops at the US box office this weekend. But it wasn't the glorious return that was predicted. Where estimates had been somewhere between $70-80 million, the film managed $56.6 million. That's no small amount, but it is almost $10 million behind the first film – which went on to gross over $290 million in the US and nearly $745 million worldwide – and gives Caspian a very tough run at getting close to its predecessor's numbers. With Indiana Jones opening this week – a film going for the same family demographic – and Kung Fu Panda two weeks later, it's going to struggle to get anywhere close to the first film.
With Caspian the only big new release of the week, Iron Man cleaned up again in its third week on release. The comic book film grabbed another $31.2 million to take its total to $222.5 million, making it the biggest of the year so far.
What Happens In Vegas also stayed strong, dropping only 31.3% in its second week and adding a further $13.9 million. That puts it at $40.3 million, which means it's now made up its $35 million budget.
The story was not so good for Speed Racer, which continues to skid sadly down the chart. After two weeks the Wachowskis' cartoon adaptation has managed just $29.8 million, $7.6 million of that from this weekend. Foreign box office is not looking good either (in its UK opening it took a paltry £362,000), so it's not a great start to the summer for Warner Bros. We'd imagine The Dark Knight might repair some of those woes later in the blockbuster season.
The big question for next week will be just how much of the box office dollars will Indy hoover up? Check back on Monday for the full numbers.
For the complete box office chart, see Box Office Mojo.