"Superman" Has Third Biggest July 4th Bow In History! In Other Words, It's A Disaster!

The news is in and it doesn't look good. "Superman Returns" grossed $84.2 mil over the five day weekend. That's the third biggest bow in July 4th weekend history -- but it ain't enough. Word of mouth looks decent, but not great. And this Friday "Pirates of the Caribbean" will open to blockbuster numbers. That will immediately become the first choice of every moviegoer and Supe will take a serious tumble. It looks to be tracking below "War of the Worlds" in the US and at about half of "Spiderman 2." (But let's keep in mind that with massive international box office "WOTW" is Tom Cruise's biggest hit of all time. "Superman" doesn't go wide overseas until after the World Cup.) The jury is still out worldwide, but with a budget estimated at $250+ mil and a total US box office that will be pushing it to gross $200 mil, "Superman" disappoints. Usually, I like to counter the doomsayers by counseling patience and the total story won't be known for a few weeks once it has bowed big overseas. But given the massive initial costs, I'd have to say the negative reports are accurate enough to make me wonder whether there will be a sequel. And how must Brandon Routh feel? Unlike on the TV show "Entourage," where the hero opened in an Aquaman movie and beat "Spiderman," Routh just opened in the biggest movie in the world and the numbers were a bummer. Imagine the last few days he's had. It's enough to make a guy feel sorry for the dude.