Hulk smash box office

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

The Incredible Hulk made less than the first in its debut, cost more to make, and critics were only slightly kinder to it. So how is this weekend's $54.5 million opening seen as the success that its 2003 predecessor was not? It's all in expectations.
Hulk beat projections by about $5 million and, in a bit of good news for Marvel Studios, scored an A- with moviegoers, according to CinemaScore.

That could mean a franchise for the comic-book hero, while Ang Lee's darker film plummeted from the top 10 and almost quashed hopes for future episodes.

Side-by-side, the two Hulks seemed to share a similar reception. Lee's $137 million Hulk opened to $62 million and earned a recommendation from 61% of the nation's critics, according to RottenTomatoes.com. It went on to make $132 million. This Hulk, which cost $150 million, earned a thumbs-up from 64% of critics.

But the 2003 film was more for the arthouse crowd than the comic-book fan, says David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios.

"This was our real dream, the movie we wanted to present to the fans," Maisel says. "It isn't just about box office or opening weekend. What's important is the fan reaction, the reviews. That's what gives your movie legs, and I think this is what Hulk fans wanted to see."

Executives at Universal Studios, which released both films, concede it wasn't easy to sell the same superhero twice.

"I loved Ang's movie," says Nikki Rocco, Universal's distribution chief. "But that's not what the fans wanted to see. We had to work hard to overcome the challenges of the first and show them we had something new."

M. Night Shyamalan also had something new: his first R-rated film, The Happening. The horror film performed much stronger than expected, doing $30.5 million, good for third place. That's about $10 million above projections.

After his last movie, 2006's Lady in the Water, took in just $42 million, "I think a lot of people in the media were writing him off," says Chris Aronson of 20th Century Fox, which released The Happening. "But fans weren't. When you have the kind of talent to make The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, people want to see what you're making next."

The animated comedy Kung Fu Panda was second with $34.3 million, while Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan was fourth with $16.4 million. Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull rounded out the top five with $13.5 million.

Ticket sales were up for the second straight weekend, jumping 26% over the same weekend last year.