ILM/Universal PicturesTadanobu Asano, left, and Taylor Kitsch in “Battleship.”LOS ANGELES— Rotten buzz and superheroic competition sunk Universal’s “Battleship” over the weekend. Costing over $300 million to make and market, Peter Berg’s “Battleship” managed to sell about $25.4 million in tickets in its first weekend in North American theaters – a second-place finish behind “Marvel’s The Avengers” (Disney), which took in an estimated $55 million for a three-week domestic total of $457 million. Overseas, “Battleship,” inspired by the Hasbro board game, has taken in about $227 million since opening last month, a respectable total but not enough to make the expensive film profitable without better support from the United States, analysts say.
Positioning may have played a role: Universal did backflips trying to sell “Battleship” as a “Transformers”-caliber action picture, but movie bloggers smelled a con job and spent months pillorying the film. Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest spoof, “The Dictator” (Paramount), was a lukewarm third, with about $17.4 million in ticket sales ($24.5 million total since opening on Wednesday), according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box office data. “The Dictator,” which cost about $65 million to produce and has been aggressively marketed for months, follows “Brüno” as the second Baron Cohen comedy in a row to fail to excite audiences; attendees scored “The Dictator” a C in exit polls. “Dark Shadows” (Warner Brothers) sold about $12.8 million in tickets for fourth place and a two-week total of $50.9 million. The poorly reviewed “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (Lionsgate) was fifth, taking in $10.5 million.
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