A fluttering of wings at the box office

Despite some unkind words by Armond White's co-inflamer, Mathew Zoller Seitz, over at the New York Press, Batman Begins opened reasonably well this weekend, taking in approximately $71 million in its 5 day opening. This is certainly a reputable opening number (hey, I'll take $71 million), and Salon is reporting that its producers believe it will lead to a sequel, but it's hardly the Spider-Man 2 like super smash that Warner Brothers had crossed their fingers for.

Scheduling the film for a mid-week opening and midnight previews, the studio clearly hoped that this would become an instant mega success. Batman, though, arrived without the massive hype the webslinger generated, and certainly without the high expectations so many had for the sequel. However, my guess is that, especially with the generally positive reviews and word of mouth that have been circulating, this is a film that will have legs.

Next week's big genre release is Land of the Dead, a hard-R Romero zombie flick that will certainly have a much smaller audience than a mainstream movie like Batman, meaning Bats will have some time to take advantage of that good word before America's two favorite people, Spielberg and Cruise, arrive for our traditional July 4th alien attack with War of the Worlds. Look for Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale to pull better than anticipated numbers during the second week at the box office. This is a movie that people will want to see again, or that they'll make the effort to see if they haven't.