Watchmen Opening Box Office Fails To Beat Jesus Or The Spartans

While the Watchmen movie could hardly be classified as a bomb or a flop, the projected opening weekend box office is coming in on the light side of estimates. No one expected the Watchmen movie to put up the type of opening weekend numbers that The Dark Knight did this past Summer, but it was expected to give Zack Snyder's 300 movie a run for its money. According to Box Office Mojo, the Watchmen movie box office opening weekend is projected to come in at $55.7 million. While this number might pale into comparison to some comic book movies released this past summer, it is a very respectable number for a movie with an "R" rating released in March. On the positive side, the Watchmen movie had the biggest opening weekend of any movie so far in 2009. The movie also trounced the competition, taking in close to seven times the amount of the number two film for the weekend. On the negative side, the Watchmen movie opening weekend box office did not come anywhere close to breaking the record for an "R" rated movie opening weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, the Watchmen opening weekend box office ranks sixth on the all time list for "R" rated movies. Other "R" rated movies that ranked above The Watchmen movie in their opening weekend include The Matrix Reloaded, The Passion of Christ, 300, Hannibal, and Sex and the City. While Keanu Reeves was above the most optimistic expectations for the Watchmen, the higher forecasts had the Watchmen potentially overtaking Jesus and the Spartans. However, the current Watchmen opening weekend box office projections fall short of not only Jesus and the Spartans, but they even place the movie below a serial killer and sex. There will probably be many questions as to why the Watchmen movie is projected to finish on the low end of expectations. Undoubtedly, the films long-running time and the mixed reviews from critics will be cited. Comicbook.com offered up two reviews of the movie, both of which were positive. The first review of the overall movie has the tongue-in-cheek title of "The Watchmen Is The Feel Good Movie Of The Year" and the second review is of just the acting in the movie and is called "Watchmen Movie Review: Six New Stars Emerge." Another factor in the Watchmen movie opening weekend box office that might be overlooked is that the economy might finally be catching up with the movie industry. Even though movies are considered cheap entertainment and the overall box office has been doing well so far in this tough economy, the very fact that there are so many people out of work might put a cap on the total numbers for any single film in a weekend.