While a good chunk of the world has already, uh, "experienced" Universal and Hasbro's "Battleship" the big question is, will it make any money domestically?
On the upside, the film has already taken $170 million overseas, but spitballing numbers, with a budget around $200 million and add another $50 million or for P&A, Universal probably needs to pocket $350-400 million to break even (though, the various marketing tie-ins are probably helping the bottom line as well). "The Avengers" has opened huge everywhere, which is taking the steam out of the board game movie (in the U.K., the superhero movie bounced "Battleship" from #1 to #6) so all told, Peter Berg's flick will need to do $200 million domestic. That's a tall order.
Granted, opening on May 18th, the competition isn't that fierce, with "The Dictator" (opening Wednesday) and "What To Expect When You're Expecting" also hitting theaters at the same time. But both of those could be upsets (particularly the latter, which will do huge with women who generally have scraps to choose from during the summer). But more importantly, it's sandwiched between "Dark Shadows" (which will be huge) and "Men In Black III" (which will also probably do well). Essentially, "Battleship" is going to need major legs to get to $200 million and with dreadful reviews (though that never stopped anybody before) but more importantly, a concept that already has moviegoers scoffing, it will be a major uphill battle.
Anyway, we'll see how it all plays out, but judging from these six new clips from the movie, in a season that's delivering fresher and more exciting fare in "The Avengers," "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Prometheus" this one may already be sunk. [ComingSoon]