Pamela McClintock Of THR:
Director Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy -- featuring a new leading man in Jeremy Renner -- easily won the domestic box office race with $40.3 million debut.
The weekend's other two new films also turned in solid performances. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis' R-rated comedy The Campaign debuted to $27.4 million, proving a guilty pleasure for voters who need a break from the real-life presidential race.
Adult dramedy Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell, grossed $15.6 million over the weekend for a five-day debut of $20.1 million -- on par with the opening of Streep's Julie & Julia ($20 million) in 2009.
Universal's Bourne Legacy and Warner Bros.' The Campaign both bested The Dark Knight Rises, which fell to No. 3 after dominating the box office for three consecutive weekends. The superhero tentpole grossed $19.5 million for a domestic total of $390.1 million.
Bourne Legacy is a key test for Universal as it reboots the marquee spy franchise without Matt Damon. It also marks Renner's first turn as a leading man, as well as Gilroy's first turn in the Bourne director's chair (Gilroy wrote the first three films).
The film -- costing at least $125 million to make before marketing costs -- will need to do good business overseas, where it opened in 13 smaller countries over the weekend, grossing an impressive $7.8 million and breaking records.
In North America, Bourne Legacy skewed notably older, with nearly 70 percent of the audience over the age of 30. The film received a B CinemaScore.
Heading into the weekend, Universal cautioned there was little chance of Bourne Legacy matching the last two films considering it is a reboot. Sequel The Bourne Supremacy debuted to $52.5 million in 2004, while threequel The Bourne Ultimatum opened to $69.2 million in 2007.
Bourne Legacy did open well ahead of The Bourne Identity ($27.1 million).
The Campaign, directed by Jay Roach, received a B- CinemaScore. It also skewed older, with 64 percent of the audience over the age of 25.
From Sony and MGM, Hope Springs reunited director David Frankel with Streep, star of his The Devil Wears Prada. The pic received a B CinemaScore, with nearly 70 percent of the audience over the age of 40. More than 65 percent of those buying tickets were female. Sony and MGM paid in the mid-teens for distribution rights to Hope Springs, and say they are already on solid financial ground
Things get crowded as Summer '12 starts to wind down.On Wedneday--You can start to live The Odd Life of Timothy Green; Friday you can freak out with the CG animated comedy ParaNorman; See Whitney Huston Sparkle in her final film role; And |Sylvester Stallone leads another mission with his action film pals in The Expendables 2.
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