UPDATED: 'Watchmen' Box Office Watch Week 2 - 67% Drop

Update 3/16 6:00am EST - Watchmen's international box office, according to Variety, fell 50% between weekends, to $13.5 million for a total overseas cumulative box office of $49.5 million, resulting in a worldwide box office of $135.5 million. As the trade puts it, the worldwide 10-day total "eases concerns that it will be a pricey financial loser for Warners, Legendary Pictures and Paramount."

Watchmen's second weekend domestic box office looks to be settling in at $18.1 million (reflecting a 67% drop from its opening weekend), putting it at #2 behind Disney's Race to Witch Mountain, which saw a domestic box office of $25 million on its opening weekend.

Update 3/15 12:00 pm EST - As per Variety, Watchmen's drop from its opening weekend is looking to be 67% (a little less drastic than a Friday to Friday comparison which shows a 78% dropoff), which will put its second weekend take at $18.1 million, and its total domestic box office at an approximate $86 million. Warner Bros. told the trade that the drop (which Variety referred to as "hefty") was "in keeping with other event titles." A quick check at Box Office Mojo shows that The Dark Knight dropped 53% between its first and second weekends, while Zack Snyder's 300 dropped 54%. As Box Office Mojo reported, in terms of comic book films, only Hellboy II and Ang Lee's Hulk showed steeper second-weekend dropoffs than Watchmen.

With its weekend domestic box office, it looks as if Watchmen will come in at #2 this weekend, behind Disney's Race to Witch Mountain.

Currently, the film has made an additional (again, estimated) $26 million in international box office, for a worldwide gross of $112 million. Something to keep in mind with all the box office numbers being tossed about is that Warners owes 8.5% of the box office to Fox due to terms of the settlement with the rival studio. Additionally, Paramount distributed the film internationally.

Original article:

Who Watches the Watchmen? Apparently only comic book fans.

Box office tracker Exhibition Relations is already estimating Warner Bros.' Watchmen is tracking to earn $16 million this weekend, its second in release, a precipitous 70% drop over its $55 million opening frame.

The publication places the film's earnings at $84 million by the end of the weekend, and estimates its total box office earnings will top out under $120 million, significantly under its estimated production and marketing budget of $150m.

Blaming the film's inability to crossover to non-comic book fans, ercboxoffice.com specifically sites the "buzz" over Dr. Manhattan's "glowing phallus" as indicative of how it's being received among the general populace.

Disney’s family sci-fi remake Race to Witch Mountain starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is tracking to top the box office for the weekend, with an estimated $24 million.

Look for more details on this weekend's numbers as they become available.