BLOGS
Recently in Box Office Tally Category
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has made $151 million in not quite two weeks, and Disney is totally pissed. Disney CEO Robert Iger said on Wednesday that Prince Caspian wasn't performing as well as had been expected and blamed the fact that its release date -- May 16th -- was too competitive. Disney had originally set the film for release in December of 2007, but the film would have competed with Caspian producer Walden Media's other fantasy film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, which was shooting for the same audience. And for all the bitching about the release date harshing Narnia's box office buzz, The Hollywood Reporter points out: "It's an interesting thesis, considering Disney purposely moved the film to that date and, in doing so, turned the seemingly natural Christmas franchise -- the first installment featured a cameo from Santa Claus -- into a springtime experience." And truly, it's not as if anyone expected Indiana Jones 4, which opened just six days after the Disney film, to do poorly.
Who'da thunk it -- an Indy movie at the top of the box office. By "Indy," of course, we mean Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, not a low-budget heartwarmer a la Juno. No, the long-awaited fourth entry in the beloved franchise easily took the top spot this Memorial Day weekend, giving it the tenth-best three-day total ($101 million), the eighth-best four-day total ($126 million), the fifth best five-day total ($151.1 million) and the second-best Memorial Day weekend take ever, after the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. Damn you, Jack Sparrow! Is there no defeating your swashbuckling, short of having Harrison Ford put on some eyeliner and go on some sort of South Seas adventure? (Hmmm...)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second film based on C.S. Lewis's beloved books, topped Iron Man for first place at the weekend box office. Caspian managed a somewhat disappointing $56.6 on 3,929 screens. The film's predecessor, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe made $65.6 in its opening weekend, and analysts had expected Caspian to best that number.
Iron Man's three-week total reached $222.5 million as it raked in another $31.2 million on 4,154 screens.
If it weren't such a terrible movie, I might actually feel a little bad for Speed Racer being such a terrible flop at the box office. But it is, so I don't. And, to top it off, Iron Man was so great that it's easy for me to find immense joy in its second straight week at the top.
Mostly positive reviews and an avalanche of buzz helped propel Iron Man to a huge opening weekend, raking in $100.8 million in 4,105 theaters. If you include its Thursday night take, it's already made more than $104 million.
It looks like most of the country trusted Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's comedy skills, and gave the terrible trailer for Baby Mama a pass, as the film raked in $18.3 million on 2,543 screens to open at No. 1 at the weekend box office. Not too far behind was Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, which took in $14.6 million on 2,510 screens.
It's a big win for Tina Fey, who proved she not only can create, write, produce, and star in the funniest comedy on TV, but that she can also open a movie at the box office -- even despite lackluster reviews. Turns out it paid to be a chick flick this weekend, as two-thirds of the moviegoers who turned out to watch Fey hire childish surrogate Poehler were women, while two-thirds of those paying to see Harold and Kumar take another trip were men.
Judd Apatow and friends (and the studio promotional vehicle) tried as hard as they could, but they couldn't hold back the martial arts tandem of Jackie Chan and Jet Li (who could, really?) as The Forbidden Kingdom fought its way to the top of the weekend box office, taking in $20.9 million on 3,200 screens, compared to $17.3 million on 2,800 screens for Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That's about $6,500 a screen for Jet Li and Jackie Chan; but the $6,200 take per screen for Jason Segel and Kristen Bell is nothing to sneeze at, either.
This weekend, moviegoers resurrected the horror genre from the pits in which One Missed Call and The Eye put it in earlier this year (along with The Ruins, which is slowly deteriorating from the top ten), by making Prom Night the highest grossing movie at this week's box office (raking in just a little over $22 million), but it wasn't the only new release that made it out strong. Street Kings, a crime thriller starring a very discombobulated cast (Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Chris Evans, Cedric the Entertainer and Hugh Laurie... I kid you not) fell into the second spot with $12 million, while Smart People brought in $4.2 million, earning a spot in seventh place (that's like a C average, which is not very smart at all, but considering it was released in selected cities, it's a pretty triumphant premiere). Box office sweetheart, 21, took a fall to third place, which pushed the rest of its fellow champs down, especially George Clooney's Leatherheads (let's just hope this kills the forever mundane football genre once and for all). The biggest surprise of the week is seeing Superhero Movie and Drillbit Taylor still holding on to the top ten for dear life. (Whoever is still going to see these two movies needs to seriously reevaluate their movie choices and go see something better next week.)
The tally:
1. Prom Night, $22.7 million
2. Street Kings, $12 million
3. 21, $11 million
4. Nim's Island, $9 million
5. Leatherheads, $6.2 million
6. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, $6 million
7. Smart People, $4.2 million
8. The Ruins, $3.25 million
9. Superhero Movie, $3.1 million
10. Drillbit Taylor, $2 million
For the second week in a row, Sony's 21 emerged as the highest box office grosser, tackling a football movie, stomping a botanical gross out and sinking Jodie Foster's first kiddie movie since Bugsy Malone. 21 cashed in 25,000 purple chips, 25,000 black chips, and 4,000 green chips at the box office cashier's window, none of which came from yours truly. I saw it on a free screener and disliked it for turning an exciting, unpredictable novel into a dull, clichéd and predictable movie. My hatred must be due to my not being in the age bracket for such collegiate hero worship bullshit, I mean shenanigans.
Universal counted on my age bracket to show up at Leatherheads, the George Clooney -- Renee Zellweger football starrer. Enough old fogeys showed up to give it a respectable second place finish, but a Universal exec said she was "disappointed" with second place. I believe the D word she wanted was "delusional," as that's what Universal was if it expected the 35 and over crowd to show up in a bigger configuration than the teenagers who sprouted from their loins. They should thank the lucky stars that share the sky with their logo that $13.5 million worth of horny old women and dirty old men drove their Little Rascals down to the theater to ogle Dr. Ross and Bridget Jones. Leatherheads is a rom-com/sports movie set in the 1920's, a time that must seem like10,000 B.C. to the 12-year old boy itching to see someone younger than their parents.
In an interview, Jodie Foster said Nim's Island, the third place finisher this week, was the first movie of hers she could take her kids to. She neglected to mention that she couldn't take her kids to her 11-year old co-star Abigail Breslin's last movie either. Nim's Island dug up $13.3 million worth of buried treasure, making it respectable but no Harry Potter. Nim placed ahead of the other novel adaption opening this week, Scott B. Smith's The Ruins. The tale of flesh eating vines in Apocalyptoland chewed $7.8 million worth of ass off its pretty stars, tasty enough for fifth place.
A dollar's a dollar, no matter how earned, says Horton, whose who hearing hoedown hopped down to fourth place with 9.1 million. PG-13 rated trifecta Superhero Movie, Drillbit Taylor and Shutter pulled the teens who saw 21 last week, keeping them on the chart. Next week, all these teenagers should help Universal get revenge on Sony when Forgetting Sarah Marshall opens.
The prehistoric action movie 10,000 B.C. remained both in the top ten and well short of ever breaking even. Unless it opens in Bedrock to sell out crowds, 10,000 B.C. will become extinct on the top 10 next week and a flop forever.
The tally:
1. 21, $15.1 million
2. Leatherheads, $13.5 million
3. Nim's Island, $13.3 million
4. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! , $9.1 million
5. The Ruins, $7.8 million
6. Superhero Movie, $5.4 million
7. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, $3.51 million
8. Drillbit Taylor, $3.5 million
9. Shutter, $2.9 million
10. 10,000 B.C. , $2.8 million
BLOG ARCHIVES
The Moviefile
May 2013
17 Entries
April 2013
19 Entries
March 2013
28 Entries
February 2013
16 Entries
January 2013
16 Entries
December 2012
21 Entries
November 2012
19 Entries
October 2012
20 Entries
September 2012
19 Entries
August 2012
19 Entries
July 2012
17 Entries
June 2012
24 Entries
May 2012
21 Entries
April 2012
22 Entries
March 2012
26 Entries
February 2012
24 Entries
January 2012
25 Entries
December 2011
27 Entries
November 2011
22 Entries
October 2011
22 Entries
September 2011
29 Entries
August 2011
27 Entries
July 2011
30 Entries
June 2011
25 Entries
May 2011
13 Entries
April 2011
23 Entries
March 2011
22 Entries
February 2011
33 Entries
January 2011
39 Entries
December 2010
21 Entries
November 2010
29 Entries
October 2010
23 Entries
September 2010
25 Entries
August 2010
26 Entries
July 2010
29 Entries
June 2010
36 Entries
May 2010
22 Entries
April 2010
26 Entries
March 2010
30 Entries
February 2010
19 Entries
January 2010
19 Entries
December 2009
15 Entries
November 2009
21 Entries
October 2009
27 Entries
September 2009
30 Entries
August 2009
28 Entries
July 2009
34 Entries
June 2009
27 Entries
May 2009
24 Entries
April 2009
23 Entries
March 2009
18 Entries
February 2009
30 Entries
January 2009
56 Entries
December 2008
51 Entries
November 2008
61 Entries
October 2008
102 Entries
September 2008
86 Entries
August 2008
99 Entries
July 2008
116 Entries
June 2008
95 Entries
May 2008
86 Entries
April 2008
67 Entries
March 2008
14 Entries