This weekend, a trio of newcomers tried to steal the crown from Superbad, and all three failed miserably. That's the way the cookie crumbles, I suppose. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Monday. Just to prove me wrong).
1. Superbad (Sony) - $18.0, 2948 screens, week 2, $68.5 total
2. The Bourne Ultimatum (Uni) - $12.36, 3679 screens, week 4, $185.1 total
3. Rush Hour 3 (NL) - $12.25, 3408 screens, week 3, $109.0 total
4. Mr. Bean's Holiday (Uni)- $10.1, 1714 screens, week 1, $10.1 total
5. War (LGF) - $10.0, 2277 screens, week 1, $10.0 total
6. The Nanny Diaries (MGM/Wein Co) - $7.8, 2629 screens, week 1, $7.8 total
7. The Simpsons Movie (Fox) - $4.4, 2600 screens, week 5, $173.4 total
8. Stardust (Par) - $3.9, 2339 screens, week 3, $26.4 total
9. Hairspray (NL) - $3.4, 2016 screens, week 6, $107.4 total
10. The Invasion (WB) - $3.1, 2776 screens, week 2, $11.5 total
So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, if you're Superbad, you kicked a lot of arse once again. Newcomers be damned, McLovin and the crew took in another $18 million and number one spot (Curiously, Knocked Up never even made it to the top spot once, no less TWICE!). This, coupled with the success of other Apatow projects, have brought analysts clamoring the familiar claim "The return of the R-Rated comedy", which has never gone away, really. It just hasn't been as profitable. (See Idiocracy, Clerks 2, Reno 911: Miami, Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, etc). Anyway, it's possible Superbad might take the top spot next week as well, and that would be fantastic.
Of the newcomers this week, Mr. Bean took in slightly more than Jason Statham and Jet Li, but watch these numbers flip flop when the actuals are reported. While low for openings, Mr. Bean actually has nothing to worry about, being that the film has opened up all over the world already and has taken in close to $200 million. People like their Bean. War, however, did not perform so well, and given that August is the time when Jason Statham movies flourish (Cellular, Transporter 2, Crank) this comes as a bit of a shock. Plus, when you have action movies going against Bourne, it's fairly obvious that Bourne is gonna win.
The Nanny Diaries also opened up this weekend, and I can tell you the only reason I had any interest in seeing it is because the directors were the ones responsible for bringing us American Splendor, one of the greatest films of this decade. This one, however, is apparently nowhere near as good, as it treads a line between wanting to be Devil Wears Prada and something else entirely. Plus it features Scarlett Johanson, whom most people think is "hawt", but I think she can't act her way out of paper bag. (And yes, I am including Match Point in that argument.)
Below the radar, the latest Sam Jackson as a homeless prodigy _____ (fill in the blank), Resurrecting The Champ, opened up to $1.8 million on 1600 screens. Guess the snakes need to come back.
And in the "Because It's There" series: Death at a Funeral took in $1,083,000 on 261 screens, bringing it's grand total to $2,939,000 in 2 weeks.
There you have my break down. Next week, the return of the PG-13 Rated comedy full of jokes about balls! And Kevin Bacon doing the Charles Bronson thing! And, oh yeah, Rob Zombie's Halloween, which pretty much obliterates my earlier prediction that Superbad could take the top spot again next week. However, I still think it's very foolish to release a movie called Halloween at the end of August. That just seems silly to me. It will probably make obscene amounts of money.
Until next weekend....
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