A new Box Office Report!

Dude here again. I missed last week. due to the fact that I was in Vegas. There was no zombie outbreak, like I was lead to believe from last week's #1 movie, although I guess there WERE zombies in a metaphoric sense. But, I'm not in jail, I'm not married (anymore), I've sobered up, and my computer is working again. So it's all good.

This weekend, The Rock reclaims his crown (sadly, not as the Scorpion King) and snags the box office away from the string of R-rated number 1 movies we've been having lately. 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. The Game Plan (BV) - $22.6, 3103 screens, week 1, $22.6 total

2. The Kingdom (Uni) - $17.6, 2793 screens, week 1, $17.6 total

3. Resident Evil: Extinction (SGems) - $8.0, 2828 screens, week 2, $36.7 total

4. Good Luck Chuck (LGF) - $6.3, 2612 screens, week 2, $23.5 total

5. 3:10 to Yuma (LGF) - $4.1, 3006 screens, week 4, $43.9 total

6. The Brave One (WB) - $3.7, 2837 screens, week 3, $30.8 total

7. Mr. Woodcock (NL) - $3.0, 2195 screens, week 3, $19.6 total

8. Eastern Promises (Focus) - $2.8, 1408 screens, week 3, $11.2 total

9. Sydney White (Uni) - $2.6, 2106 screens, week 2, $8.5 total

10. Across The Universe (Sony)- $2.0, 339 screens, week 3, $5.5 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that my theory is correct: People Love The Rock! Seriously, he's tough to beat. And when Disney snags him and puts him in a heartwarming family comedy, people will come.

The Kingdom, a pretty kick ass action flick, took second place with a respectable $17 million, but it was predicted to earn much higher numbers. This adds to the recent theory that people aren't ready to watch films set in the middle east, given the current global climate.

Last week's top earners moved down. Everything's slipping, and nothing is doing that great. It will pick up in October, though. Or November.

Below the radar, the new Wes Anderson movie The Darjeeling Limited, opened up on two screens (as well as the New York Film Festival) and took in $140,000, which gives it the highest per screen average of the week. Coming in second in theater averages is Ang Lee's controversial new flick Lust, Caution (which was released with an NC-17 rating in the states) opened up on one screen and took in $67,000. On one screen! Impressive. Whether this film gets a wider release remains to be seen, as most theater chains don't carry NC-17 films, even though those are the best movies to sneak into!

And in the "Because It's There" series: WAR took in $43,000 on 104 screens, bringing it's grand total to $22,468,000 in 6 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week brings us a whole new crop of movies, including another middle grade fantasy book adaptation, and a Ben Stiller/Farelly Brothers comedy. And I heard a rumor that a new Uwe Boll movie is coming out soon. One can only hope!

Until next weekend....