Sunday, June 01, 2008

Box Office Report: Sex-y Edition. (I'm so ashamed...)

Dude here again. Sure, some movies came out in theaters. But the only movie that matters at all this year was just released on DVD. It's called "Rambo". And it is, despite the company not using my pre-ready quote, the greatest motion picture in the history of all time. And all these other movies that opened up this weekend and are making boatloads of dough severely dim in comparison to the sheer grandeur of Rambo.

This weekend, many box office reports will have horribly pun-ny headlines about how Sex sells. Because this Sex and the City movie opened up. And probably because there's a lot of sex in it. If not, that's a horribly misleading title. 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).

1. Sex and the City (NL)- $55.7, 3285 screens, week 1, $55.7 total

2. Indiana Jones... (Par) - $46.0, 4264 screens, week 2, $216.8 total

3. The Strangers (Rogue) - $20.7, 2467 screens, week 1, $20.7 total

4. Iron Man (Par) - $14.0, 3650 screens, week 5, $276.6 total

5. Prince Caspian (BV) - $13.0, 3801 screens, week 3, $115.6 total

6. What Happens In Vegas (Fox)- $6.8, 3086 screens, week 4, $66.0 total

7. Baby Mama (Uni) - $2.2, 1784 screens, week 6, $56.1 total

8. Speed Racer (WB) - $2.1, 2070 screens, week 4, $40.5 total

9. Made of Honor (Sony) - $2.0, 1905 screens, week 5, $42.9 total

10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Uni) - $1.0, 768 screens, week 7, $60.4 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means a lot of cosmo-sipping ladies got all their gal pals together (and/or reluctant man candy) and trotted out to the theater with the same excitement men reserve for a film like Rambo. Sex and The City, one of the last New Line projects still around, opened up to a nice $26 million alone on Friday, and took the weekend with a solid $55 million. (Fifth highest R-Rated opening OF ALL TIME!!!) I have not seen the movie (A small fear leads me to believe someone might force me to in the near future) but at two and a half hours, and with an R-rating, this is mighty impressive. Saddening, but impressive. the film;s no Rambo, after all.

Also in a fairly impressive debut, The Strangers took in about $20 million. Not bad at all. One wonders if it would have done better opening on a weekend by itself in earlier times, but this is still a good debut, and I believe it is the largest debut for a film by Rogue, who have brought us fine cinematic treats like Shaun of the Dead, Unleashed, and Doomsday. Although horror films kind of get waysided this time of year for the big tentpoles, The Strangers looks to fill that void, and succeeds.

As for holdovers, Iron Man continues to metaphorically beat the tank. And Prince Caspian continues to not be that impressive. (Although, the head of Disney claimed it was because the film was released in May, which makes a whole lot of sense because movies released in May rarely make money or break records). Indiana Jones now has the distinction of the film in the series that made the most money and was the most disappointing. And then there's the tragic tale of old Speed Racer, where the less said, the better.

Opening up in limited release, the funniest movie I saw this year, The Foot Fist Way, opened up on 4 screens and took in $36,000. It expands next week, and if you get a chance, I highly recommend you seeing it. Also opening, Stuck, a film by Stuart "ReAnimator" Gordon, about a man stuck in a girl's windshield (I wish I was making that up) opened up on 2 screens for a $10,000 haul. And Tarsem's The Fall expanded after a few weeks of limited release, expanded and took in around$360,000

And in the "Because It's There" series: Superhero Movie took in $78,000 on 157 screens, bringing its grand total to $25,634,000 in 10 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week, an Adam Sandler movie and a movie about an animated panda that performs kung fu duke it out to be the king and queen of the prom that is the box office weekend.

Until next weekend....

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