Sunday, August 17, 2008

Another Box Office Report

Dude here again. How about this Bigfoot discovery? Between that, the Chupacabra filmed running along the Mexican border, and that Montauk Monster, it's a pretty exciting time to be around! This just means that every movie is right. Always remember that. Movies never lie. And neither do people who bring monsters to the public eye.

This weekend, it finally happened. The Unthinkable. Batman has been dethroned. And a Star Wars movie didn't open to the number one spot either. Many a tear is shed. 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. Tropic Thunder (Par/DW) - $26.0, 3319 screens, week 1, $37.0 total (wed open)

2. The Dark Knight (WB)- $16.7, 3590 screens, week 5, $471.4 total

3. Star Wars: Clone Wars (WB)- $15.5, 3452 screens, week 1, $15.5 total

4. Mirrors (Fox)- $11.1, 2664 screens, week 1, $11.1 total

5. Pineapple Express (Sony) $10.0, 3072 screens, week 2, $62.9 total

6. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Uni) - $8.6, 3363 screens, week 3, $86.6 total

7. Mamma Mia! (Uni) - $6.4, 2771 screens, week 5, $116.4 total

8. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (WB) - $5.9, 2714 screens, week 2, $32.1 total

9. Step Brothers (Sony) - $5.0, 2648 screens, week 4, $90.8 total

10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (MGM/Wein) - $3.7, 692 screens, week 1, $3.7 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, like I said before, Batman is no longer number one. Sure, it surpassed the original Star Wars in terms of all time gross, and is the #2 movie of all time (where it will most likely stay for a long time). But Ben Stiller knocked him down. The Focker beat Batman. Granted, he had help from Iron Man and Danny McBride, but still. Tropic Thunder takes the cake for the weak. It's the same sort of celebration Lost In Space had when it finally knocked off Titanic from the top spot.

And Star Wars: Clone Wars met with terrible reviews. TERRIBLE reviews. And came in third, making this the first Star Wars movie to a) not open at #1; b) not have the 20th Century Fox Logo; c) or the opening crawl; and d) not have John Williams music. I don't even think it should be considered a Star Wars movie, but apparently since Yoda's in it, it does. I wish Samuel L. Jackson did his voice over in the manner we all wish he would.

Mirrors. There's a horror movie called Mirrors that also opened this weekend. I'm too tired to think of a pun related to reflecting a gross, but it did just alright. And the new Woody Allen movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona took in $3.7 million, which is really really good for a Woody Allen opening.

Below the radar, Fly Me To The Moon, a 3-D movie about flies going into space, took in $2 million on 452 screens. As we've learned from this summer, nobody wants to see movies about animals going into space. Unless they're chimps. Space Chimps. Also, Henry Poole Is Here, a spiritually uplifting movie that stars Luke Wilson. It took in $800,000 on just over 500 screens. That's already better than Idiocracy. Which is a shame, because Idiocracy is basically the harsh reality version of Wall-E.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, if it's the end of summer, there must be a Jason Statham movie coming out... DEATH RACE!

Until next weekend....

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