Box Office Report: Bride Wars Finally Opened!!!!!

Dude here again. It seems like life is returning to normal again, as January is in full swing bringing colder temperatures (to those in the Northern Hemisphere, I mean) and a barrage of crappy movies released that weren't good enough to release during the other eleven months of the year.

This weekend, brides versus babies! but are they any match for that dog movie that's been out and capturing the hearts and minds for the past two weeks? 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. Gran Torino (WB) $29.0, 2808 screens, week 5, $40.0 total

2. Bride Wars (Fox)- $21.5, 3226 screens, week 1, $21.5 total

3. The Unborn (Uni) - $21.0, 2357 screens, week 1, $21.0 total

4. Marley and Me (Fox) - $11.3, 3478 screens, week 3, $123.7 total

5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Par) - $9.4, 2947 screens, week 3, $94.3 total

6. Bedtime Stories (BV) - $8.5, 3511 screens, week 3, $97.1 total

7. Valkyrie (UA)- $6.6, 2838 screens, week 3, $71.5 total

8. Yes Man (WB)- $6.1, 2955 screens, week 4, $89.4 total

9. Not Easily Broken (ScrGms) - $5.6, 724 screens, week 1, $5.6 total

10. Seven Pounds (Sony) - $3.9, 2456 screens, week 4, $66.8 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that angry, racist Clint Eastwood attracted more viewers than brides or unborn babies. And that's a good thing. Gran Torino is a solid movie anchored by a classic Eastwood performance of angry. See it for yourself, and just watch him seethe at everybody. It's pretty terrific.

But since Clint has proved that he can pretty much kick anybody's ass, that leaves a struggle to fight for second place. Both The Unborn and Bride Wars are making claims that are very similar to each other, and they might even change positions by the time final numbers are disputed. But one this is for certain: both these movies look terrible. Except that creepy walking backwards creature from Bride Wars. Or Unborn. I don't remember which is which. All I know is that I don't want to see either.

Interesting to note that the top three flicks all broke $20 million. Don't think it's a record or anything, but it just means that a lot of money was being spent at the movies this weekend. Although all the big holiday flicks have begun to taper off, making way for the new crop of crap! (January is often called the dumping ground, as I believe I always remind you all of every January).

Some move called Not Easily Broken opened up in 9th place. I don't know much about this movie, but searching the interwebs has shown that critics don't have nearly as much vitriol and bile for this film as they do with Bride Wars and Unborn. So there you go.

Below the radar, all the awards' season flicks are getting significant boosts and adding to their tallies. Which is good, but since there are so many of those films to bother mentioning (in addition to my being supremely lazy, but really because I'm writing this while at work) I'm not going to mention them.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, My Bloody Valentine 3-D is here to wipe that blue hair out of Kate Hudson's head. With a pickaxe.

Until next weekend.......