Box Office.. blah blah

Dude here again. I just got back from Vegas. It was a long, arduous, and extremely hot journey. I still have some money left and my legs aren't broken, but it's awfully late, so you get truncated numbers and that's about it and you'll like it.

This weekend, two completely different movies make an obscene amount of money. Close to the amount of money I lost this weekend. But not really. 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. Wall-E (BV) - $62.5, 3992 screens, week 1, $62.5 total

2. Wanted (Uni) - $51.1, 3175 screens, week 1, $51.1 total

3. Get Smart (WB) - $20.0, 3915 screens, week 2, $77.2 total

4. Kung Fu Panda (Par/DW) - $11.7, 3670 screens, week 4, $179.3 total

5. The Incredible Hulk (Uni) - $9.2, 3349 screens, week 3, $115.5 total

6. The Love Guru (Par)- $5.4, 3012 screens, week 2, $25.3 total

7. Indiana Jones... (Par) - $5.0, 2556 screens, week 6, $299.9 total

8. The Happening (Fox) - $3.8, 2483 screens, week 3, $59.0 total

9. Sex and the City (NL)- $3.7, 1755 screens, week 5, $140.1 total

10. You Don't Mess With The Zohan (Sony) - $3.2, 2147 screens, week 4, $91.2 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Pretty much exactly what they present themselves to be.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week,Will Smith comes to reclaim his Fourth of July Crown! And one week closer to The Dark Knight!

Until next weekend....

Box Office Report: Beyond Thunderdome

Dude here again. Back in full swing. Not letting my parents do my work for me until next year. Or their birthdays. Whichever comes first, really. Or if I go back home to visit them. That's what they get for not having wireless.

This weekend, there was a great showdown between two comedies. And much like Thunderdome, two men enter, one man leave. 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. Get Smart (WB) - $39.1, 3911 screens, week 1, $39.1 total

2. Kung Fu Panda (Par/DW) - $21.7, 4053 screens, week 3, $155.5 total

3. The Incredible Hulk (Uni) - $21.5, 3508 screens, week 2, $96.4 total

4. The Love Guru (Par)- $14.0, 3012 screens, week 1, $14.0 total

5. The Happening (Fox) - $10.0, 2986 screens, week 2, $50.2 total

6. Indiana Jones... (Par) - $8.4, 3171 screens, week 5, $290.8 total

7. You Don't Mess With The Zohan (Sony) - $7.2, 3278 screens, week 3, $84.0 total

8. Sex and the City (NL)- $6.4, 2442 screens, week 4, $132.3 total

9. Iron Man (Par) - $4.0, 1912 screens, week 8, $304.7 total

10. The Strangers (Rogue) - $1.9, 1578 screens, week 4, $49.5 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, in the showdown between comedies, Get Smart takes the cake over The Love Guru. It's kind of strange, really (possibly ironic in the Alanis sense of the word), that Mike Myers, a man known for comedy through the 90s, falters miserably with a new character of his creating (even though he apparently recycles all his old jokes), while Steve Carell, one of the faces of comedy in this millennium, overtakes the weekend, but he appears in a movie that's a remake of a TV show from the 1960s. Noble Prize winning books have been less complex than that. (Well, some). But yeah, that's pretty bad for Love Guru, but at least we're now spared the sequels.

The Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk are duking it out for second place. My money is on the panda. animated movies usually take in more on the weekends, plus with schools letting out... you know what? I'm boring myself with this paragraph. Oh, but the Incredible Hulk is performing pretty much the same as Ang Lee's Hulk, but this Incredible Hulk has the distinction of a lower percentage drop between first and second weekend. (Though not by much).

Oh, Iron Man became the first movie this year to reach $300 million. Whoopee!

The Happening... has anyone seen this movie? It's pretty amazing. And not in a good way. Much like my other favorite film of the year, 10,000 B.C., The Happening is an unbelievably entertaining moviegoing experience. Not because it's scary or suspenseful or full of insight, but because it's utterly hilarious. And that's not intentional, which makes the movie that much more special. And yet, I still think it's better than The Village.

Below the radar, Brick Lane, an adaptation of a book that's received a lot of acclaim in written and cinematic form, opened up on 7 screens and took in $50,500. Impressive. Kit Kittridge, an All American Girl, another attempt to turn a doll into a movie, opened up on 5 screens and took in $223,000, which gives it the highest per screen average of the week.

There was also a movie that opened up called Baghead. This amuses me because back in high school english class, we had to perform monologues in front of the class. My friend Brian did not prepare for it, and came into class with a shopping bag over his head, performing a monologue from the play "Baghead Johnson" where he lamented the fact that he has a bag for a head. It was hilarious, so he naturally got an F for the project, but a solid B+ in my book for effort. I doubt the Baghead movie bears any similarities, but it made me smile.

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, Wall-E! And Wanted! And only a few more weeks until The Dark Knight!

Until next weekend....

Sweet Merciful Christ on Crutches!!!!

Ong Bak 2!!!!!!!!!!!! Bow before the mighty power, before it crushes your throat with its shins!

Box Office Report: Dad's Day Edition

Dude here again. In all fairness to my parents, I decided, since it is Father's Day, to let old Father Dude take a crack at what I do every week. (Since Mom did such a great job last time. The only thing is, my dad's a little... direct. And a man of few words. I just set the template, and let him go. Let's see what he does.

This weekend, they made another Hulk movie? I thought that came out. I didn't like it too much. 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. The Incredible Hulk (Uni) - $54.5, 3505 screens, week 1, $54.5 total

2. Kung Fu Panda (Par/DW) - $34.3, 4136 screens, week 2, $117.9 total

3. The Happening (Fox) - $30.5, 2986 screens, week 1, $30.5 total

4. You Don't Mess With The Zohan (Sony) - $16.4, 3466 screens, week 2, $68.7 total

5. Indiana Jones... (Par) - $13.5, 3804 screens, week 4, $275.3 total

6. Sex and the City (NL)- $10.1, 3155 screens, week 3, $119.9 total

7. Iron Man (Par) - $5.1, 2403 screens, week 7, $297.4 total

8. The Strangers (Rogue) - $4.0, 2410 screens, week 3, $45.3 total

9. Prince Caspian (BV) - $3.0, 2308 screens, week 5, $131.7 total

10. What Happens In Vegas (Fox)- $1.7, 1422 screens, week 6, $75.7 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? They made another Hulk movie? It seems to have taken in a lot of money.

The Happening... well, it happened to make a lot of money also! (Dude's note- He couldn't stop laughing at that one for quite some time).

Indiana Jones is still out. Look at these movies, it's all the same as twenty years ago. Why don't they make movies like Escape From New York anymore? That was a movie. Are they making a sequel to 300?

Sex and the City, god, your mother dragged me to this. Now she can't complain when I make her see that Death Race movie. That movie's going to hurt you sideways!

That's all I have. It's father's day and I want to watch golf on the HD. Why don't you send me cards anymore?

There you have my dad's amazing break down. Next week, Get Smart (Dad really wants to see this) and Love Guru (which he likens to having rabid wolverines systematically attacking his crotch) both open up, in a showdown of mediocre comedies on the same weekend!!!

Until next weekend....

Awwwwwww....

(And click here for Transporter 3 action... en francais!)

Box Office Report: Vaguely Martial Arts Related Edition

Dude here again. I hope you had a good weekend. I had a good day at the office on Friday. One of my supervisors said if I delivered an item to one of the executives dressed as a ninja, he would buy me lunch. and with that one swift decision, I became the office prank monkey. The sad part? Nobody at my job really seemed to question that I was walking around the office dressed as a ninja.

This weekend, speaking of ninjas (like that segue?) the Kung fu Panda proved that messing with the Zohan pays off in big ways. Ways that the Speed Racer wishes it knew. 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. Kung Fu Panda (Par/DW) - $60.0, 4114 screens, week 1, $60.0 total

2. You Don't Mess With The Zohan (Sony) - $40.0, 3462 screens, week 1, $40.0 total

3. Indiana Jones... (Par) - $22.8, 4190 screens, week 3, $253.0 total

4. Sex and the City (NL)- $21.3, 3325 screens, week 2, $99.2 total

5. The Strangers (Rogue) - $9.2, 2477 screens, week 2, $37.6 total

6. Iron Man (Par) - $7.5, 2931 screens, week 6, $288.8 total

7. Prince Caspian (BV) - $5.5, 3065 screens, week 4, $125.8 total

8. What Happens In Vegas (Fox)- $3.4, 2366 screens, week 5, $72.2 total

9. Baby Mama (Uni) - $.0779, 922 screens, week 7, $57.9 total

10. Made of Honor (Sony) - $0.775, 740 screens, week 6, $44.6 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means people really felt the need to see a Panda voiced by Jack Black perform some kung fu. In animated form. $60 million is an impressive debut, and I believe in our "every weekend is a record breaker" times, this is the "Highest Grossing Dreamworks Non-Shrek-Sequel Debut Of All Time!" Let that sink in your hat rack for a moment.

Adam Sandler had an impressive debut in his Zohan movie. That's all I really have to say about that. Sex and the City dropped steeply, but will most likely take in more than these estimates proclaim, and will overtake Indiana Jones. There's something emasculating about that. But not really.

Opening up in limited release, Mongol, a film about Ghengis Khan that was a nominee for Best Foreign Film (to find out what country, do it yourself, I'm too lazy for research) opened up on 5 screens and took in $133,000. Impressive, as it also had the highest per screen average. Higher even than the Zohan or the Panda.

And in the "Because It's There" series: The Forbidden Kingdom took in $88,000 on 160 screens, bringing its grand total to $51,925,000 in 8 weeks.

There you have my (strangely martial arts related) break down. Next week, Hulk: the Apology! And as an extra added bonus, The Happening happens.

Until next weekend....

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....