Box Office Report: Wild Edition

Dude here again. It seems I have some numbers to report to you all. But I just don't feel like reporting them. I'm too wrapped up in a fantasy playland in my mind, where I run around, and large muppets talk to me and jump around and are all around awesome. And we build forts.

If only there were some movie that could adequately convey this...

This weekend, a movie that doesn't sound at all like my dreamworld opened up, along with this week's remake-du-jour and something else. Plus last week's movies continue to dominate! 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. Where The Wild Things Are (WB) - $32.4, 3735 screens, week 1, $32.4 total

2. Law Abiding Citizen (Over)- $21.2, 2890 screens, week 1, $21.2 total

3. Paranormal Activity (Par) - $20.1, 760 screens, week 4, $33.7 total

4. Couples Retreat (Uni) $17.9, 3009 screens, week 2, $63.3 total

5. The Stepfather (ScrGms) - $12.3, 2734 screens, week 1, $12.3 total

6. Cloudy With A Change Of Meatballs (Sony) - $8.1, 3037 screens, week 5, $108.2 total

7. Zombieland (Sony)- $7.8, 3171 screens, week 3, $60.8 total

8. Toy Story 1&2- 3-D (BV)- $3.0, 1489 screens, week 3, $28.5 total

9. Surrogates (BV) - $1.9, 2326 screens, week 4, $36.3 total

10. The Invention Of Lying (WB)- $1.9, 1624 screens, week 3, $15.4 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that the Wild Things franchise can still pack them in the theaters. I didn't see it, was there a hot 3-way in this one? Or was it just another Kevin Bacon wang-fest?

Law Abiding Citizen also opened up well, and answered the age old question what would a movie where the guy from PS I Love You terrorizes the guy from Stealth!

I figured out why everyone's seeing Couples Retreat. It's gotta be the closest anyone can get to a tropical getaway in these calamitous economic times. MESSAGE!

And because we almost ran out of movies to remake and sanitize to a PG-13, they decided to remake The Stepfather. And it opened up to $12 million, which is crazy considering I had no idea it actually opened. I received an email from a friend while he was watching the movie, and while I normally abhor this practice, he informed me that the entire audience he saw it with stopped caring about 15 minutes in, and starting having conversations more interesting than the movie. And one woman was on the phone with someone, describing what was happening to whoever was on the other line. Astounding.

Paranormal Activity continues to kick ass, with the highest per screen average once again. I can't even figure out the math regarding the budget versus the profit, but I can assure you it's a large number, and one that most movies don't really make anymore. It's inspiring me to make a horror movie entirely on my cell phone. I'll make the actors speak Esperanto, so that everyone will confuse it for a foreign horror film and call it brilliant, no matter what the quality actually is.

Below the radar, New York I Love You, a quasi-sequel to the short film fest Paris, I Love You, opened up on 119 screens and took in $372,000. Not bad, considering Brett Ratner is one of the directors. Also opening in limited release is Black Dynamite, taking in $141,000 on 70 screens. DY-NA-MITE!!!

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, what's this? They made another Saw movie?!?! Didn't the dude die 3 movies ago? I understand that Freddy and Jason can come back, but they make a point of humanizing the Jigsaw, to the point where we watched him die. After a nauseating brain surgery scene, no less. Oh, and something else comes out next week, too.

Until next weekend.......