Box Office Breakdown: Forbidden Kingdom Kicks Past Forgetting Sarah
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate, Sony, Universal, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Independent, Period, Religious, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
Favorable reviews and Judd Apatow’s association helped Forgetting Sarah Marshall nab a second place finish this past weekend. While some may have expected the adult comedy to debut at #1, the movie was unfortunately inaccessible to large segment of ticket buyers.
Meanwhile, Marshall‘s R-rated raunch allowed fellow new entry The Forbidden Kingdom to edge right past it. The action film, which brought martial artists Jackie Chan and Jet Li together for the first time, earned $21.4 million—just enough for the win.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Forbidden Kingdom Kicks Past Forgetting Sarah
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Apatow Scores With Sarah Marshall
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Universal, Romance, Comedy, Casting, Trailers, Upcoming Releases,
Judd Apatow has brought hope to the comedy genre yet again. The Freaks and Geeks creator has teamed up with past co-worker, Jason Segel (SLC Punk, How I Met Your Mother) to bring movie-goers his upcoming eccentric, new generation romantic comedy: Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Written by Segel and helmed by first-time director Nicholas Stoller, the film follows music composer Peter Bretter (Segel), who was dating TV star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) for five years until she breaks up with him for British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). At the suggestion of his step-brother (Bill Hader), Bretter escapes to Hawaii in hopes of recovering, only to discover that Marshall came to the same resort with her new boy toy. He then is able to avoid committing suicide thanks to hotel receptionist Rachael (Mila Kunis). The laughs continue throughout with appearances by the regular Apatow bunch: Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, and more.
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Box Office Breakdown: Resident Evil Fights Off Competition
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Lionsgate, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adventure, Drama, Family, Horror, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
Between the cheesy trailer and a cast that includes Ashanti—I never would have predicted much for Resident Evil: Extinction. But given the success of ‘three-quels’ this year, I’m not sure why I was surprised. Extinction nearly doubled the the box office take of it’s nearest competitor (Good Luck Chuck) and had the biggest debut of any Resident Evil installment.
But the real winner this weekend may be Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. The film, based on the Jon Krakauer novel, earned over $51,000 per screen—one of the best averages ever for a movie in limited release. Given the full-hour coverage on Oprah last week, Wild will probably be able to build on its impressive debut. (The film goes nationwide on October 5th.)
Eastern Promises also turned out some promising numbers after its wide release. The film took in nearly $6 million in its second week (though it still underperformed the last David Cronenberg/Viggo Mortensen movie, A History of Violence). I’m hoping word-of-mouth about the fully-naked Mortensen fight scene (did I grab your attention?) will give this film the lasting power it deserves.
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This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: September 25, 2007
Posted by Johnny Mercedes Categories: Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Classics, Drama, Foreign, Foreign Language, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Thrillers, Home Entertainment, Lists, Upcoming Releases,
These are the high-def releases coming this Tuesday:
Blu-ray
- Black Book (R)—starring Carise van Houten and Sebastian Koch; directed by Paul Verhoeven.
- Gods and Generals (PG-13)—starring Jeff Daniels, Robert Duvall and Stephen Lang; directed by Ronald F. Maxwell
- Gothika (R)—starring Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr.; directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
- Memoirs of a Geisha (PG-13)—starring Ziyi Zang, Michelle Yeoh and Ken Watanabe; directed by Rob Marshall
- Tekkonkinkreet (R)—voiced by Alex Fernandez (English version); directed by Michael Arias
- Underworld (R)—starring Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy and Scott Speedman; directed by Len Wiseman
- The Wild Bunch (R)—starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and Warren Oates; directed by Sam Peckinpah
- Wyatt Earp (R)—starring Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman and David Andrews; directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Click to continue reading This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: September 25, 2007
Box Office Breakdown: The Brave One Reaches #1
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: FOCUS, Lionsgate, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Drama, Foreign, Horror, Independent, Period, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
The Brave One took in nearly $15 million in its debut, making it the #1 film of this past weekend. Although some may consider the gross disappointing for a Jodie Foster film, I choose to think of it as a feat for women.
I decided to do a little research today and came away with some very unsettling news. Since FilmCrunch started reporting Box Office numbers in mid-January, no female-led movie has reached the top of the pack. That’s unless you count Knocked Up with Katherine Heigl, and I don’t. Even then, that was almost 3 months ago.
Kyra Sedgwick, Glenn Close and Mary-Louise Parker made a stand for strong female roles during Sunday’s Emmys—and maybe it’s time that someone finally spoke up for women in film. Until then, I’ll be counting the days until Cate Blanchett makes her royal return in Elizabeth: The Golden Years (out October 12th).
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Box Office Breakdown: Yuma Ropes Up The Win
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: FOCUS, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Foreign, Horror, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
Audiences went old-school this weekend helping 3:10 to Yuma corral the box office crown. The well-received film, starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, marked the second week in a row a classic movie remake landed at #1. (Previous winner, Halloween slid down a notch this week).
Question now is: Will the success of Yuma spur an onslaught of Westerns? Given the lack of any real competition this weekend, it still may be too soon to say. But any speculation will probably be confirmed when Brad Pitt‘s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford opens on September 21.
A trend that probably won’t be coming back anytime soon? Brothers-desperately-trying-to-make-a-baby-to-make-their-father-happy-before-he-dies films. The Brothers Solomon delivered a pathetic $525,000 in its debut weekend. Granted, it didn’t show in many theaters (only 700)—but I’m guessing there was a reason for that.
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Box Office Breakdown: Holiday Comes Early For Halloween
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, MGM, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Weinstein Company, Action, Drama, Family, Horror, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
Rob Zombie’s remake of the classic film, Halloween, scared up over $30 million this weekend smashing Transporter 2‘s 2005 achievement ($20 million). Additionally, the horror film’s record gross capped off a successful summer for films overall. With fifteen movies over the $100 million mark, the movie industry soared past $4 billion domestically.
Unfortunately, Jason Statham’s War did very little to contribute to this landmark achievement. While he may have been a record-setter two years ago, his latest outing is slowly dropping off the charts. Meanwhile, the weekend’s other two major openings—Balls of Fury and Death Sentence—fared decently enough to at least make a showing.
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Box Office Breakdown: Geeks Fight Off Statham, Jet Li
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Foreign, Horror, Music, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
No, you are correct. Superbad is one of the few movies that has managed to stay at #1 for more than one week this summer. The movie that only cost $20 million to make now shares the Two-Timers title with Spider-Man 3 and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End. (And I’m guessing those movies cost a bit more to produce).
Not only did the high-schoolers hold back the action-packed War (starring Jason Statham and Jet Li), but so did the aging Bourne Ultimatum and British goof Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean’s Holiday).
Unfortunately, the Top 5 was so testosterone-laden that it didn’t leave any room for the film adaptation of The Nanny Diaries. I’m wondering if more women were eager to see that hunky Statham than be reminded of their bratty kids waiting at home…
1. Superbad, Sony, $18,044,369
2. The Bourne Ultimatum, Universal, $12,472,215
3. Rush Hour 3, New Line, $11,706,643
4. Mr. Bean’s Holiday, Universal, $9,889,780
5. War, Lionsgate, $9,820,089
6. The Nanny Diaries, Weinstein Co., $7,480,927
7. The Simpsons Movie, Fox, $4,317,689
8. Stardust, Paramount, $3,872,560
9. Hairspray, New Line, $3,265,384
10. The Invasion, Warner Bros, $3,093,428
Box Office Breakdown: It’s Super To Be Bad
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Music, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Books, Lists, New Releases,
The Judd Apatow train is bound to hit a roadblock at some point—but for the time being, it’s full steam ahead. Superbad opened impressively with over $30 million this weekend making it the third Apatow-related project in a row to accomplish this feat (the others being Talledega Nights and Knocked Up). This is, of course, not taking into consideration the uber-sleeper hit The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Meanwhile, there was nothing super about Nicole Kidman’s latest outing. The Invasion, the latest version The Body Snatchers, scared up a dismal $5.9 million (and that’s despite Daniel Craig’s hunky presence). But I predict a much stronger outing for these two later this year with The Golden Compass.
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Box Office Breakdown: Almighty Only Does Alrighty
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Disney, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Political, Religious, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,
Question: When is being the #1 movie just not enough? (Hint: You have three chances to answer this question correctly).
Answer(s):
- When the critics don’t really have anything good to say about you
- When you made less than 1/2 of what your predecessor did on opening weekend
- When it cost over $175 million just to create you
Apparently having God on your side doesn’t guarantee you heavenly box office numbers. Evan Almighty, the follow-up to 2003’s Bruce Almighty, failed to bring in a large congregation this past weekend. Although it did better than the rest of the flock, it’s $32 million take paled in comparison to Bruce’s $68 million opening. And then there’s that glaring $175 million bill…
Of course, we shouldn’t feel so badly about Steve Carell’s career. I have a feeling that God is providing for him in other ways.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Almighty Only Does Alrighty
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