Box Office Breakdown: Hancock Soars to #1
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Picturehouse, Columbia Pictures, Disney, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,

For theatergoers, the Fourth of July holiday has come to mean fireworks, barbecues….and now Will Smith. This past weekend, the powerhouse’s latest blockbuster, Hancock, took in over $62 million giving Smith his eighth straight #1 debut. In total, the Sony Pictures production grossed nearly $104 million during a 5 1/2 day period.
In addition to being Will’s second-best opener ever (I Am Legend set his record), Hancock was the actor’s fifth movie to reach first place over the same holiday weekend. (Men in Black, Men in Black II, Independence Day and Wild Wild West were the other four.) The Peter Berg film also became the third best July 4th grosser behind Transformers and Spider-Man 2.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Hancock Soars to #1
Variety
Advertisement
Box Office Breakdown: Wall-E and Wanted Both Winners
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,

Although we haven’t yet reached the 4th of July weekend, theatergoers apparently had plenty of time and money to spend over the past three days. And while a cute robot had the honor of placing first, Angelina Jolie also came out a winner herself.
When the final numbers were tallied, Wall-E and Wanted each wound up grossing over $50 million since Friday. The Disney/Pixar film edged out the action flick by nearly $13 million dollars, but the comic book adaptation had the best per screen average for any entry in the Top Ten ($16,040). Meanwhile, both films forced a few rewrites in the history books.
- Wall-E had the third largest debut for a Pixar film. It’s total fell behind The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.2 million).
- The animated comedy also had the best Friday open for any Pixar release.
- The James McAvoy feature topped all R-rated premieres during the month of June.
- Wanted also gave Jolie her largest first weekend ever.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Wall-E and Wanted Both Winners
Variety
Box Office Breakdown: Steve Carell Outsmarts Mike Myers
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Picturehouse, 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Picturehouse, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

What was being billed as a huge comedy showdown turned out to be a pathetic fight. The debut of Get Smart easily outperformed Mike Myers’ live-action return to nab the #1 spot this past weekend.
Smart, starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson, picked up $38.6 million over the past three days - nearly $20 million more than The Love Guru. The big-screen adaptation of the ‘60s television series also averaged $9891 per screen, over twice as much as Guru ($4617) did.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Steve Carell Outsmarts Mike Myers
Variety
AFI’s 10 Top 10
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Animation, Drama, Family, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Sports, Lists,

If you were busy watching the Boston Celtic dominate the Los Angeles Lakers last night, you probably missed CBS’ latest AFI special. For this year’s countdown, a jury of “over 1,500 leaders from the creative community” helped select the American Film Institute‘s Top 10 Films in 10 different genres.
You can find the titles announced in yesterday’s 3-hour special after the jump.
Click to continue reading AFI’s 10 Top 10
AFIFI
Box Office Breakdown: The Incredible Hulk Pulls in the Green
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

It looks like ticket buyers are willing to give some things a second chance after all…
Despite horrible reviews for 2003’s Hulk, wary theatergoers turned out in big numbers for the latest big-screen version of The Incredible Hulk. The newest rendition, starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, came in first place after earning $55 million during the past three days. While that total falls behind Ang Lee’s version (that movie debuted with $62 million), it did better than expected. The 2008 update had the best showing for any film over Father’s Day weekend (passing Silver Surfer‘s $58 million) and should also have a longer shelf life thanks to favorable word of mouth.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: The Incredible Hulk Pulls in the Green
Variety
Box Office Breakdown: Kung Fu Panda Fights Off Competition
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Family, Horror, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

Theatergoers in need of more family-friendly fare pushed Kung Fu Panda to the top of the charts this past weekend. The comedy - and its $60.2 million take - was the third best animated opener for DreamWorks Animation (behind the first two Shrek films) and the 8th of all time (just ahead of Cars). Panda was also the first time a Jack Black film debuted at #1.
Meanwhile, another laugher was raking in impressive numbers of its own. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan - the latest production from Adam Sandler - grossed $38.5 million to take second place. Zohan‘s total falls in line with the rest of Sandler’s films from the past 10 years. Since 1998, the actor’s comedic projects have all seen $30+ million opens. (Last year’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry took in $34.2 million.)
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Kung Fu Panda Fights Off Competition
Variety
Real Wall-E appears in Los Angeles
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Disney, Adventure, Animation, Family, Comedy, Upcoming Releases,
Pixar‘s Wall-E is set to hit theaters in just a little over a month, so you just know that the hype is set to ramp up leading up to the opening, right? Leave it up to Pixar to take a rusty, old, childish robot and make it so cute that we immediately buy into it and start posting videos of its appearance around town. I mean, just watching the video above, don’t you just feel like you have to adopt the little guy and take him home? I’m betting this will be my favorite Pixar movie since Monsters Inc. How about you? You anticipating this one?
Box Office Breakdown: Women Rule with Baby Mama
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,

Although 30 Rock still struggles to compete on Thursdays, Tina Fey’s Baby Mama had no problem topping the competition. The film, co-starring Amy Poehler, earned $17.4 million and made a showing for women everywhere. When’s the last time a movie with two female leads debuted at #1?
Interestingly enough, Mama‘s screen average ($6845) was outdone by another female-centric movie: The She Found Me. The movie that was directed and written by star Helen Hunt earned $8066 per screen this weekend. Fairly impressive considering Found, also featuring Bette Midler, opened in 44th place.
Friday’s other big entry - Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - came in second place with a $14.9 million take. Surprisingly, that gross nearly equals what the original film raked in during it’s total run.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Women Rule with Baby Mama
Variety
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
Variety
Box Office Breakdown: Fans Make a Date with Prom Night
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Fox Searchlight, MGM, Miramax, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Romance, Satire, Comedy, Sports, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,

1. Prom Night, Sony, $20,804,941 (avg. $7,706)
2. Street Kings, Fox Searchlight, $12,469,631 (avg. $5,055)
3. 21, Sony, $10,470,173 (avg. $3827)
4. Nim’s Island, 20th Century Fox, $9,111,667 (avg. $2,590 )
5. Leatherheads, Universal, $6,276,665 (avg. $2265)
6. Horton Hears a Who, 20th Century Fox, $5,920,566 (avg. $1845)
7. Smart People, Miramax, $4,092,465 (avg. $3700)
8. The Ruins, Dreamworks/Paramount, $3,385,395 (avg. $1203)
9. Superhero Movie, MGM, $3,216,247 (avg. $1273)
10. Drillbit Taylor, Paramount, $2,044,988 (avg. $927)
(You can review last week’s numbers here.)
Variety
Advertisement
© Gear Live Media, LLC. 2007 – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.

