Box Office Breakdown: The Day The Earth Stood Still Stands Tall

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Political, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

Mediocre reviews couldn’t keep The Day the Earth Stood Still from vaulting into first place this weekend.

The sci-fi remake starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly earned $30.5 million over the last three days, more than doubling the take of its nearest competitor. Although Earth had the smallest debut for a #1 film since October 17th (when Max Payne grossed $17.6 million), the Fox feature only cost a reported $80 million to make. It was also the studio’s best open since Horton Hears a Who unfolded in back in March.

The only other new entries in this week’s Top Ten were Nothing Like the Holidays and Milk. Holidays took in $3.5 million and scored itself a 7th place finish. Meanwhile, Milk - which had actually reached #10 before - reentered the charts at #9.

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Box Office Breakdown: Another Festive Weekend for Four Christmases

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Music, Period, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

Faced with little competition, last week’s #1 lived to see another win. Four Christmases took in $16.8 million over the last three days - a 46% drop from its first outing - to bring its cumulative total to $69.8 million. The comedy was only one of two films to pass the $10 million mark this weekend.

The only new entries in the Top Ten were Cadillac Records and Punisher: War Zone. Despite a relatively small opening (it only hit 687 theaters), Cadillac averaged $5,015 per theater for a 9th place finish. Meanwhile, Punisher took in a disappointing $4.3 million, less than 1/3 of what the first film did in 2004.

Despite premiering at #22, Frost/Nixon was actually this weekend’s top performer. Ron Howard’s film earned a whopping $60,236 per screen average from only 3 theaters.

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Box Office Breakdown: Number One for Four Christmases

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Disney, Miramax, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Independent, Period, Political, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Theatergoers still recovering from Thanksgiving had no problem getting into the Christmas spirit this last weekend.

Despite horrible reviews, Four Christmases - a holiday feature starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn - managed to pull in over $31 million over the past three days. (The comedy’s five-day total was $46 million.) That was enough to tame some hungry vampires and give Reese her best opening since Sweet Home Alabama. (The 2002 film had a $35.6 million debut.)

But even with Witherspoon and Vaughn’s combined wattage, Christmases still wasn’t the brightest spot on the box office tree. This weekend’s top performer was actually a political drama with a very limited release. Although it was only seen in 35 theaters, Milk, starring Sean Penn and James Franco, found itself sitting in 10th place. The Gus Van Sant film also averaged $40,385 per theater…nearly $31,000 more than the laugher did per screen.

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Read More | Variety

In Theaters This Holiday Week (11/26)

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Lionsgate, New Line, Action, Adventure, Drama, Foreign, Period, Political, Religious, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Lists, New Releases,

Here are some possible suggestions for your Thanksgiving weekend:

• Australia (PG-13): starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham (directed by Baz Luhrmann)
• Four Christmases (PG-13): starring Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall (directed by Seth Gordon)
• Transporter 3 (PG-13): starring Jason Statham, Robert Knepper, Justin Rodgers Hall (directed by Olivier Megaton)
• Milk* (R): starring Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin (directed by Gus Van Sant)
• Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!* (NR): starring Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal, Neetu Chandra (directed by Dibakar Banerjee)
• The Secrets* (R): starring Fanny Ardant, Ania Bokstein, Michal Shtamler (directed by Avi Nesher)

*limited and/or gradual release