Box Office Breakdown: Ben Stiller Defeats Christian Bale

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

Was it a result of Christian Bale’s rant? The presence of that other science fiction movie? Or the lack of family-friendly fare?

When the dust from the weekend settled, a surprising entry emerged as the winner. Despite the country’s current love for action sequels/prequels, a much calmer feature - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - was the choice for entertainment this holiday. Ben Stiller’s comedy follow-up raked in $70 million giving the actor his best live-action debut ever. Smithsonian also became the best PG-rated opener for Memorial Day.

Museum‘s victory meant a disappointing 2nd place finish for Terminator Salvation. Although the saga’s fourth installment earned more than T3‘s debut, its $51.9 million gross ($65.3 million since Thursday) put it nowhere near the estimated $200 million budget. The numbers did give director McG, though, his best premiere since 2000’s Charlie’s Angels.

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Box Office Breakdown: Narrow Victory for Angels & Demons

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

Angels & Demons was never as popular as The Da Vinci Code...and its big screen numbers reflected that.

Despite huge success with the overseas box office this weekend (the movie had the 10th best international open ever), the latest Ron Howard/Tom Hanks collaboration barely struck gold domestically. Over the last three days, Angels grossed $46.2 million—just enough for first place. Unfortunately, the Dan Brown adaptation only earned $3 million more than last week’s champ and over $30 million less than the previous installment.

Star Trek, in the meantime, continued on its warp speed pace. The second place finisher pulled in another $43 million and put itself within $3 million of Wolverine‘s overall total. (The Hugh Jackman film, this week’s #3, had a 7-day head start on the sci fi adventure.)

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Box Office Breakdown:  Star Trek Beams Its Way to #1

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adventure, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Music, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Lists, New Releases,

Based on these numbers, a Star Trek sequel would seem like the logical response.

After a five-month delay, the highly-anticipated J.J. Abrams feature finally unspooled to an eager crowd. And though it didn’t outearn last weekend’s office champ, the science fiction adventure appeared to be in a galaxy far, far away.

Since it’s debut late Thursday night, Trek grossed approximately $79.2 million. (That’s nearly $3 million more than was estimated a day ago, but still $6 million less than Wolverine‘s premiere.) Around $8 million of Paramount’s haul came from IMAX ticket sales alone. (That figure bests the $6.2 million raked in by The Dark Knight last year.)

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Box Office Breakdown: Wolverine Claws Its Way to the Top

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

Despite a growing list of hurdles (leaked footage, swine flu, mediocre reviews), X-Men Origins: Wolverine proved it was a force to be reckoned with last weekend. Although it failed to surpass X-Men: The Last Stand (that 2006 entry debuted at $122.9 million), the Fox feature trounced the competition with an $85.1 million open. In other words, Wolverine earned over $20 million more than the other Top Ten entries…combined.

Sitting far back in second place was Ghost of Girlfriends Past, Matthew McConaughey’s attempt to bring a little muscle into the box office. The romantic comedy, costarring Jennifer Garner, grossed $15.4 million on the weekend before Mother’s Day. (That’s less than a million more than what Made of Honor pulled in at this same time last year.) Meanwhile, last Friday’s only other wide release, Battle for Terra, raked in a disappointing $1.1 million for a 12th place finish.

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Star Trek Premiere Latest Victim of Swine Flu

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Paramount, Sony, Adaptation, Drama, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Upcoming Releases,

Now that residents of Mexico are sticking as close to home as possible, movie studios are having to readjust their international calendars.

Earlier this week, 20th Century Fox chose to indefinitely postpone the premiere of Wolverine. Now Paramount is following suit with the debut of Star Trek. That sci-fi prequel had been scheduled to open on May 8.

Unless the swine flu situation plateaus soon, other blockbusters could be added to the casualty list. Sony is currently monitoring events for the May 15 release of Angels & Demons. Meanwhile, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - another Fox release - could also be pushed from its May 22 slot.

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Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Drawn to Obsessed

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Musicals, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

It was a battle between two Dreamgirls stars at the box office this weekend.

After back-to-back roles in music-related dramas, Beyonce Knowles proved she could deliver without having to sing a note. Obsessed, a thriller produced for approximately $20 million, pulled in nearly $29 million for a 1st place finish. The film, also featuring two NBC stars (The Office’s Idris Elba and Heroes’ Ali Larter), more than doubled last week’s champ, 17 Again.

Meanwhile, an Academy Award winner and an Iron Man joined forces for a surprising fourth place finish. The Soloist, costarring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr., didn’t even cross the $10 million mark. Although it was once considered as a pre-Oscars release, the film’s debut grossed less than last week’s nominee-filled entry, State of Play.

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Box Office Breakdown: Gran Torino Expands to a Win

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Political, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases,

He may have lost out to Bruce Springsteen last night, but Clint Eastwood was still a big winner this weekend. After 4 weeks in limited theaters, the 78-year-old’s film became the top movie in wide release.

Eastwood’s directorial project not only pulled in $29.4 million over the last three days ($40.5 million to date), it outranked the vehicles from Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Gran Torino also earned the best per screen average of any charter in the Top Ten.

Despite opening on approximately 600 more screens than the first place finisher, #2’s Bride Wars grossed nearly $4000 less per theater. The Kate Hudson-Anne Hathaway comedy also averaged less than #3’s The Unborn.

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Box Office Breakdown: Marley & Me Ends 2008 on Top

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Fox Searchlight, MGM, Miramax, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Foreign, Foreign Language, Period, Religious, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Aside from a few changes at the bottom of this week’s Top Ten, every single movie remained planted in their positions from last Monday. Since Friday’s new entries (Good, Defiance) were only offered in limited release, there really wasn’t much of a battle.

Over the last three days, Marley & Me tacked on another $24 million and officially crossed the $100 million mark. The Fox adaptation became the 25th film from 2008 to accomplish that. Meanwhile, the only new charter was #10’s Slumdog Millionaire. Although it was only shown in 612 theaters (that’s down two from last week), the Fox Searchlight feature helped push The Spirit down to #13. The probable Oscar contender also earned a better per screen average than all the films ahead of it.

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Box Office Breakdown: Marley & Me is the Weekend’s Top Dog

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, Miramax, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Political, Religious, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

When it comes to the box office, Jennifer Aniston has no problem pushing best friends (Courteney Cox), exes (Brad Pitt) or former leading men (Jim Carrey) aside.

After a record-breaking Christmas Day, Marley & Me pulled in approximately $36.4 million over the last three days. The PG-rated film, which earned nearly $51 million since December 25, gave Aniston bragging rights and Owen Wilson his best Friday-Sunday gross ever.

Although he eventually lost out to Jen, Brad Pitt really had nothing to complain about. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the weekend’s #3 finisher, had the 2nd best ($12 million) Christmas day opening. Meanwhile, Bedtime Stories - starring Adam Sandler and Courteney Cox - now ranks 3rd ($10.6 million) on the all-time Dec. 25 debuts list.

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Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Say Yes to Jim Carrey

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

How will Will Smith remember Winter Solstice 2008? As the weekend he placed second.

Prior to Friday’s premieres, number crunchers were already predicting a close race between headliners Jim Carrey and Will Smith. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., Yes Man‘s ultimate victory felt slightly hollow. The comedy’s $18.2 million gross was nowhere near the figures Carrey used to generate. (Bruce Almighty‘s premiere earned $68 million in 2003; Liar Liar took in $31.4 million in 1997.) Yes did, though, do better than 2005’s Fun with Dick and Jane. (That film raked in $14.1 million during its open.)

Will Smith didn’t have much to celebrate over the last three days either. His latest film, Seven Pounds, only took in $14.8 million. That’s a number almost unheard of in Smith-land. The drama, directed by Pursuit of Happyness’ Gabriele Muccino, was the actor’s lowest grosser since Ali. (That film earned $14.7 million when it debuted in December 2001.)

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