Box Office: Bruno Edges Out CG Critters, Robots

Interesting happenings at the box office over the weekend, as although Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno” took the top spot as expected, it doesn’t appear as if the movie, which scored $30.4 million (according to studio estimates) will have legs. Although the mockumentary, about a gay...

July 12th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: CG Robots vs. CG Critters = $42.5 Million Tie

Well this is a first: according to studio estimates (and I can’t stress that enough, studio estimates, which means they could and will probably change when actual numbers come in on Monday), the battle of the CG movies ended in a tie over the weekend. “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”,...

July 5th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: No Disguising it – Robots are Big Time

Charges of racist robots notwithstanding, Michael Bay blew up the box office in his usual manner — outrageously and excessively. Over a five-day span, Bay’s “Transformers” sequel took in a whopping $201.2 million according to studio estimates, just two million short of the $203.8...

June 28th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: No Hangover for Sandra Bullock’s Proposal

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds’ “The Proposal” is one of those romantic comedies where you can predict the plot points from act to act, and maybe that’s the point. The romcom easily overtook “The Hangover” and beat out Jack Black’s “Year One” in...

June 21st, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Still Hung Over the Hangover

Who says you need A-list stars to front your movie? Throw in a couple of kinda-known names, a funny premise, Mike Tyson slugging people, and oh yeah, plenty of positive word of mouth, and you’ve got a hit movie two weeks in a row. That’s the life for “The Hangover”, the comedy...

June 14th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: It’s Still Up at the Box Office

In its second week of release, Pixar’s latest CG animated movie “Up” continues to top the charts with another $44 million, but just barely. The bromance comedy “The Hangover” snuck into second place in its debut, shocking just about everyone, but particularly Will Ferrell,...

June 7th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Up-Wards of $68.2 Million

Pixar’s “Up” proved a lot more popular than Sam Raimi’s return to low-budget horror, “Drag me to Hell”. The horror movie landed at second place in its debut weekend with $16.6 million. That wasn’t even close to “Up’s” $68.2 million take. Though...

May 31st, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Battle at the Terminator Museum

We didn’t bother to cover Ben Stiller’s “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” because, well, to be honest with you, we’re sometimes pretty lame, but we’re not that lame. But apparently a lot of you were, because you went in droves to see Ben Stiller battle...

May 24th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Angels & Demons & Romulans

For a franchise that gets no respect in critical circles, it’s amazing how well Ron Howard and Tom Hanks’ Dan Brown movies have done in theaters. The first one, “The Da Vinci Code” broke the bank when it opened with a $77 million opening weekend, and went on to dominate the global...

May 17th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Star Trek Beams to First Place with $76.5 Million

The studio had low-balled J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the sci-fi franchise at $50 million, which you have to take with a grain of salt, as studios usually lowball their big movies so they can crow about the film surpassing “expectations” later on. Paramount will get to do just that when...

May 10th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Wolverine Slashes to #1 with $87 million

Financially devastating leaked workprint? What’s that? Despite having an all but finished (sans special effects) copy of its workprint leaked onto the Internet a full month before it opened, Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was still unstoppable, slashing and snarling its way...

May 3rd, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Moviegoers Obsessed, but Not with Fighting

Oh no she didn’t! Oh yes she did! Or actually, oh yes they did. It would appear American moviegoers just couldn’t resist the idea of watching two hot women fighting over a guy, because they flocked to see Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter’s tale of love, lust, and late-night football jersey...

April 26th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Zac Efron Beats Russell Crowe, Buries Jason Statham

I don’t know who should be more embarrassed right now: Russell Crowe, whose critically well-received political thriller “State of Play” was beat out by Zac Efron’s been-there, done-that comedy “17 Again” in the two film’s opening weekends, or Jason Statham, whose...

April 20th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Hannah Montana Rules, Dragonball Flops

So does this mean when Hannah Montana (aka Miley Cyrus) and her buddies made fun of Asian people in a photograph a few weeks ago, it didn’t affect her popularity with the kids anyway? It would appear that is indeed the case, because the Disney Channel princess has scored another hit on the big...

April 12th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Fast & Furious Cruises to $30 Million on Friday ($72 Million Debut)

Industry experts were expecting a $45 million opening weekend for the fourth installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise, but the film would seem to be on its way to crash through that expectation, picking up an estimated $30 million on Friday alone. That still leaves Saturday and Sunday’s...

April 5th, 2009 | Read More

Box Office: Monster Debut for Monsters vs. Aliens

With only a John Cena action movie and a horror film without any big names to stand against it, Dreamworks’ “Monsters vs. Aliens” easily took the box office crown over the weekend with a whopping $58 million in its opening week. Not that “The Haunting in Connecticut” did...

March 29th, 2009 | Read More

The Box Office Wants to Knowing

When a Nicolas Cage movie without the words “national” or “treasure” in the title opens in #1 at the box office, it’s a cause for celebration in the Cage household, because let’s face it, ol Nic hasn’t seen a hit in a while now minus all that treasure hunting....

March 22nd, 2009 | Read More

Watchmen Falls in its Second Week

$86 million and counting. That’s how much Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” has made in two weeks of release. It’s not an entirely bad take for a movie. Unless, of course, you factor in the massive amount of publicity the studio pumped into promotions for the movie and the film’s...

March 15th, 2009 | Read More

How Much Did We Spend Watching the Watchmen? About $55.7 Million

Short version: It did good, but not that good. Long version: Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” opened strong with an uber Thursday midnight showing and Friday take, but fizzled a tad over the weekend, finishing up without much competition in first place with an estimated $55.7 million at the...

March 9th, 2009 | Read More

Friday the 13th Remake Slashes Box Office Records

$42.4 million. That’s how much Platinum Dunes’ remake of “Friday the 13th” took in at the box office in its debut weekend. That’s more than any horror movie has opened in, like, ever. Hard to believe, but horror movies just don’t open that big, even the gimmicky “Saw”...

February 16th, 2009 | Read More