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Latest Video: FilmCrunch 067: Hairspray, Chuck & Larry, Premonition reviewed

Veronica Santiago and Neil Estep review Hairspray, Chuck & Larry, and Premonition in this episode of FilmCrunch.
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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

Kung Fu Panda

Theatergoers in need of more family-friendly fare pushed 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. - 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

Read More | Variety

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Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Raise Their Glasses to Sex and the City

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Horror, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Sex and the City Movie

Thanks to a mob of high-heeled women, the big-screen adaptation of took in nearly $57 million over the past three days. Pretty impressive considering the film was expected to land somewhere in the $25-$35 million range. But Carrie and Company did just more than score first place, their hard work put them into the record books:

  • Sex and the City had the best opening weekend for an R-rated comedy.
  • The film’s debut topped any live-action adaptation of a TV show. (The original Mission Impossible raked in $45 million.)
  • SATC‘s premiere surpassed all romantic comedies including Hitch ($43.1 million) and ($30.7 million).
  • It was the fifth best showing for any R-rated movie ever.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Raise Their Glasses to Sex and the City

Read More | Variety

Box Office Breakdown: Prince Caspian Crowned the Winner

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Independent, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Prince Caspian

Although it failed to reach expectations, was still mighty enough to take down Robert Downey Jr. this past weekend. The Disney sequel pulled in over $55 million dollars and earned itself a first place finish. Unfortunately, the film’s gross was slightly disappointing given the first installment’s take; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opened at $65.6 million back in 2005. 

In other adaptation news, Warner Bros.’ continued to fall behind in the race.  The colorful adventure slipped another notch into fourth, right behind What Happens in Vegas. Meanwhile, Iron Man‘s $31.8 million total pushed the film past the $200 million range.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Prince Caspian Crowned the Winner

Read More | Variety

Box Office Breakdown: Ashton Kutcher Drives Past Speed Racer

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Family, Horror, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Books, Lists, New Releases

What Happens in Vegas

Despite arresting visuals and a $120 million budget, the Wachowski brothers were unable to bring to life.  The Warner Bros. movie - which many had already predicted would fall behind Iron Man - did even worse than originally thought.  At one point, it was believed the anime adaptation would debut in 2nd place.  Unfortunately, the final box office numbers placed the PG film in third.

Meanwhile, became the second wedding-themed entry in the recent Top Ten.  The comedy, starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, replaced Made of Honor as the go to ‘chick flick’ of the week.  The movie grossed $20.1 million, a slim $1.6 million more than Speed.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Ashton Kutcher Drives Past Speed Racer

Read More | Variety

Box Office Breakdown: Iron Man Strikes Gold

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Iron Man

Where exactly can the summer box office go from here?

This past weekend, blasted into theaters in a big way.  The comic book adaptation raked in a whopping $102 million putting an $87 million difference between itself and its nearest competitor.  The PG-13 film officially became the 10th best opener of all time and had the second best premiere for any non-sequel.  (Spider-Man grossed $114.8 million back in 2002.)

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Iron Man Strikes Gold

Read More | Variety

In Theaters This Weekend (5/2)

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: Columbia Pictures, Paramount, Sony, Action, Adventure, Foreign, Political, Romance, Comedy, Lists, New Releases

Made of Honor

Here are some possible suggestions for your upcoming weekend:

This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: January 08, 2008

Posted by Neil Estep
Categories: 20th Century Fox, Buena Vista, Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Foreign, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Science Fiction, Sequels, Thrillers, Home Entertainment, New Releases

Zodiac HD DVDThis week marks the release of the first batch of high-definition DVDs since on-the-fence Warner landed decidedly on the Blu side; I must admit, as an HD DVD man, the day feels a bit colder than normal. But no matter—the format war is far from over.

On a lighter note, both formats have some exciting titles to speak of, including the Blu-ray release of one of my favorite movies from 2007, Sunshine; Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning film, The Pianist, on HD DVD; and the long-awaited special edition of David Fincher’s Zodiac, also on HD DVD. The DVD release from July contained nary a special feature, so this two-disc director’s cut ought to please those Fincher fans waiting for a decent version.

Check out the full list of high-def releases after the jump.

Click to continue reading This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: January 08, 2008


Box Office Breakdown: Juno Makes An Impressive Surge

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Music, Musicals, Period, Political, Romance, Satire, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Juno

Come Wednesday morning, the box office chart saw very few changes at the top.  That’s not to say the five-day holiday weekend didn’t have any notable moments at all:

  • Strong word of mouth helped boost last week’s #10, , up five whole spaces.  The movie - already in it’s 4th week - continues to soar despite its fairly limited release.  It’s $15,788 per screen average even topped $14,232.

  • Golden Globes buzz also contributed to the success of seven-time nominee .  Although it only placed 14th overall, the romantic weeper scored a $15,764 average.

  • outmuscled last week’s #2, .  The family-friendly flick traded spots with the blockbuster thanks to its $2.5 million edge.

  • narrowly missed a place in the Top Ten despite its connection to both and .  You heard it right - the talk show host’s touch does not always mean gold.

  • followed up its disappointing debut with another out of tune performance.  The musical satire plummeted five spots all the way down to #13.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Juno Makes An Impressive Surge

Read More | Yahoo! Movies

Box Office Breakdown: Book of Secrets a National Hit

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Music, Musicals, Period, Political, Romance, Satire, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

This holiday weekend introduced a slew of big-ticket features in our cineplexes.  It also brought us a wide cast of former Oscar-winners competing for our theater dollars.  By Monday, , , , , and Oscar-nominee had all made entries into the Top Ten - but it was who wound up striking gold.

earned $45 million, an increase of $10 million over the 2004 original.  This was the second hit for Cage this year, following the critically-panned Ghost Rider.  In addition to having the weekend’s best gross, Secrets also had the best average of any movie over those three days.  Although ’s fourth place was respectable (especially for a politically-based film these days), its $3760 per screen take clearly set it apart from this week’s champ.  In contrast, earned an $11,184 average for an impressive 10th place finish.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Book of Secrets a National Hit

Read More | Yahoo!

Box Office Breakdown: Will Smith a Legend in December

Posted by Veronica Santiago
Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, New Line, Warner Bros, Yari Film Group Releasing, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Romance, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

I Am Legend

You have to wonder whether is just a wee bit jealous of his friend’s success…

This weekend, not only smashed the box office debut of Cruise’s , he pounded everything in his path.  - the third adaptation of the 1954 Richard Matheson novel - nearly doubled the take of its nearest competitor while breaking the record for a December release.  Legend’s $77 million debut surpassed the bar set by Oscar-winner .  The final installment in the Lords trilogy brought in $72.6 million back in 2003.

Although was far behind in second place, its $44 million weekend was nothing to sneeze at.  The movie not only exceeded most expectations, it downright embarrassed third place finisher, .  How could anyone possibly explain freaky-looking chipmunks taking down a large polar bear? The latter film only added another $8.8 million to its total, putting it a smidge closer to its $180 million budget.  (Granted, it has done better overseas.)

But let’s not be fooled by the large numbers at the top of the charts, the weekend’s most notable turnout was made by #11: .  The comedic charmer earned an impressive $35,686 per screen.  Meanwhile, (which opened in 3566 more theaters) averaged only $21,411.  Take that, Fresh Prince!

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Will Smith a Legend in December

Read More | Yahoo!

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