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Box Office Breakdown: The Golden Compass Lacks Luster

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, New Line, Paramount, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Music, Romance, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Golden Compass

A Narnia-esque adaptation partnered with a holiday release date and an A-list cast should have conjured box office magic for .  Surprisingly, this weekend’s release from brought in barely enough money to cover the film’s catering budget.

Compass, based on Philip Pullman’s children’s series His Dark Materials, was and second disappointing collaboration this year (the first being ).  While it was enough for a first place finish, the $25 million debut was hardly impressive given the film’s $180 million price tag.

In other news, holiday flick remained in third place while the critically-panned bumped up two spaces from last week.  Meanwhile, and did well with their very limited releases.

Be looking for the highly-promoted (and ) to enter next week’s charts.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: The Golden Compass Lacks Luster

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Box Office Breakdown: Jessica Alba Can’t Keep Audiences Awake

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Romance, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Awake

There’s nothing like a good snub to restore your faith in moviegoers. 

Although was the only new wide release this past weekend, discerning audiences kept it from succeeding by default.  (NOTE: Cute squirrels will always trump .)  The movie, also co-starring Star Wars’ , opened with a dismal $6 million - less than half of what Alba’s last stellar film, Good Luck Chuck, did.  (The latter opened at $13.7 million.) I wonder if this currently makes the most successful Jessica out there.

Aside from Awake’s entry, the rest of the Top Ten changed very little from last week.  refused to budge from its perch and earned another $16 million over the past three days.  Meanwhile, surged back up a notch, trading spots with holiday flick, .

Although the box office numbers were unspectacular overall, we can expect big changes in just a few days; that’s when New Line’s makes its debut.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Jessica Alba Can’t Keep Audiences Awake


In Theaters This Weekend (11/30)

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Fox Searchlight, Weinstein Company, Adaptation, Documentary, Drama, Foreign, Independent, Mystery, Period, Political, Science Fiction, Comedy, Thrillers, Lists, New Releases

Awake
  • Awake (R):  starring Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard (directed by Joby Harold)
  • Badland* (R):  starring Jamie Draven, Linda St. George, Linda Naney (directed by Francesco Lucente)
  • Chronicles of an Escape* (R):  starring Rodrigo De La Serna, Pablo Echarri (directed by Adrian Israel Caetano)
  • Divine Intervention* (R):  starring Wesley Jonathan, Jazsmin Lewis, James Avery (directed by Van Elder)
  • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly* (PG-13):  starring Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner (directed by Julian Schnabel)
  • Oswald’s Ghost* (NR):  (directed by Robert Stone)
  • Protagonist* (R):  starring Hans-Joachim Klein, Mark Pierpont, Joe Loya (directed by Jessica Yu)
  • The Sasquatch Gang* (NR):  starring Jon Gries, Jeremy Sumpter, Justin Long (directed by Tim Skousen)
  • The Savages* (R):  starring Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco (directed by Tamara Jenkins)
  • Sex and Breakfast* (R):  starring Macaulay Culkin, Alexis Dziena, Eliza Dushku (directed by Miles Brandman)
  • Teeth* (R):  starring John Hensley, Jess Weixler, Hale Appleman (directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein)

*limited and/or gradual release


In Theaters This Holiday Weekend (11/21)

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, Sony, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Yari Film Group Releasing, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Foreign, Horror, Music, Period, Comedy, Thrillers, Lists, New Releases

Enchanted

Here are some possible suggestions for your holiday enjoyment:

Box Office Breakdown: The Rock Upsets The Heartbreak Kid

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Action, Drama, Family, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

The Heartbreak Kid

Despite what you may have learned in school, + The Farrelly Brothers does not necessarily equal box office gold.

The team behind There’s Something About Mary took a backseat to last weekend’s winner:  The Game Plan.  The Heartbreak Kid, a remake of the 1972 Neil Simon comedy, raked in only $14 million.  While Mary did open with a smaller gross back in 1998 ($13.7M), it’s doubtful this critically-panned movie will become another sleeper hit for the trio.  Thankfully co-star will have the upcoming Gone Baby Gone to wash this disappointment away.

The only other new entries into the Top 10 included the fantasy flick, The Seeker ($3.7M), and the J.Lo-produced dance film, Feel the Noise ($3.1M).  Meanwhile, the well-reviewed Michael Clayton pulled impressive numbers in limited release ($46,000 per screen).  Expect the vehicle to open wide this weekend.

 

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Box Office Breakdown:  The Game Plan Scores the Win

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Disney, Lionsgate, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Drama, Horror, Independent, Musicals, Political, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

The Game Plan

The execs at Disney must be loving themselves this week.  Not only are are they attached to one of hottest concert tours of the year, they have just taken a surprise win at the box office.  Although many had predicted good things for the terrorism thriller, The Kingdom, a simple father/daughter bonding film moved theatergoers this weekend.

At $22.9 million, The Game Plan took in almost $6 million more than the / vehicle. The movie about a football player who meets the daughter he never knew he had (how exactly is that a Disney storyline?) gave “The Rock” his second best opening (behind 2002’s The Scorpion King).

Meanwhile, Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe made its first entry into the Top 10.  After several weeks in limited release, the musical—which uses 33 Beatles songs to tell its story—will expand into more theaters come October 12th. 

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Box Office Breakdown:  Resident Evil Fights Off Competition

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Lionsgate, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adventure, Drama, Family, Horror, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Resident Evil

Between the cheesy trailer and a cast that includes Ashanti—I never would have predicted much for Resident Evil: Extinction.  But given the success of ‘three-quels’ this year, I’m not sure why I was surprised.  Extinction nearly doubled the the box office take of it’s nearest competitor (Good Luck Chuck) and had the biggest debut of any Resident Evil installment.

But the real winner this weekend may be Into the Wild.  The film, based on the Jon Krakauer novel, earned over $51,000 per screen—one of the best averages ever for a movie in limited release.  Given the full-hour coverage on last week, Wild will probably be able to build on its impressive debut.  (The film goes nationwide on October 5th.)

Eastern Promises also turned out some promising numbers after its wide release.  The film took in nearly $6 million in its second week (though it still underperformed the last David Cronenberg/ movie, A History of Violence).  I’m hoping word-of-mouth about the fully-naked Mortensen fight scene (did I grab your attention?) will give this film the lasting power it deserves.

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Box Office Breakdown:  The Brave One Reaches #1

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: FOCUS, Lionsgate, New Line, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Drama, Foreign, Horror, Independent, Period, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

The Brave One

The Brave One took in nearly $15 million in its debut, making it the #1 film of this past weekend.  Although some may consider the gross disappointing for a film, I choose to think of it as a feat for women.

I decided to do a little research today and came away with some very unsettling news.  Since FilmCrunch started reporting Box Office numbers in mid-January, no female-led movie has reached the top of the pack.  That’s unless you count with , and I don’t.  Even then, that was almost 3 months ago.

, and made a stand for strong female roles during Sunday’s Emmys—and maybe it’s time that someone finally spoke up for women in film.  Until then, I’ll be counting the days until makes her royal return in Elizabeth: The Golden Years (out October 12th).

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown:  The Brave One Reaches #1


In Theaters This Weekend (9/14)

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: FOCUS, Magnolia, New Line, Picturehouse, Sony, Warner Bros, Warner Independant Films, Action, Drama, Independent, Music, Musicals, Political, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Thrillers, Lists, New Releases

The Brave One

If you need a little help planning your weekend, here are a few possible suggestions:

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