Box Office Breakdown: The Dark Knight Hits $300 Million
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Despite the combined forces of Ferrell/Reilly and Duchovny/Anderson, Team Bale/Ledger could not be slowed down.
This past week, The Dark Knight added a few more records to the franchise’s box office mantle:
- The film became the fastest movie ever to surpass the $300 million mark. (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest crossed that line in 16 days; Knight did it in 10.)
- The sequel is now predicted to break $400 million in approximately 18 days. Shrek 2 took 43 days to the same in 2004.
- IMAX theaters also continue to benefit from the blockbuster’s success. Another $4.6 million was grossed over the weekend.
- It’s now believed the latest Batman installment could soar to $500 million - making it only the second movie to do so. Domestically, Titanic ($601 million) still reigns as the box office champ. (The original Star Wars pocketed $461 million while Shrek 2 earned $436 million.)
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| Variety
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Box Office Breakdown: Record-Breaking Weekend for The Dark Knight
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Musicals, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Okay, let’s not beat around the bush. We all know The Dark Knight was huge. But how big exactly was it? Let’s break the numbers down:
- The film grossed approximately $158.3 million, beating the record set by Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) last year. The total already comes within reach of Tim Burton’s Batman. (The $251.2 million grosser has been the best earner in the franchise so far.)
- Knight pulled in $18.5 million during its Friday midnight screenings alone. The previous record holder was 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($16.9 million).
- The movie had the best Friday total ever: $67.8 million.
- The sequel earned $6.2 million from IMAX showings alone. That number, again, beat Spider-Man 3 ($4.7 million).
- In one weekend, The Dark Knight grossed more than the last three Batman installments made in their opening weekends combined.
- The Christopher Nolan feature, along with the strong performance from Mamma Mia!, helped the industry attain the best box office weekend ever. Mamma‘s $27.6 million outperformed last year’s Hairspray ($27.5 million) to become the biggest musical opener ever.
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Box Office Breakdown: The Golden Army Raises Hell
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Picturehouse, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Picturehouse, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Apparently moviegoers were simply not interested in meeting anyone named Dave.
This past weekend, Eddie Murphy’s latest effort debuted in a disappointing 7th place. Fox’s Meet Dave pulled in only $5.2 million, the third worst opening total for the comedian. (Holy Man pulled in $5.1 million in 1998; The Adventures of Pluto Nash scraped up $2.2 million in 2002.)
Dave‘s poor performance gave two other entries plenty of room at the top of the charts. Hellboy II: The Golden Army earned approximately $11 million more than the original 2004 film. The sequel’s $34.5 million haul also narrowly edged out last week’s winner, Hancock, and gave director Guillermo del Toro a first place berth. Meanwhile, the Journey to the Center of the Earth‘s $21 million was good enough for third place.
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Box Office Breakdown: Hancock Soars to #1
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Picturehouse, Columbia Pictures, Disney, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

For theatergoers, the Fourth of July holiday has come to mean fireworks, barbecues….and now Will Smith. This past weekend, the powerhouse’s latest blockbuster, Hancock, took in over $62 million giving Smith his eighth straight #1 debut. In total, the Sony Pictures production grossed nearly $104 million during a 5 1/2 day period.
In addition to being Will’s second-best opener ever (I Am Legend set his record), Hancock was the actor’s fifth movie to reach first place over the same holiday weekend. (Men in Black, Men in Black II, Independence Day and Wild Wild West were the other four.) The Peter Berg film also became the third best July 4th grosser behind Transformers and Spider-Man 2.
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Box Office Breakdown: Wall-E and Wanted Both Winners
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists, New Releases

Although we haven’t yet reached the 4th of July weekend, theatergoers apparently had plenty of time and money to spend over the past three days. And while a cute robot had the honor of placing first, Angelina Jolie also came out a winner herself.
When the final numbers were tallied, Wall-E and Wanted each wound up grossing over $50 million since Friday. The Disney/Pixar film edged out the action flick by nearly $13 million dollars, but the comic book adaptation had the best per screen average for any entry in the Top Ten ($16,040). Meanwhile, both films forced a few rewrites in the history books.
- Wall-E had the third largest debut for a Pixar film. It’s total fell behind The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.2 million).
- The animated comedy also had the best Friday open for any Pixar release.
- The James McAvoy feature topped all R-rated premieres during the month of June.
- Wanted also gave Jolie her largest first weekend ever.
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In Theaters This Weekend (6/27)
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Disney, IFC Films, Magnolia, Universal, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Foreign, Independent, Political, Religious, Comedy, Sports, Lists, New Releases

Here are some possible suggestions for your upcoming weekend:
- WALL•E (G): starring Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, Sigourney Weaver (directed by Andrew Stanton)
- Wanted (R): starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman (directed by Timur Bekmambetov)
- Elsa & Fred* (PG): starring Manuel Alexandre, China Zorrilla, Blanca Portillo (directed by Marcos Carnevale)
- Finding Amanda* (R): starring Matthew Broderick, Maura Tierney, Brittany Snow (directed by Peter Tolan)
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Disney Offers Sneak Peek of Wall-E
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Buena Vista, Disney, Adventure, Animation, Family, Comedy, Upcoming Releases

Disney’s latest adorable character Wall E appeared to have jumped from the streets of Los Angeles to your television screen last Saturday night.
Studio execs leaked a four-minute clip from the movie and appropriately aired it after Finding Nemo on the Disney channel. The clip, which you can check out after the jump, is so cute! I couldn’t stop aww-ing over Wall-E, wanting to just give him a big hug.
The film opens June 27 and stars Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy and Ben Burtt.
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Real Wall-E appears in Los Angeles
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Disney, Adventure, Animation, Family, Comedy, Upcoming Releases
Pixar‘s Wall-E is set to hit theaters in just a little over a month, so you just know that the hype is set to ramp up leading up to the opening, right? Leave it up to Pixar to take a rusty, old, childish robot and make it so cute that we immediately buy into it and start posting videos of its appearance around town. I mean, just watching the video above, don’t you just feel like you have to adopt the little guy and take him home? I’m betting this will be my favorite Pixar movie since Monsters Inc. How about you? You anticipating this one?
Remake News: Short Circuit
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Family, Science Fiction, Comedy, Upcoming Releases


The minute I saw the trailer for Wall•E, I knew it was just a matter of time before someone toyed with the idea of revamping Short Circuit. (Steve Guttenberg‘s recent stint on Dancing with the Stars only strengthened my theory.) Now that bad idea is finally coming true: Johnny 5 will once again be coming alive.
Dimension Films has just announced that it has purchased the rights to remake the cheesy ‘80s film. The movie, which starred Ally Sheedy and Guttenberg, featured a military-built robot that eventually adapts human qualities. Families will supposedly crave more robot fare after this summer’s Pixar release, which is why Bob Weinstein has greenlighted the update.
S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, the same two behind the 1986 film and its sequel, will also be charged with writing the modern-day version. In the meantime, look for Wall•E to hit theaters on June 27.
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