Box Office Breakdown: No Sluggish Start for Zombieland

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Disney, Fox Searchlight, MGM, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Horror, Independent, Music, Political, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists

Watch out, vampires…there’s still life in the other undead.

Although he was previously known as a director for Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ruben Fleischer now has a new title: box office champ. This past weekend, Ruben saw his first major feature, Zombieland, attack the competition with a $24.7 million debut. The movie - which only cost approximately $24 million to make - had the highest open for any zombie-themed flick since Dawn of the Dead in 2004.

Meanwhile, another director had an entirely different result with her debut feature. Whip It, a roller derby comedy helmed by Drew Barrymore, rolled into 6th place finish with only $4.7 million. (When your film’s been topped by Pixar entries from 10+ years ago, there might have a problem.) Hopefully in a few more weeks, the Ellen Page vehicle will at least cover its $15 million production tab.

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Read More | Variety

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Box Office Breakdown: Meatballs Rolls to Another Victory

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Disney, Lionsgate, Sony, Touchstone, Universal, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Horror, Independent, Music, Period, Remakes, Romance, Science Fiction, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists

Surrogates was no substitute for meatballs.

Despite competition from a Bruce Willis film, a music-based remake and a sci-fi horror entry, A Cloudy Chance of Meatballs remained the theatergoers’ order of choice for the second week in a row. The children’s book adaptation had Sony dining to the tune of $25 million—over $10 million more than the second place finisher.

Many thought Willis, who hasn’t had a major role since 2007’s Live Free or Die Hard, was on track to take first this weekend. Unfortunately, his hair movie was considered a big letdown given its $15 million gross and $80 million budget. Meanwhile, Fame, a remake of the 1980 hit, had no one feeling like they wanted to live forever. The MGM feature only rung up $10 million for third place.

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Read More | Variety

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Box Office Breakdown: Chance of Meatballs is Winning Recipe

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Lionsgate, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists

While it may not have had a Damon, an Aniston or a Fox, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs had something no other film did this weekend: a win. The animated adaptation raked in $30.3 million over the weekend easily pushing it to the top of the charts. The PG-rated entry towered over the box office and nearly tripled its nearest competitor (The Informant). The 3-D film also gave Sony Pictures Animation its biggest debut to date.

Elsewhere, two Hollywood beauties were struggling to make a respectable showing. Despite (or because of) a number of notable quotes, Megan Fox failed to muster any interest in her first starring vehicle. Jennifer’s Body, a horror film penned by Diablo Cody, raised a whopping $6.9 million for a fifth-place finish. (I’m not even sure that would be enough to fund one day of a Transformers production.) Megan Fox might not be a fan of Michael Bay, but she better be grateful she met him.

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Read More | Variety

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Remake News: Masters of the Universe, Soul Train and More

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Horror, Music, Period, Remakes, Upcoming Releases

Masters of the Universe: A collaboration between Mattel and Warner Bros. has just fallen through. The two hoped to bring a Masters of the Universe adaptation to the big screen, but the two parties could not agree on the direction. It’s believed the toy company will now bring the He-Man vs. Skeletor story to another studio. John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda) may still be on board to direct.

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Guy Ritchie Attached to Lobo

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Science Fiction, Upcoming Releases

Guy Ritchie is set to direct a live-action adaptation of Lobo, a DC Comics story.

The Sherlock Holmes filmmaker has signed on for the sci-fi action film, which follows a seven-foot tall intergalactic bounty hunter.

Despite speculation, the Warner Bros. movie will not be based on comic book miniseries Lobo: The Last Czarnian, in which the anti-hero discovered he was not the last of his race left alive as his former history teacher was still living. Instead, it follows the title character as he teams up with a teenage girl to hunt down four fugitive aliens.

The movie is being written by Don Payne and is based on the character created by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen in 1983. Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are to produce the movie, with work scheduled to begin early next year.

No casting information has been announced yet.

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Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Drawn to Funny People

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

When you combine the talents of Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow, a 1st place finish shouldn’t shock you. A $22.7 million haul? That is surprising.

Despite earning enough to displace G-Force for the weekend’s top spot, Funny People failed to bring the movie house down. The 144-minute length dramedy pulled in the lowest gross for any #1 entry this summer. While the film did better than any of Sandler’s dramatic efforts, it didn’t fall line with his comedic outings.

On the other hand, Rogen and Apatow had more reason to be pleased with the box office results. The Universal pic gave Seth his best debut since 2007’s Superbad. Meanwhile, Funny fell right in between The 40-Year-Old Virgin ($21.4 million) and Knocked Up ($30.7 million) for Judd.

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Read More | Variety

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Box Office Breakdown: G-Force Teams Up on Harry Potter

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

Let’s face it: Daniel Radcliffe may be cute, but guinea pigs are cuter.

Despite earning $78 million last weekend, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince could not keep up the magic. The sequel fell to second place after earning a still impressive $29.5 million take over the past three days. Overall, the film has raked in $220 million to date and a delayed opening in IMAX theaters this Wednesday - Transformers 2 had been taking up room - should give the film another boost.

So what could possibly scoot the wizards out of first place? Rodents. Disney, which has already seen The Proposal and Up premiere on top this summer, earned another victory with the debut of G-Force. The comedy about a bunch of whiskered CIA operatives roped in $31.6 million over the weekend, just enough for a close win.

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Box Office Breakdown: Harry Potter Casts a Big Win

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

After putting up with a frustrating delay, eager Muggles rushed to the theaters this weekend in droves. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince kicked off its extended debut with a record-breaking premiere ($22.2 million) at midnight Tuesday. The series’ sixth installment went on to earn $158 million over five days and officially became the biggest international opener of all time ($237 million).

Despite the numbers, there was one film Half-Blood could not beat: The Dark Knight. At this same time last year, the Batman sequel had also racked up $158 million in sales. But that film did it in only three days.

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Read More | Variety

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Box Office Breakdown: Bruno Crawls His Way to #1

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

Just like in the fashion world, one day Bruno was hot—the next day he was not.

Even though the comedy did well enough to place first this weekend, it appears the sexually graphic film may have turned some off. Ticket sales for the Sacha Baron Cohen entry dropped 39% between Friday and Saturday, leading many to believe that negative word of mouth played a factor.

In total, Bruno piqued enough interest to raise $30.6 million over three days. While that gross beats Borat‘s $26.5 million debut, the 2006 film later went on to earn $129 million domestically.

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Read More | Variety

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Warner Bros. Casts Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern

Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Thrillers, Casting, Upcoming Releases

For what seemed like decades, Warner Bros. had been searching for the star of their latest comic book adaptation, Green Lantern. They finally announced yesterday that they would be picking The Proposal star Ryan Reynolds, who beat out The Hangover‘s Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, and Jared Leto.

He also beat out my beloved Nathan Fillion, whom fans have shown support for through homemade trailers. Of course, unfortunately studios tend to pick the bigger names over those who are more capable and suitable for the role. I mean we’re talking about Ryan Reynolds, the current king of romantic comedies who somehow conned Scarlett Johansson into marrying him (and did so by asking via text message). And as such, if he’s not in a romantic comedy, he’s always playing a wise-cracking smart-ass with little or no dynamic.

I have to give credit where credit is due, and unfortunately he does get kudos for scoring roles as both Marvel and DC superheroes—he’s so far the first and only.

He’ll be playing the Silver Age version of the Green Lantern, test pilot Hal Jordan. The film is expected to hit theaters December 2010.

Read More | E! Online

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