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This week, audiences ignored comedy to stare at TOTAL DESTRUCTION! Wooo-hooo!
As expected, this weekend's box office was dominated by "2012", the film some are calling "disaster-porn" and others are calling "pretty loud". But how'd the rest of the films in the top ten do? And did any comedies make a dent in the wallets of America? Find out in the box office rundown below, my gentle Examiner readers...
"2012", as everyone expected, stomped the competition this weekend at the box office. Just how hard it stomped the competition, though, is another story altogether. The Roland Emmerich film defied expectations-- which were already running high-- to pull in nearly $70 million worth of ticket sales this week. Wonder how many 90oz. sodas they sold over the weekend? Where are those figures?
Before we get into the autopsy of this weekend's top ten, let's take a look at the final figures for the weekend, courtesy of HitFix, the awesome entertainment site:
1. "2012," $65 million.
2. "Disney's A Christmas Carol," $22.3 million, $63 million to date.
3. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," $6.2 million, $23.3 million to date.
4. "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," $6 million, $8.9 million to date.
5. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $5.1 million, $68.2 million to date.
6. "The Fourth Kind," $4.7 million, $20.5 million to date.
7. "Couples Retreat," $4.25 million, $102.1 million to date.
8. "Paranormal Activity," $4.2 million, $103.8 million to date.
9. "Law Abiding Citizen," $3.9 million, $67 million to date.
10. "The Box," $3.2 million, $13.2 million to date.
As we can see above, "2012" pretty much owned everyone at the box office. Analysts were predicting a solid opening for the film in the $50-55 million range, so a $65 million opening is well above expectations and, frankly, kind of surprising: as we reported earlier in the weekend, the word of mouth from critics on the film (it's currently sitting at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes) was savage. Audiences ignored that advice and bellied up to the bar for a large mug of apocalypse.
Meanwhile, "A Christmas Carol" fell less than 40% from its returns last week, which most people are viewing as a success. The film's likely to play strong through the holiday season, and despite the "Meh" attitude that everyone's shown towards the film thus far, it's not impossible for the motion-captured family flick to make back some of its crazy-big $200m budget. Jim Carrey? Probably oughtta be focusing more on comedy, though.
In other news, "Paranormal Activity" finally broke the $100m mark-- a huge achievment for a film with a $15,000 budget-- and doesn't seem to be disappearing any time soon. As we get closer to Christmas, though, it's likely the horror flick will gracefully exit the top ten and head towards another huge boost in revenue from the inevitable huge-push for the DVD/BluRay release. We know we're gonna buy it.
As for comedy, things were looking mighty weak on that front. Only "Couples Retreat" has numbers worth mentioning: the film's closing in on a $100m box office gross, which is good news for the studio and director behind the film after they spent close to that amount to get the thing made. We've yet to talk to anyone that's actually seen "Couples Retreat", but maybe we're just hanging out in the wrong bars.
Oh, and then there's "Precious"; we should probably point that film out. Made for relatively nothing (relative to some of the other budgets represented in that top ten), the film's blown away all expectations and pulled in nearly $9 million to date. Here's what Hit Fix has to say about all that:
Right at "Goat's" heels in a stunning rise to fourth place was "Precious: Based on Push a Novel by Sapphire." In only 174 theaters, the acclaimed melodrama made $6 million for a per theater average of $35,000. With $8.9 million to date, the Oscar contender has already grossed more than potential nominees "A Serious Man" ($6.8 million), "An Education" ($3.2 million) and "Bright Star" ($4.2 million). It expands to approximately 600 theaters this Friday. It certainly won't beat expected champ "New Moon," but could easily rake in another $12-15 million. How high it goes? Your guess is good as mine, Lionsgate's and Oprah Winfrey's.
True dat, Hit Fix. "Men Who Stare At Goats" (the only other comedy of note besides "Couples Retreat" in the top ten) is performing ho-hum so far, and isn't likely to get a boost any time soon. "Precious", on the other hand, is going to end up turning one helluva profit. Look for "Precious" to go wider next week (who knows? Maybe it'll be playing closer to you, and if dark, upsetting drama tinged with race relations and child abuse is your thing, you're in luck) and improve the numbers it's already pulled down.
Well, that's it for this week's Box Office Report, folks. Next week brings us the release of something called "New Moon" and a comedy/kid's flick called "Planet 51" that will likely die a lonely death in the face of romantic vampires fighting werewolves. Just another weekend at the box office, folks. Stay tuned for our report next week, where we'll be stunned at the sheer amount of money that "New Moon" actually earns. In the meantime, check out these other recent articles from the Comedy Examiner's Office:
"2012" brings the end of the world to every other film at the box office!"-- in which we look at the numbers for Friday's box office, where comedy died a huge death in the face of special-effects blockbuster "2012".
"Funny Thing About That Is: Texan drives $1 million car into a salt marsh"-- in which we learn of the sad story of the Galveston man who drove a million-dollar car into a body of water. Sad story...or hilarious? You make the call!
"Amazingly cool 'Inglourious Basterds' artwork you'll want on your wall, right here!"-- check out this awesome Jack Kirby-esque artwork done for "Inglourious Basterds". We want posters of this stuff right now.
"Funny Video shows the origins of the Obama "birther" movement (with funny video)"-- in which we check out a clip from SuperNews!, who seem to have uncovered the shocking truth behind the "Birther" movement against Obama. Check it out!
(photo: Iwatchstuff.com)
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