These guys again? Even though five new titles entered the arena, none were strong enough to de-throne Sly Stallone and his gang from the box office top spot. Photo: Lionsgate
Five movies, yes that’s five new movies, entered the marketplace last weekend but thankfully all were dead on arrival leaving Sylvester Stallone and his gang of grandpas to continue their reign atop of the North American weekend box office for the second weekend in a row. Out of all the newcomers, it was the atrocious spoof “Vampires Suck” that fared the best while the weakly-received comedy “Lottery Ticket” also performed better than expected. On the other hand “Piranha 3-D,” “Nanny McPhee Returns” and “The Switch” all opened poorly despite being better rated and more appealing choices. Overall, it was the worst weekend for movies since April. I for one cannot wait for the Fall Movie Season to start!
"Eat Pray Love" had a worse-than-expected
showing in its sophomore weekend. Photo: Sony
After beating all competitors last weekend with a better than expected $35 million opening, Sylvester Stallone’s “The Expendables” continued to remain the undisputed champ of the box office. The silly actioner co-starring Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and a host of other action heroes took in $16.9 million in ticket sales, down 51% from last week. While a 51% drop isn’t something to be proud of, it was a much better hold than anyone had expected. With $65.3 million already in the bank, “The Expendables” should be able to scrap past the $100 million mark, which would make it Sly’s highest grossing picture in 25 years (Naturally, this is not counting the embarrassing “Spy Kids 3”). READ MY REVIEW HERE.
“Vampires Suck,” one of the worst movies of the year, opened in second place with $12 million proving once again that even if Hollywood churns out a movie comprised solely of people defecating on each other’s faces for two straight hours, there will be idiots who will dish out $10-$15 to see it. Thanks to these geniuses, writer-directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer now have another reason to live in Hollywood. If you were one of these people who paid to see “Vampires Suck,” I pity you.
Even though many expected it to hold strong in its second weekend, like how many other late summer adult dramas do, “Eat Pray Love” dropped by 48% this weekend to third place for a weekend cum of $12.1 million. Looks like word-of-mouth for the Julia Roberts-starrer isn’t going to be that strong after-all! With $47 million earned so far, look for the romantic drama to finish its run with a decent $70 million final. READ MY MINI-REVIEW HERE.
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“Lottery Ticket” starring Bow Wow and Ice Cube took up the fourth place spot for the weekend, notching up $10.6 million from a top ten low of 1,973 theaters – $5,399 per screen – which was the best for any film this weekend. Reviews for the comedy were generally poor.
Star-studded comedy “The Other Guys” rounded up the top five with a weekend cum of $10.16 million, taking its total up to a strong $88.2 million. Expect the well-reviewed comedy to break past $100 million sometime next weekend. The laugher should end up with $120 million. READ MY REVIEW HERE.
Newcomers “Piranha 3-D,” “Nanny McPhee Returns” and “The Switch” took over the sixth, seventh and eighth spots respectively with reported earnings of $10.1 million, $8.43 million and $8.4 million. The horror picture surprisingly received very good reviews from critics and has already become somewhat of a cult picture. Studio Dimension Pictures has already set up the sequel. “McPhee” was somewhat of a disappointment because it couldn’t even equal what the original earned during its opening weekend in early 2006. Finally, “The Switch” which stars Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman becomes the latest in a string of flops for both stars. Look for the movie to disappear from theaters after three weeks.
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The top ten was rounded out by two of the summer’s best movies: “Inception” and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”
Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster “Inception” took in $7.8 million, down by another slim margin of 32% in its sixth weekend to raise its total to a spectacular $261 million, making it the year’s fifth highest grossing movie. Nolan’s critically acclaimed puzzler should wrap up its dream with a beautiful $291 million when all is said and done. READ MY REVIEW HERE.
Edgar Wright, on the other hand, can only wish his movie, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” could have grossed even quarter of what “Inception” has made so far. After pulling in a pathetic $10 million during its opening weekend last week, the Michael Cera-starrer dropped by 51% for a weekend take of $5.2 million. Its total currently stands at $20.8 million. It’s budget – $90 million. Maybe it’s time for Jason Bateman and Michael Cera to look into that “Arrested Development” reunion movie before it’s too late. READ MY REVIEW HERE.
NEXT WEEK: The summer season will end with a whimper thanks to the faux documentary horror picture “The Last Exorcism” and the action thriller “Takers.” Expect another lackluster weekend at the box office. Oh, and a little movie called "Avatar" will be re-released into theaters with nine minutes of additional footage tagged on to remind the filmmakers of movies like "Clash of the Titans," "The Last Airbender" and "Shrek Forever After" what a "real" 3-D movie is.
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