'This Is It' continues moonwalking atop movie charts; 'A Christmas Carol,' 'Precious,' debut well

November 8, 3:18 PMAtlanta Movies ExaminerRyan McNally

Previous Next

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Atlanta Movies Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Despite five major new movie releases coming out this weekend, the King of Pop continued to hold court as Michael Jackson’s This Is It topped the AME weekend movie chart** for the weekend of Nov. 6-8. The posthumous concert film grossed $14 million—down a respectable 39.7 percent—trailing only A Christmas Carol. But it outranked that holiday pic among critics (No. 7 among the box-office top 20 for This Is It, versus No. 10 for A Christmas Carol) and audiences (7.5 IMDB score versus 6.8) to win the battle for AME chart supremacy.

The Men Who Stare at Goats, the Grant Heslov comedy starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, actually had the highest AME chart debut, landing at No. 2 on the strength of strong box office ($13.3 million, No. 3) and word of mouth (No. 5 IMDB score among the B.O. top 20). Reviews were mixed, however, with the pic tallying a 59 tomatometer score, which landed it just short of “fresh.”

Sundance favorite Precious had a huge debut despite opening on just 18 screens. The indie drama averaged an astonishing $100K per theater, the highest per-screen average since Dreamgirls opened three years ago. Critics ranked it a gem, with the pic’s 77 Metacritic score landing at No. 3 for the week, and moviegoers were also impressed, with the Oprah Winfrey-endorsed film coming in at No. 5 at IMDB.

As mentioned, Director Robert Zemeckis’ new telling of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol won the weekend box office crown, grossing $31 million despite opening more than six weeks before Xmas. While reviews were mixed for Jim Carrey’s latest, audience response was even chillier, with the pic’s No. 13 IMDB user ranking boding ill for a long run in theaters—potential trouble given the film’s $200 million budget.

Off the AME chart, horror film The Fourth Kind opened with $12.5 million, landing at No. 4 at the box office. Although audience response isn’t bad so far (7.3 IMDB rating, No. 9), the flick was slayed by critics, who rewarded it with an abysmal 16 tomatometer score (No. 18).

The Box rounded out the weekend’s wide releases, grossing a middling $7.9 million to come in at No. 6. The Cameron Diaz thriller didn’t quite catch on with critics or audiences, ranking No. 12 at Metacritic and No. 13 among IMDB users.

The AME weekend movie chart for Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2009:

1) This Is It (1)

2) The Men Who Stare at Goats (NR)

3) Where the Wild Things Are (2)

4) Zombieland (4T)

5) Precious (NR)

6T) A Serious Man (4T)

6T) Paranormal Activity (3)

8) A Christmas Carol (NR)

9) An Education (6)

10) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (7T)

Related Articles:
1) Michael Jackson's This Is It dances to top of Halloween weekend movie chart
2) Somers Town review: Adolescent hijinks in a London neighborhood
3) No Impact Man review: Colin Beavan's super-sized effort at cutting consumption

**Tired of reading about the latest dumb action flick, lame gross-out comedy or played-out torture porn horror pic that took home the box office crown? Wish the media balanced screaming headlines about box office winners with more stories about “the top reviewed films” or the “films audiences loved the most”?

I’m with ya. And that’s why I’ve devised the Atlanta Movies Examiner (AME) weekend movie chart, a new ranking system (see list above) that combines critics’ reviews, audience response and, yes, box office to deliver a comprehensive list of what’s hot in theaters in each weekend. (The previous week’s chart position is listed in parentheses after the film title.)