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Topic:
The Box Office Thread: "Beverley Hills Chihuahua" is No. 1
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/20 3:28pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: The Hulk v. The Happening
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The Smart Money is on Carrell
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/22 12:34pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Carrell vs. Myers
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GET SMART Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell's spy spoof scored a weekend win at the box office
Tracy Bennett
By Joshua Rich
"Get Smart, Steve Carell's update of the classic 1960s TV show, wound up an easy victor in this weekend's battle for box office bucks — and laughs — as Mike Myers' The Love Guru disappointed at No. 4.
With a $39.2 mil debut, Get Smart came in right around most projections and gave all of its main stars — Carell, Anne Hathaway, and Dwayne Johnson — the biggest bow of their careers as lead actors. (Yes, it is bigger than The Scorpion King!) The film is now the second No. 1 movie of the summer to be adapted from a television show, following Sex and the City; after Carrie & Co.'s flick, it's also the second-biggest live-action comedy opener of 2008. Credit broad appeal (the spy spoof earned a decent B+ CinemaScore grade from an audience that was divided equally between men and women and skewed 60-40 toward older people), decent reviews, and the ever-increasing appeal of its stars. With two weeks before Will Smith's Hancock premieres, Get Smart should keep strong.
In other words, it'll fare much like Kung Fu Panda (No. 2) has. Jack Black's animated movie dropped a mere 35 percent on its third weekend to bring in an impressive $21.7 mil; its total now stands at $155.6 mil (though it may slow down a bit when Wall-E opens next weekend). Staying slightly less steady was The Incredible Hulk (No. 3), which dropped 61 percent to earn a still-respectable $21.6 mil and bring its 10-day sum to a jolly green $96.5 mil. But will this movie pass the $132.2 mil domestic total of Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk installment?
One movie that's definitely going nowhere is Mike Myers' The Love Guru, which earned a disappointing $14 mil. While not exactly, you know, a Gigli-esque number, that total is pretty bad: It's merely half of what most pundits predicted the film would earn, and it represents Myers' worst opening since View From the Top's $7 mil bow five years ago. Worse yet, The Love Guru now enjoys the honor of becoming the second major flop of the summer, after Speed Racer (which actually grossed more on its first weekend, $18.6 mil). And with a B- CinemaScore grade from an audience that skewed slightly younger and male, Myers' movie probably won't see much of a karmic improvement ahead.
The bad news continued at No. 5, where M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening dropped a staggering 67 percent to earn just $10 mil — something that many pundits (including me!) saw coming, after the film earned a deadly D CinemaScore grade last weekend. The thriller has $50.3 mil in the bank, which is okay, and certainly more than the director's last movie, Lady in the Water, banked during its entire run, but it's not likely to earn a whole lot more.
But there was good word outside of the top 10 — and most multiplexes — where the limited-release children's film Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, starring Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin and based on the popular line of dolls, earned an amazing average of $44,539 in just five theaters. Expect the movie to become a bona fide hit when it expands its run soon.
And speaking of hits, Iron Man became the year's first film to cross the $300 mil domestic mark when it did so last Thursday. Robert Downey Jr.'s Marvel movie has now earned $304.8 mil in eight weeks, and it's likely to finish the summer in a dead heat with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which has brought in $290.8 mil in five frames. Not bad, eh? I mean, at the start of the season, who saw that coming?
Phew! Lotsa good news, indeed! No surprise, then, that the total box office was up 8 percent over the same frame a year ago (when Carell's Evan Almighty won with a weak-ish $31.2 mil). And now that the real summer has finally caught up with the box-office summer, that is a nice thing to hear, for sure."
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/27 11:57am
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Carrell Takes the Win
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'WALL-E': Will-E Beat 'Wanted'?
By Joshua Rich
"Whaddya know: Another summer weekend, another new comic-book flick. But unlike Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Angelina Jolie's graphic-novel-based Wanted isn't going to finish No. 1. Why? Because it's Pixar weekend, kids! And this summer's requisite release from the digital-animation house, WALL-E, should take the cake, duh.
Wait, what? You disagree? If so (or even if not), go ahead and make your own picks in EW.com's Summer Box Office Challenge. Whaddya got to lose?
THE (LIKELY) TOP FIVE
WALL-E
Walt Disney/Pixar · G · 3,992 theaters · NEW
The latest Pixar movie features an adorable little robot who speaks in beeps and bops. (I mean, how cute?! Maybe Angelina will adopt him.) But will audiences take a shine to the metal guy? At the risk of repeating myself: Duh! All this talk about the movie being a hard sell because its main character doesn't talk much, and about how Pixar is going to have a flop at some point because, well, it just has to happen for some reason — all bunk. Remember how everyone said that Ratatouille was going to struggle because it was about an icky rat and it was all, like...French? Well, yeah, other than its $47 mil debut, its $206.4 mil domestic total, its $621.4 mil worldwide total, its five Oscar nominations, and its win as Best Animated Feature, things clearly sucked for Pixar's 2007 release. Goodness gracious, of course this future resident of every American child's bedroom is gonna be huge! Seeing as how the less-anticipated Kung Fu Panda recently bowed with $60.2 mil, WALL-E is likely looking at an opening that's more in line with Finding Nemo's $70.3 mil, I say.
Weekend prediction: $71 million
Wanted
Universal · R · 3,175 theaters · NEW
Wanted has hot stars (Angelina and Atonement's James McAvoy play assassins), it looks like a fun action movie, its reviews have been pretty good, and that R rating shouldn't hurt too much in a summer when more adult films like Sex and the City, The Strangers, and The Happening have premiered remarkably well. So what's the problem? Oddly enough, it may just be those sexy stars. McAvoy isn't big enough yet to open a movie (though that could change soon), and as I mentioned in this space a year ago when A Mighty Heart debuted (and promptly floundered), Angelina's box office track record is spotty. Totally strange, I know, but true. Her résumé is riddled with flops like Original Sin, Beyond Borders, and Taking Lives — that's the bad news. The good news is that while she has just two bona fide blockbusters as a lead actress, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wanted appears to be more like those hits than just about anything else she's done.
Weekend prediction: $37 million
Get Smart
Warner Bros. · PG-13 · 3,915 theaters · 2nd weekend
Its reign at the top of the box office was short-lived, but Steve Carell's spy spoof is the kind of broad comedy that can morph into a slow-building blockbuster: It has brought in more than $4 mil each day during the week, so it should be able to stick around a while.
Weekend prediction: $20 million
Kung Fu Panda
Paramount/DreamWorks · PG · 3,670 theaters · 4th weekend
There's no doubt that WALL-E's opening will hurt Jack Black's animated juggernaut, which has had the kid-movie monopoly on the multiplex for three weeks running. Something tells me, however, that the $165 mil it has already banked domestically — not to mention its rise to No. 3 in the 2008 box office rankings — should ease the pain.
Weekend prediction: $12 million
The Incredible Hulk
Universal/Marvel · PG-13 · 3,354 theaters · 3rd weekend
The Marvel movie (which just passed the $100 mil mark) suffered a steep decline last weekend, indeed. But, hey, it has outlived both The Happening and The Love Guru in the top five. Bravo!
Weekend prediction: $10 million"
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Gobi-1
Title: Manager: LFL Projects / Indiana Jones 4
Registered:
Dec '02
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Date Posted:
6/27 4:52pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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I wouldn't be surprised if Wanted tanks like Speed Racer and The Love Guru.
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In 1977 George Lucas created the Star Wars Trilogy and changed the way we look at movies.
In 1999 George Lucas created the Prequel Trilogy and changed the way we look at Star Wars.
Frasier, Lost, and Whose Line Is It Anyway? are the best tv shows ever.
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Princess_Tina
Registered:
May '01
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Date Posted:
6/27 6:25pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Gobi-1 posted:
I wouldn't be surprised if Wanted tanks like Speed Racer and The Love Guru.
Well, I think it might do just a tad better than those two turkeys, if only because Angelina Jolie is in it and many guys still think she's hot. 
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/27 6:46pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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And after "Atonement", McAvoy has a considerable fan base, as well.
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adx
Registered:
Sep '07
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Date Posted:
6/27 6:49pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Wall-e will get the win for sure.
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Princess_Tina
Registered:
May '01
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Date Posted:
6/27 6:51pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Zaz posted:
And after "Atonement", McAvoy has a considerable fan base, as well.
I would think the target audience for Wanted isn't the kind of moviegoer most likely to have watched Atonement, but, for the sake of argument, let's assume that some moviegoers might be such huge fans of his that they'll watch him in anything.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/27 6:52pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Oh, "WALL*E" will win. "Wanted" should do well, though.
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Princess_Tina
Registered:
May '01
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Date Posted:
6/27 6:57pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
- Date Edited:
6/27 6:58pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Princess_Tina
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Zaz posted:
Oh, "WALL*E" will win. "Wanted" should do well, though.
My gut feeling is that Wanted might openly decently or semi-decently but drop heavily after its first weekend, especially if Hancock is more attractive for the action fans.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/28 10:33am
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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The first reviews on "Hancock" are poor. It may luck out.
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Princess_Tina
Registered:
May '01
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Date Posted:
6/28 11:18am
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Zaz posted:
The first reviews on "Hancock" are poor. It may luck out.
Well, poorly reviewed movies have done boffo business before. Remember the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels?
As for WALL-E vs. Wanted, Variety reports:
Pixar's 'Wall-E' rolls over competition
'Wanted' reps Jolie's best live-action opening day
By ANTHONY D'ALESSANDRO
“Wall-E” blasted off at the box office Friday, earning an estimated $23.1 million and giving Disney-Pixar its best opening day ever.
Meanwhile, Universal’s actioner “Wanted” based on the comic strip by Mark Millar loaded up a boffo $18.8 million in second at 3,175 theaters, giving Angelina Jolie her highest opening day ever for a live-action pic. Jolie’s previous top live-action opening day belonged to 2001’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” which made $18 million.
The tale about a lonely robot who romantically pursues another robot from outer space, “Wall-E” also took the record for the top G-rated opening day, besting “Finding Nemo’s” $20.2 million in 2003.
Playing at 3,992 theaters, “Wall-E” is Pixar’s ninth animated release.
Pixar’s previous opening day high belonged to 2005’s “The Incredibles” which grossed $20.5 million on its first Friday and $70.5 million over three days.
Among the top debut days of all-time for animated fare, “Wall-E” ranks third behind last summer’s “Shrek the Third” ($38.4 million) and “The Simpsons Movie” ($30.8 million).
Both new entries are expected to keep a lock on their respective top slots through Sunday.
Last weekend’s number one film, Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow’s “Get Smart” placed third yesterday, taking in $6.6 million at 3,915 venues, a 50% decline from a week ago, for an eight day cume of $63.9 million.
In fourth, the Paramount-DreamWorks animation release “Kung Fu Panda” kicked up $3.5 million on 3,670, down 45%, raising its domestic cume in its fourth Friday to $171.1 million.
In its third Friday, Universal and Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk” took fifth with $2.8 million from 3,349, down 58%, for a running cume of $109.1 million.
Among niche fare, The Yash Raj release “Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic” bowed to $62,000 at 84 sites.
Picturehouse’s “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” fell 68% in its five locations, posting $31,000 in its second Friday or $6,260 per theater average. Through its first eight days, the Abigail Breslin starrer has grossed over $374,000.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988258.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
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gonzoforce
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
6/28 1:31pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
- Date Edited:
6/28 1:31pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
gonzoforce
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still, nearly 50 million for Wanted for the the weekend is surprising, considering it's an R-rated film. What's the last R-Rated film To open this big, was it Wedding Crashers?
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"The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli" - George Costanza
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The2ndQuest
Title: :
-Games
-LACWAC
-Lit Mod of Death
Registered:
Jan '00
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Date Posted:
6/28 2:57pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Wasn't one of the Matrix sequels the top R-rated film opening?
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K'Kruhk, 140 ABY: "Why haven't I come forth earlier to share my Jedi knowledge with Skywalker?
Well, it's kinda a long story, see, I had this freaking sweet hat..."
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The2ndQuest
Title: :
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Registered:
Jan '00
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Date Posted:
6/29 12:45pm
Subject:
RE: The Box Office Thread: Will "WALL*E" Beat "Wanted"?
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Weekend estimates have the two surprisingly close: Wall*E with 62.5 & Wanted with 51.1.
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K'Kruhk, 140 ABY: "Why haven't I come forth earlier to share my Jedi knowledge with Skywalker?
Well, it's kinda a long story, see, I had this freaking sweet hat..."
Is your Death Magnetic?
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