Box-Office Benjamin$: The Hangover Scores Again, Taking 123 Bombs
By
The Hangover has done it again. Fresh off it’s upset debut last week, beating Pixar’s UP in the process, The Hangover was #1 at the box-office again this weekend with an impressive $32 million. With solid reviews and great word-of-mouth buzz, the blackout comedy has become an R-rated comedy heavy weight, cracking the $100 million mark after only two weekends, with a $104 million grand total. That is really impressive for a comedy, especially an R-rated one filled with drugs and profanity. Not as close as last week with a meager $900,000 difference, UP still nipped at The Hangover’s heels this weekend, coming in second again with an also impressive $30.8 million.
As I predicted last week, Denzel Washington and John Travolta’s remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 BIZombed with a sad $23.1 million in its opening weekend. I’m sorry, but this film failed for a couple reasons 1) Denzel and Travolta are old. They’re still great actors, but the only 50+ person I want to watch in an action movie is Bruce Willis. 2) The plot is played. How many times has Denzel been the good guy in a hostage negotiation situation (Inside Man, John Q, etc.). How many times has Travolta been the bad guy in a hostage negotiation situation? (Mad City, Swordfish, etc.) Yeah…seen it! And to make matters worse, they won’t even be able to make any sort of profit because of the massive amount of money they spent on advertising and the film budget itself was $100 million. OUCH!
As The Hangover and UP are currently controlling the box-office, the multiplexes are going to get even more comedy crowded this weekend when Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock in The Proposal takes on Jack Black and Michael Cera in Year One. Two very different comedies. The rom-com vs. the wacky biblical adventure. Although I’ll be seeing Year One, I think that the girls are gonna control the box-office this weekend making The Proposal #1.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this weekend.
CHAMP: The Hangover $32 million
2) UP $30.8 million
3) The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 $23.4 millioin
4) Night at the Museum 2 $9.6 million
5) Land of the Lost $9 million
What Do You Think? Discuss.








