Jun.8 2009

Box-Office Benjamin$: UP and The Hangover Go Down to the Wire

box-office-vs-up

Now this is what you call a photo-finish of two completely opposite comedies. This weekend, with a crowded slew of movies in theaters, Todd Phillip’s R-rated The Hangover surprised many by beating out Pixar’s UP BARELY, by a mere $900,000! Damn that is close. The college crowd has been clamoring for another outrageous R-rated comedy and made The Hangover #1 with just under $45 million. In it’s second week, UP proved it’s staying power by coming in second with $44.1 million, totaling a massive $137 million after two weeks. Stellar reviews and great word-of-mouth, also helped The Hangover embarrass Will Ferrell’s PG-13 comedy adventure, the adaptation of the old TV series, Land of The Lost.

With terrible reviews and equally harsh bashing of his comedy style in general, (which was completely out of line and you should comment on the article to defend the poor guy) Ferrell’s attempt for a mass-appeal action-adventure failed with an embarrassing $19 million. Now reasoning for The Hangover’s success and LOTL’s failure has been a hot-button issue on this site, but one could make the argument that, while the film was rated PG-13, promotion and advertising positioned the tone of the film to be family-friendly. Now I don’t want to get into another huge thing here, because there’s been some intense discussion on Matthew’s review a few posts below, but I believe it’s because it had the opposite word-of-mouth effect with parents.

When we saw Land of the Lost, there were many kids there with their parents, because regardless of the argument that it is rated PG-13 and parents should examine movie-ratings, general movie-goers are both lazy and stupid and base their judgments on whether they want to see a film based off trailers and TV spots. And based off those two aspects of it’s pre-release promotion, Universal obviously did not include some of the racier moments in the film, in an attempt to lure families to theaters to make more $$$. Once parents saw just how racy some of the film was, i.e. (“Fuck you,” “Pussy,” and “Are you wet?”) I think a lot of parents told their parent friends to not dare bring their 8 year-olds to this movie. Which is a shame, because I thought it was hysterical and hoped it would make more money. But that’s the way it is. I don’t think this weekend should shake up too much with the opening of The Taking of Pelham 123, as that looks like the definition of cliche Denzel. What, he’s trying to negotiate a hostage situation with a mad-man who has ulterior motives? C’mon.

Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this weekend.

CHAMP: The Hangover $44.9 million

2) UP $44. 1 million
3) Land of the Lost $19 million
4) Night at the Museum 2 $14.6 million
5) Star Trek $8 million

What Do You Think? Discuss.

Categories : Box-Office Benjamins

http://intensedebate.com/people/MovieMike MovieMike

Here is my take on all of this…

I am surprised that The Hangover took down UP! I want to see UP because of the good reviews and the fact that they have not had a bad movie ever. But i am very happy for te Hangover! Im glad for the cast because for most of them, this is their biggest film role yet.

As for Land of the Lost and the "obsession" with Will Ferrell being apparently over, i personally love Will Ferrell and he is still hilarious as he used to be. And for them to say that Will Ferrell is done because of one movie doing just OK, that is absolutely dumb. His last movie, Step Brothers, was huge and now this movie did average in its first week.

I personally had to go to a wedding this weekend and had to choose between that the hangover. i chose the hangover because my brother said it was amazing. I didn't see much in the previews that made me want to see LOTL. I am going to see it on wednesday and have heard good things now about it.
http://intensedebate.com/people/matthewdeery matthewdeery

Will Ferrell is still hilarious. We know him a lot better, so he has lost shock value. But overall he still will do anything for a laugh, and every movie I have seen him I laugh, a lot. (minus Kicking and Screaming, I didn't like that one) I agree with Rabs on saying that LOTL was hilarious at parts…money isn't the definition of comedy.

Taking of Pelham 123, aka Inside Man or John Q…wait John Q he is the hostage holding mad man. Did you know a script is being drafted for Inside Man 2??
http://intensedebate.com/people/MovieMike MovieMike

Just saw Land of the Lost and i thought it was hilarious. I don't know if you guys knew but Cha-ka is played by Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island-I'm on a boat, jizz in my pants, motherlover, SNL writer, Hot Rod). Yes, it didn't have that "shock" factor, but its hard to expect every movie to have that when it doesnt need it to be a good movie. A couple of years ago it started to be expected but its setting every new movie to an impossible height.

In its own right, Land of the Lost was a funny and good movie. not great, but a pretty solid effort. the previews just didn't show me enough.
http://intensedebate.com/people/MovieMike MovieMike

ALSO,
Matt, i read your review and it was a great review and gave props to where it was deserved. I do understand your complaints with the script and the storyline could have been better but overall everything else was great.