Box-Office Benjamin$: ‘Couples Retreat’ Takes The Top Spot, Proving Vince Vaughn’s Still Got It

Vince Vaughn has proven that his comedy star power is still going strong this weekend as his tropical rom-com Couples Retreat snagged the top spot at the box-office taking in a very solid $35.3 million. Three out of his past four comedies, (minus Fred Claus) Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up and Four Christmases all grossed well over $100 million domestically, displaying the affection most movie-goers have for the fast-talking funnyman.

Despite being co-written by Vaughn and Swingers/Made writer Jon Favreau, which would seemingly solidify comedic quality, Couples Retreat was bashed hard by most critics, receiving an awful 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Again proving that critical acclaim is not mutually exclusive with commercial success; although if it is indeed that bad, it should receive some negative word-of-mouth backlash on Twitter.

The blood-bath comedy of the year, Zombieland, continues to perform decently at the box-office by coming in second place with $15 million in its second weekend. As funny and as awesome as this movie is (I gave it an A grade in my review last week) the zombie genre in general is much more “cult exclusive,” thus restraining its potential blockbuster status. “This year’s Blair Witch Project,” Paranormal Activity, has made an exponential profit at the box-office vs. it’s production budget by taking in $7.1 million during its opening weekend, coming in at #5. Paranormal Activity‘s budget was a mere $15,000, but has made it’s creators Hollywood royalty over night. The film has received phenomenal reviews and is being dubbed as “the scariest movie of the decade.” Can’t wait to see it.

Opening up this weekend is the absolute no-brainer of the Fall to make a massive splash at the box-office, I am of course talking about Where The Wild Things Are. This is the film that myself, and most of my friends have been anticipating for months now and should easily be the most successful movie of the fall. WTWTA is a children’s book that has a lot of meaning for many people as it is has had a lot of emotional impact on our generation’s childhood. That, plus the constant marketing and very solid early reviews, I have no doubt that  Where The Wild Things Are will easily gross over $200 million domestically.

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

1) Couples Retreat $35.3 million
2) Zombieland $15 million
3) Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs $12 million
4) Toy Story 2/3 in 3D $7.7 million
5) Paranormal Activity $7.1 million

What Do You Think? Discuss.