Archive for Box-Office Benjamins
Box-Office Benjamin$: Transformers Pwns!
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So I was waaaaaaaaayyyy off. I predicted last week that Transformers: Revenge of the fallen would gross a modest $115 million over its 5-day opening weekend. Looks like director Michael Bay and his robots Pwned me. Trans 2 absolutely destroyed the box-office and its competition in the process by taking in a WHOPPING $201.2 million over five days. It set a few records as well. It broke the weekday opening-day record by taking in over $60 million on Wednesday. It is also the second-biggest five day total of all-time. Second only to that little movie from last summer, The Dark Knight.
Box-Office Benjamin$: I Told Ya The Proposal Would Take It
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Not to brag or nothin, but I did predict last week that the Ryan Reynolds/Sandra Bullock rom-com would take top spot this weekend and it did with a very respectable $34.1 million, beating Jack Black’s Year One in the process, which took in a mediocre $20 million. To make things more fun here on The Movie Mash, from now on during my weekly Box-Office Benjamin$ report, I’m going to start not only predicting the winner of the next weekend, but also how much that winner will take in. Feel free to say “Challenge” and provide your predictions in a comment. The winner will be mentioned in the following week’s report. Anyway, after two weeks of The Hangover dominating with its outrageous-factor, people decided to get their LOLs from a more traditional, situational comedic outlet in The Proposal.
Box-Office Benjamin$: The Hangover Scores Again, Taking 123 Bombs
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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 $30.8 million.
Box-Office Benjamin$: UP and The Hangover Go Down to the Wire
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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 $137 million after two weeks. Stellar reviews and great word-of-mouth, also helped The Hangover embarrass Will Ferrell’s PG-13 comedy adventure, the adaptation of the old TV series, Land of The Lost.
Box-Office Benjamin$: UP Is WuzUP
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What what did you think was going to happen? IT’S PIXAR!!! Of course UP would be on top. After the bombardment of sci-fi action movies thus far in May, it appears America was in the mood for some Diseny action. With the combination of near flawless reviews, 3D and the Disney-Pixar stamp, UP was #1 at the box-office this weekend taking in just over $68 million. It was pretty much expected because everything that studio touches turns to gold (i.e. Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, etc.). So it’s safe to assume that every film they put out will send families running to the multiplexes.
What’s sad and disappointing is the second straight blockbuster bomb that Warner Bros. has pumped out this year. After Watchmen was unsuccessful at the box-office back in March, WB was banking on Christian Bale and the Terminator loyals to storm to theaters in droves for Terminator Salvation. Last weekend Salvation raked in a disappointing $53.8 million. This weekend it dropped off a WHOPPING 61.4% coming in 3rd with an embarrassing $16.4 million and a $90 million domestic total after two weeks. McG and the WB suits have to be eating Ben & Jerry’s and sobbing as they’re looking at these receipts after all the promotion and expectations; not to mention the massive success of Star Trek, which pulled in a another $12 million, bringing its domestic total to $209 million. It’ll get to $250M, you’ll see.
Things aren’t going to get any easier this Friday, as two more epic comedies hit the already crowded multiplexes with Warner Bros.’ The Hangover and Will Ferrell’s Land of the Lost. The Hangover could be WB’s box-office “salvation” as it’s the latest comedy from Todd Phillips, the comedic genius behind Old School and Road Trip. With a much smaller budget than Watchmen and Terminator Salvation, WB could have the best chance to gain a significant profit with The Hangover, due to it’s R-rated raunchy appeal. It’s the first of its kind this summer season and has proved successful in the past, i.e. Knocked Up, Superbad, etc.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this weekend.
CHAMP: UP %68.2 million
2) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $25.5 million
3) Drag Me To Hell $16.6 million
4) Terminator Salvation $16.1 million
5) Star Trek $12.8 million
What Do You Think? Discuss
Box-Office Benjamin$: Stiller “Terminates” Bale…Get It?!
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Sorry, I couldn’t resist corny puns that most sites and publications put in their weekly box-office reports. Terminator fans are sighing with disappointment today due to the poor showing Terminator Salvation had at the box-office this weekend. Ben Stiller’s epic comedy sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, was #1 at the box-office over this Memorial Day weekend raking in a $70 million holiday gross. Despite having the Wednesday midnight showings, all-day Thursday showings and fanboy anticipation, the fourth installment in the Terminator franchise starring Christian Bale could only muster a measly $53.8 million over four days. That has got to be extremely disappointing for Warner Bros. for three big reasons: 1)Because it’s sci-fi action epic that is apart of an already successfully established franchise 2) WB put a lot of time and money in advertising and promotion 3) Producers decided to play it safe and make the film PG-13 after the failed box-office showing of the R-rated Watchmen back in March; which obviously didn’t help much.
I am surprised and disappointed because I thought it was a great action movie and deserved to make more money. But in any case (say except for The Dark Knight) no matter how anticipated a superhero/action movie is, counting on the epic family adventure to be box-office champ is always a safe bet. Something else to note is the continued success of Star Trek. I’ve said in the past couple B.O.B reports, that it is so good, so well-reviewed and has such good word-of-mouth that it’ll crack $250 million eventually. Competing against Terminator and Night at the Museum is no easy task, but it still managed to pull in an impressive $29.5 million over it’s third weekend in release, bringing it’s domestic total to a very solid $191 million. $250 million might be a challenge, but I’m sticking to my guns and predicting that it eventually grosses a quarter billion during it’s full run in theaters.
Closing out May’s Blockbuster Blood Bath this Friday is the battle of the flawless reviewed, contrasting genre flicks. Disney/Pixar’s UP, and Sam Raimi’s return to horror Drag Me to Hell, are both CURRENTLY sitting pretty at a cool 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Let’s see how the rest of May’s blockbuster’s fair when Pixar and horror are thrown into the mix. Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this Memorial Day weekend.
CHAMP: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $70 million
2) Terminator Salvation $53.8
3) Star Trek $29.4 million
4) Angles and Demons $27.7 million
5) Dance Flick $13.1 million
Source: Box-Office Mojo
What Do You Think? Discuss.
Box-Office Benjamin$: Angels & Demons Barely Survives Kirk & Spock
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Looks like lifetime ban from the Vatican and being a sequel-prequel to controversial The Da Vinci Code was enough to entice movie-goers to see Angels & Demons. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of people that saw it. In fact it was #1 at the box-office this weekend with a $48 million debut. However, if you look at it in context, Tom Hanks second outing as Professor Langdon is a huge disappointment. The Da Vinci Code was released May 19, 2006 and grossed $77 million its opening weekend; that’s almost $30 million more than the prequel-sequel that’s had years of hype and controversy.
Another thing that didn’t help Ron Howard’s movie is Star Trek. The best film of the summer thus far came back swinging in it’s second weekend, nipping at Hanks’ heels and taking in an impressive $43 million for 2nd place. That’s only a 43% drop, helping it’s domestic gross reach an outstanding $147 million domestically in just two weeks. The epic, positive word-of-mouth is what I think propelled Star Trek to such solid numbers. People were hesitant at first because of the nerd factor, but then when all their friends told them how great it was, they had to check it out for themselves. Wolverine came out a week prior to Star Trek and only has $150 million to it’s name and keeps on spiking. At this pace, Trek has a legitimate shot of breaking $250 million this summer. Not if Christian Bale has anything to say about it though, as Terminator Salvation opens in two days. It’ll be interesting to see if Trek can pull out another second place, as Demons is sure to swan-dive next weekend with it’s bad reviews and negative word-of-mouth, Wolverine-style.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office this weekend.
CHAMP: Angels & Demons $48 million
2) Star Trek $43 million
3) X-Men Origins: Wolverine $14.8 million
4) Ghost of Girlfriends Past $6.9 million
5) Obsessed $4.6 million
Source: Box-Office Mojo
What Do You Think? Discuss.
Box-Office Benjamin$: “Star Trek” Sets Phasers on a Whopping $75.2M
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It didn’t make $158.4 million and shatter the opening-weekend record like The Dark Knight. It didn’t even make more than $85 million, beating Wolverine’s three-day take from last weekend. Star Trek did, however, manage to make more on it’s opening weekend than 8 out of the last 10 Star Trek film’s total grosses. With low expectations concluded from past film comparisons and the “Nerd Alert!” stigma, Star Trek surpassed most expectations and was the clear number one at the box-office this weekend with an impressive $75.2 million.
Most likely due to atrocious reviews and even worse special effects, X-Men Origins: Wolverine took a major swan-dive on it’s second weekend in theaters, dropping nearly 70% and taking in a measly $26.4 million. Hugh Jackman doesn’t have too much spilled milk to cry over though, his newest X-Men installment has already grossed over $200 worldwide in 10 days.
As much as I loved Star Trek and wish it all the success in the world, I must again remind Trekkies and fans to stay grounded. After this initial success, the Blockbuster Blood Bath continues with week with Angels & Demons and the following week with Terminator Salvation . Despite those films taking a major bite out of Star Trek’s potential box-office, it should have no trouble exceeding $200 million domestically during its theater run. This will of course be due to the Trekkie repeat viewings; similar to the Leo-obsessed teen girls who went to see Titanic 15 times in theaters back in 97′. This box-office success has guaranteed an extension of the franchise, which is awesome! Keep it coming Abrams.
Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the Box-Office This Weekend.
Champ: Star Trek $72.5 million
2) X-Men Origins: Wolverine $26.4 million
3) Ghost of Girlfriends Past $10.3 million
4) Obsessed $6.5 million
5) 17 Again $4.2 million
Source: Box-Office Mojo
What Do You Think? Discuss.
Box-Office Benjamin$: “17 Again” tops…jk, Wolverine Dominates
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Despite terrible reviews, online leakage and a general consensus of let down city that you think would have had a serious word-of-mouth effect, X-Men Origins: Wolverine banked at the box-office this weekend taking in $87 million. Hugh Jackman’s independent stint as the burly badass nudged out two out of the three previous X-Men film’s opening weekends; except X-Men: The Last Stand which took in $102 million.
Wolverine’s successful debut will end fast though. As I alluded to in last week’s Box-Office Benjamin$ report, the next three consecutive weekends have Star Trek, Angels and Demons & Terminator Salvation to take a massive chunk out of its potential blockbuster cash. I’ve already seen Star Trek and it’s amazing. I think it could surprise a lot of people at the box-office next weekend. Mr. Travis Andries will have his debut movie review of Star Trek posted on Thursday, so stay tuned to The Mash for that. Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 At The Box-Office this weekend.
CHAMP: X-Men Origins: Wolverine $87 million
2) Ghost of Girlfriends Past $15.3 million
3) Obsessed $12.2 million
4) 17 Again $6.3 million
5) Monsters vs. Aliens $5.8 million
Box-Office Benjamin$: America is Obsessed With Beyonce
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“Ah hell no, he’s my man.”
That’s not a quote from the movie, but it could be. What’s hotter than Ali Larter and Beyonce going super-sexy crazy over Scranton’s new corporate boss Idris Elba? Apparently nothing. The fatal attraction-esque thriller Obsessed made an impressive debut at the box-office this weekend, taking in $28. 5 million.
Could be partially due to the very cool marketing game on the film’s official website. You’re basically IMing with an “obsessed girl” who responds to whatever you say, with impressive accuracy. My buddy Bryan and I were messing around with it at work last Friday and it’s a pretty fun time. Check it out!
Zac Efron’s 17 Again took a decent hit in it’s second weekend dropping over 50% in ticket sales. But who cares? Non of this matters. No one will even remember these two films existed after the blockbuster hurricane tears through multi-plexes. Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons and Terminator Salvation open everywhere on consecutive weekends, starting this Friday. It’s gonna be a BLOCKBUSTER BLOOD BATH! Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the Top 5 at the box-office this weekend.
Champ: Obsessed $28.5 million
2) 17 Again $11.7 million
3) Fighting $11.4 million
4) The Soloist $9.7 million
5) Earth $8.6 million
