1. Puss In Boots $33M – With a total of take $75.5 after two weeks on a $130M budget, DreamWorks is probably feeling better after what looked like a weak opening. Still, this will have to make somewhere close to $300M to break even, and that’s a long ways off.
2. Tower Heist: $25.1M — If that cast (Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Dave Chappelle, Tea Leoni, and Casey Affleck) can’t open a high-concept comedy/thriller this close to the holidays, no wonder Hollywood is worrying about… everything. This was supposed to be a no-brainer.
3. Harold and Kumar 3D: $13M — Opened below its predecessor, which means that this is likely the last big screen entry into what was never a hugely popular but still profitable franchise.
4. Paranormal Activity 3: $8.5M — A five million dollar budgeted creeper has already made $95 million without a single “bankable” star.
7. Real Steel: $3.4M — Only $79M after 5 weeks.
8. The Rum Diary $3M — Did Hollywood really think all the stoners who get high to their “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas” DVDs would turn this $45M film into a hit?
10. Moneyball: $1.9M — Everyone who saw this loves it, the reviews are through the roof, and it’s going to top out at right around $70M. Maybe there really is a disturbance in the box office force.
11. The Three Musketeers: $1.7M — $75M budget plus $18M take in two weeks equals disaster.
In other box office news: Foreign Box Office: ‘Tintin’ Takes No. 1 Spot for Second Straight Weekend to Jump $100 Mil
‘Margin Call’ Performing Well Theatrically Despite VOD Release
Hmmm…?
The Wall Street drama debuted in 56 theaters upon its release three weeks ago and simultaneously became available to cable subscribers who wanted to watch the picture from the comfort of their own homes. The movie has since expanded to 178 theaters and has raked in $2.5 million since its opening, according to an estimate from distributor Roadside Attractions.
Because video-on-demand results lag about a week behind theatrical ticket sale figures, Roadside will not be releasing any VOD data until December. However, the distribution company’s co-president Howard Cohen wrote in an email that “based literally on the first three days of VOD, which is all we have, my sense is that a comparable number of sales were made on VOD as movie tickets sold in the same three days.
Sign of things to come, I’m sure of it.
After that disappointing opener, you have to wonder if Universal isn’t kicking themselves right now for allowing crybaby theatre owners to muscle them into giving up on the idea of releasing “Tower Heist” on VOD in select areas three weeks after its theatrical release. Now they have no extra revenue streams. They have to count on the old ones, and the old ones are giving everyone ulcers.
Bruce Vilanch Out?; Eddie Murphy’s Writing Team New to Oscar
This is a relief and long overdue.
Roger Ebert Warns of ‘At the Movies’ Cancellation: ‘We Need an Angel’
Right now Ebert pays for the program and gives it to public television for free.
If the most famous critic of his time can’t make this work, who can?
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SCOTTD’S EPIC LINK-TACULAR
DIMENSION ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO MICHAEL KEATON THRILLER ‘PENTHOUSE NORTH‘
LEGENDARY PICTURES ACQUIRES SPECTRAL, DESCRIBED AS A “GRITTY ‘GHOSTBUSTERS'”
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER LAYS OFF CRITIC KIRK HONEYCUTT
FROM JAMES BOND TO HARRY POTTER: CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF PINEWOOD STUDIOS
LINDSAY LOHAN CHECKS INTO AND OUT OF JAIL
WHY THE ‘ASSASSIN’S CREED’ MOVIE DEAL HAS SHOCKED HOLLYWOOD
THE SEARCH FOR JOHN MCCLANE’S SON NARROWED DOWN TO FOUR ACTORS
COMPOSER HANS ZIMMER NEEDS YOUR HELP FOR ‘THE DARK KNIGHT RISES‘
5 POTENTIAL VILLAINS FOR THE ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA’ SEQUEL
HUNTER S. THOMPSON ON FILM: A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE GONZO
CELEBRATING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF WONDER WOMAN
NOVEMBER 5TH: THE DAY DOC BROWN INVENTED TIME TRAVEL!
THE 30 MOST REWATCHABLE MOVIES OF THE MODERN ERA
AMERICANS HAVE SPENT $5 BILLION ON ZOMBIES AND ZOMBIE-RELATED PARAPHERNALIA
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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING
Apocalypto (2006) — Whatever you might think of Mel Gibson as a human being, this story of an ancient Mayan hunter captured for human sacrifice while his pregnant wife and young son await his rescue from a pit is one of the best directed films of the decade.
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CLASSIC PICK FOR TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Starting at 8pm, TCM hosts a John Wayne marathon: Rio Lobo (1970), McLintock! (1963), The Searchers (1956), and How the West Was Won (1962).
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–-Please send tips/suggestions/requests/complaints to jnolte@breitbart.com