Weekend Box Office Estimates 10/2 - 10/4

1 Zombieland Sony $25,000,000
2 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Sony $16,700,000
3 Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (3D) BV $12,500,000
4 The Invention of Lying WB $7,350,000
5 Surrogates BV $7,344,000
6 Capitalism: A Love Story Over. $4,850,000
7 Whip It FoxS $4,850,000
8 Fame (2009) MGM $4,754,000
9 The Informant! WB $3,800,000
10 Love Happens Uni. $2,777,000

Weekend Box Office Estimates 7/3 - 7/5

1 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Fox $42,500,000
2 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen P/DW $42,500,000
3 Public Enemies Uni. $26,172,000
4 The Proposal BV $12,779,000
5 The Hangover WB $10,415,000
6 Up BV $6,579,000
7 My Sister's Keeper WB $5,255,000
8 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Sony $2,500,000
10 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $2,100,000

Weekend Box Office Estimates 6/26 - 6/28

1 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen P/DW $112,000,000
2 The Proposal BV $18,466,000
3 The Hangover WB $17,215,000
4 Up BV $13,046,000
5 My Sister's Keeper WB $12,030,000
6 Year One Sony $5,800,000
7 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Sony $5,400,000
8 Star Trek Par. $3,606,000
9 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $3,500,000
10 Away We Go Focus $1,678,000
11 Land of the Lost Uni. $1,143,000
12 Terminator Salvation WB $1,085,000

Let it also be known that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made $201 million in its 5 day tally. This is only second to The Dark Knight, which made $204 million in the same 5 day span.

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Weekend Box Office Estimates 6/19 - 6/21

1 The Proposal BV $34,114,000
2 The Hangover WB $26,855,000
3 Up BV $21,336,000
4 Year One Sony $20,200,000
5 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Sony $11,300,000
6 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $7,300,000
7 Star Trek Par. $4,700,000
8 Land of the Lost Uni. $3,976,000
9 Imagine That Par. $3,100,000
10 Terminator Salvation WB $3,070,000

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Weekend Box Office Estimates 6/12 - 6/14

1 The Hangover WB $33,415,000
2 Up BV $30,515,000
3 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Sony $25,000,000
4 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $9,600,000
5 Land of the Lost Uni. $9,153,000
6 Imagine That Par. $5,700,000
7 Star Trek Par. $5,600,000
8 Terminator Salvation WB $4,695,000
9 Angels & Demons Sony $4,200,000
10 Drag Me to Hell Uni. $3,864,000

Weekend Box Office Estimates 3/6 - 3/8

1 Watchmen WB $55,655,000
2 Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail LGF $8,800,000
3 Taken Fox $7,450,000
4 Slumdog Millionaire FoxS $6,925,000
5 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $4,200,000
6 He's Just Not That Into You WB (NL) $4,020,000
7 Coraline Focus $3,313,000
8 Confessions of a Shopaholic BV $3,121,000
9 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience BV $2,785,000
10 Fired Up SGem $2,600,000

Who watches The Watchmen? Enough people to garner up a very healthy $55.6 million at the box office, that's who.

Although my expectations were for a much higher weekend total, one thing I forgot to take into consideration was the film's lengthy run time. Coming in at a whopping 2hrs 43min, it is no surprise that the movie made what it did opening weekend. Most theaters were only able to squeeze in three showings a day per screen, where your average ninety minute feature can manage almost double that.

Despite the length, Watchmen still sold out to theaters across the country, and even made $5.5 million at IMAX's over the weekend. This puts it second only to The Dark Knight, which garnered $6.8 million in the same venues. This and the fact that it was rated R (although we did have children in the theater when we saw it) had an impact on ticket sales. More important is the fact that it was as long as it was and that it was rated R, meant one thing: They got it right.

I've been doing a lot of homework to see if there is going to be any kind of director's cut. Not only is there going to be a director's cut, but an Ultimate Watchmen cut is also being planned. What does this mean?

Theatrical cut: 2hrs 43min, to be released on Blu-ray and DVD July 2009

Director's cut: 3hrs 10min, to be released on Blu-ray and DVD July 2009

Ultimate Watchmen: 3hrs 25min, (it could actually be longer) to be released on Blu-ray and DVD Fall 2009.

The 'Ultimate Cut' is special in that it will include the Black Freighter animated film, to be weaved back into the film and paced the same way as it was in the original the graphic novel. As quoted from Snyder himself, this cut will feature just about EVERYTHING he has for the movie. The downside is that a Fall release means that the release date could be as late as Dec 20th! Considering the fact that FOX is screwing them royally, it is understandable why they would pull a Lucas by releasing different versions of the film over a period of time in order to scartch up some more DVD sales. I'm letting you slide Warner, just this once.

Watchmen: The Midnight Take

The numbers are in! The Watchmen is estimated to have made $4.6 million at the midnight shows for it's March 6th release.

The film played in 1595 screens across the country at midnight and today will open to 3,611 screens which is the highest ever for an R rated film.

This also puts it ahead of Zack Snyder's 300, which made $2.5 million during its midnight tally back in March of 2007. It then went on to gross $70.9 million in it's opening weekend which is the largest ever for March... until weekend, of course.

Box Office Blight - 2/20 - 2/22 Weekend

1 N Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail LGF $41,030,947
2 5 Coraline Focus $11,432,124
3 3 Taken Fox $11,281,262
4 2 He's Just Not That Into You WB (NL) $8,558,225
5 9 Slumdog Millionaire FoxS $8,384,680
6 1 Friday the 13th (2009) WB (NL) $7,942,472
7 6 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $6,821,377
8 4 Confessions of a Shopaholic BV $6,742,778
9 N Fired Up SGem $5,483,778
10 7 The International Sony $4,463,916


I must say, there's nothing like a mid-February weekend theatrical opening lineup to make you feel like gargling broken glass with a peroxide chaser. Dismal doesn't even begin to capture the prospects for people foolish enough to venture out to the local Octoplex for a two-hour reality break.

Of course, that never stops at least one film from being number one, and this week the winner was Madea Goes to Jail. The losers, sadly, are too numerous to name individually. Tyler Perry has been doing his best to cash in on a cross between Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor and Flip Wilson's Geraldine, and there were apparently enough enablers with pocket change around to give him a $41 million dollar opening weekend.

I guess the film's success makes sense, based on humor and originality. It seems like ages since audiences have been treated to the sight of a black male comedian playing a woman in a fat suit. And what could be funnier than an elderly black woman being sentenced to prison? Well, I guess every generation needs it's own Geraldine. Actually, I take that back. They don't. Please stop.

The only other major release, Fired Up, ended up at the other end of the charts, earning a measly $6 million and ninth place. A complete surprise, as you would think the plot device of two high school football players going to Cheerleader Camp as an excuse to meet hot girls would be instant box office gold. After all, everybody knows that attractive and popular jocks have to jump through all sorts of wacky hoops in order to meet girls.

Sadly, even a clever movie poster gleefully pointing out that the film's initials were also an abbreviation for naughty words wasn't able to drag a large crowd to witness this comedic genius. Those who actually bought tickets probably did so based on the title alone, only to be disappointed when they realized the film had nothing to do with either Potheads or Arsonists. Now there's a movie I'd drop ten bucks to see.

The rest of the returning lineup is too depressing to go into. A Nightmare Before Christmas The Corpse Bride Coraline jumped up to third place just to be annoying, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop continues to rub lemon juice in America's wounded pride by hanging in the top ten for another week and upping it's total to $120 million.

Honestly, I shouldn't have to be talked down off the roof every time the weekend totals come out. You can't blame the audiences too much, I suppose. There's probably only so many times you can go see Taken before you decide to gamble on another film. Let's just hope next weekend is a little better.

Weekend Box Office Estimates 2/06-2/08

Much as everyone expected, He's Just Not That Into You came in on top this past weekend, proving that the best kind of date movie is a movie about dating. Don't ask me why, but films that exploit social confusion, poor communication within relationships, and the natural human tendency towards self-doubt and paranoia seem to always draw the biggest crowds.

Of course, considering that the film is based on a book co-written by one of the writers of Sex & the City, the movie was bound to draw at least a portion of that hit show and film's faithful audience. I will admit, however, that I'm just happy to see Ben Affleck in a hit film again, even though he was overshadowed in almost all of the promotional materials by Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Then again, it's a long, painful road from Jersey Girl and Gigli.

Liam Neeson is kicking major ass in more than just the Luc Besson scripted Taken. Coming in second in its second week with only a 17% drop at the box office, it is obvious that strong word of mouth is drawing more people to watch Liam beat the snot out of bad guys.

Coraline, while not doing to shabby at third place, didn't really get the opening weekend you would want for a 35$ Million dollar kid's film. It looks like there are enough people out there like me who are tired of seeing Tim Burton rehash The Nightmare Before Christmas over and over again.

I could take comfort in that idea if Paul Blart: Mall Cop wasn't a breath away from taking in 100$ Million at the box office. Let's see how long it takes Kevin James to become the next Rob Schneider.

1 He's Just Not That Into You WB (NL) $27,785,487
2 Taken Fox $20,547,346
3 Coraline Focus $16,849,640
4 The Pink Panther 2 Sony $11,588,150
5 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $10,884,825
6 Push Sum. $10,079,109
7 Slumdog Millionaire FoxS $7,177,270
8 Gran Torino WB $7,155,339
9 The Uninvited P/DW $6,262,651
10 Hotel for Dogs P/DW $5,711,229

Weekend Box Office Estimates 1/30-2/1

1 Taken Fox $24,625,000
2 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $14,000,000
3 The Uninvited P/DW $10,512,000
4 Hotel for Dogs P/DW $8,706,000
5 Gran Torino WB $8,600,000
6 Slumdog Millionaire FoxS $7,680,000
7 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans SGem $7,200,000
8 New in Town LGF $6,750,000
9 My Bloody Valentine 3-D LGF $4,260,000
10 Inkheart WB (NL) $3,700,000

Weekend Box Office Estimates 1/23-1/25

1 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $21,500,000
2 Underworld: Rise of the Lycans SGem $20,700,000
3 Gran Torino WB $16,000,000
4 Hotel for Dogs P/DW $12,360,000
5 Slumdog Millionaire FoxS $10,550,000
6 My Bloody Valentine 3-D LGF $10,050,000
7 Inkheart WB (NL) $7,725,000
8 Bride Wars Fox $7,000,000
9 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Par. $6,000,000
10 Notorious (2009) FoxS $5,700,000

Weekend Box Office Estimates 8/8-8/10

(Statistics Courtesy of http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

1 1 The Dark Knight WB $26,030,000
2 N Pineapple Express Sony $22,400,000
3 2 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Uni. $16,113,000
4 N The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 WB $10,770,000
5 3 Step Brothers Sony $8,900,000
6 4 Mamma Mia! Uni. $8,081,000
7 5 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB (NL) $4,855,000
8 7 Hancock Sony $3,300,000
9 6 Swing Vote BV $3,106,000
10 8 Wall-E BV $3,045,000

The Dark Knight for the fourth straight weekend is the number one film at the box office with an estimated $26,000,000 take. The film is currently holding the number 3 spot for all time grosses ever. Only Star Wars with $460,000,000 (which it will surely top) and Titanic with $600,000,000 stand before it. There's been a lot of debate on whether or not this film can top Titanic's all time gross. It's still too soon to tell but to think this film can't crawl it's way to just a mere $159,000,000 more to top the $600,000,000 mark almost seems crazy. it's only been out 24 days. I think it'll come damn close at the very least.

Pineapple Express opened with a very respectable $22,000,000 it's first weekend. The film only costing $27,000,000 helps very much with that as it's already turning a profit regardless of what else it does for it's entire run.

The Mummy : Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor dropped from it's second spot last week down to third this week. It lost more than 60% of its opening weekend tally with only $16,000,000 this time around. With those kind of numbers one might be a betting man and say it will not make back it $145,000,000 budget domestically.

To round out the top ten, everything slid down the rabbit hole except for The Dark Knight. Even though both are out of the top ten, who would have thought that Space Chimps would be having a better run than the new X-Files: I Want To Believe movie? I guess it truly is the sequel that no one asked for.

Weekend Box Office Estimates 8/1-8/3

Links and Statistics proved by http://www.boxofficemojo.com/

1 1 The Dark Knight WB $42,664,219
2 N The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor $40,457,770
3 2 Step Brothers Sony $16,506,526
4 3 Mamma Mia! Uni. $12,615,515
5 5 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB $6,662,406
6 N Swing Vote BV $6,230,669
7 6 Hancock Sony $5,087,756
8 7 Wall-E BV $4,603,179
9 4 The X-Files: I Want to Believe Fox $3,385,878
10 9 Space Chimps Fox $2,720,177

While i was watching TV Sunday there was a ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen that said "The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor beats The Dark Knight with a $15 million take". Now i said to myself this has to be a mistake on two accounts. One, that there is NO WAY these films made only $15 million for the weekend take and two there was no way that The Mummy 3 was going to make more money than The Dark Night its opening weekend. They blatantly tried to make you believe something that wasn't. How's that for original?

Step Brothers is still holding strong with a $16 million take. The "shake and Bake" duo seem to have some chemistry that audiences genuinely like. I'm sure they'll pump out a few more of these before their time is up.

I won't get into Mama Mia! or the fact that it's still in the top 5. Please God make it stop. Why, WHY?!?

To round out the top ten X-Files: I want to Believe is just about ready to exit the top ten. It's only been out 10 days and is a huge flop. Critics and fans alike are fairly disappointed at this film and it shows for everyones lack of caring to see it.

Space Chimps...Only a couple of more seconds.

Weekend Box Office Estimates 07/18-07/20

(Stats and Links courtesy of http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

1 N The Dark Knight WB $158,411,000
2 N Mamma Mia! Uni. $27,605,000
3 2 Hancock Sony $14,000,000
4 3 Journey to the Center of the Earth NL $11,910,000
5 1 Hellboy II: The Golden Army Uni. $10,038,000
6 4 Wall-E BV $9,813,000
7 N Space Chimps Fox $7,350,000
8 5 Wanted Uni. $5,097,000
9 6 Get Smart WB $4,085,000
10 8 Kung Fu Panda P/DW $1,750,000

There was no doubt that The Dark Knight would break all sorts of records, let alone the all time opening weekend record, formerly held by Spider-Man 3. When your first single day take (midnight showing included) is a whopping $67 million, you know that greatness is on the horizon. Will Dark Knight make $400 million, $500 million or possibly even $600 million and top Titanic as the all time top grossing film of all time? Quite possibly. How or why Titanic made so much is still being pondered by statisticians and philosophers alike. Realistically, Dark Knight's second weekend should not be nearly as large (probably about half). Although with it going up against the premieres of X-Files: I Want To Believe and Step Brothers, I can't imagine that it isn't going to be the first choice for many yet gain. I'm seeing it a second time and I've only done that once in my lifetime. The DVD cannot come out soon enough.

A major shock and a "how did that happen?!?" moment, Mama Mia! actually made money this weekend. It brought in an estimated $27 million. How did this film do so well with The Dark Knight taking in so much money and selling so many tickets? Are there really that many ABBA fans? One would be that many film goers intending on seeing The Dark Knight were forced to shed a tear and resort to seeing Mama Mia! when they came upon that 'Sold Out' sign. Needless to say, the team studying Titanic's success will be mulling this one over during lunch breaks.


Hancock did quite well in it's third week with a take of $14 million, for a grand total of $191 million so far. This is Will Smith's fourth film to open on the July 4th weekend, and they have all been blockbusters. This film is no different, even though not being so well received by movie goers and reviewers alike. Which only goes to show that even a halfway decent Will Smith film will pack them in like sardines.

Lastly, Space Chimps grabbed the 7th spot with $7 million. Studio Execs will be hoping for DVD sales to help bring some profit to this film, as it should disappear completely in the next 2-3 weeks. Expect the DVD to be out in record time, as well as a speedy journey to cable stations and premium movie channels in fire sale fashion.

Weekend Box Office Estimates 6/6-6/8

(Statistics and links courtesy of http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

1 Kung Fu Panda P/DW $60,000,000
2 You Don't Mess with the Zohan Sony $40,000,000
3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par. $22,805,000
4 Sex and the City NL $21,310,000
5 The Strangers Rog. $9,289,000
6 Iron Man Par. $7,522,000
7 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV $5,527,000
8 What Happens in Vegas Fox $3,400,000
9 Baby Mama Uni. $779,000
10 Made of Honor Sony $775,000

Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks answer for not having a Shrek film this Summer certainly didn't disappoint at the box office bringing in a whopping $60 million. A smart man once told me that children's films bring in the most money as they are getting one or in most cases two extras tickets sold due to the parents tagging along. With that said, did anyone really think this film wouldn't have a big opening weekend?

You don't Mess With The Zohan proves that the dumber the Sandler film, the more people will flock to it. There's one thing that has to be said about Adam Sandler, the man has some knack for making stupid films that people come out in droves for. With an opening weekend of $40 million you can expect Zohan 2 to be a possibility or worse yet, exactly the same Sandler movie with a different title.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull fared quite well for it's third week with a modest $22 million weekend. Although the film is starting to wane at the box office but not before taking in a whopping $253 million in only 17 days. From here on in it's a creeping crawl to the $300 million mark in which it will surely hit.

Finally the Sex And the City movie that's flimsier than Samantha begging for Botox injection jokes holds strong for it's second week coming in at $21 million. With box office numbers like this you know the studios won't be able to help themselves to make multiple sequels. Although i've been told that they didn't open it up for another film, they'll always find a way if the $$ is right.

Weekend Box Office Estimates for 5/2-5/4

(Statistics and links courtesy of
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

Iron Man Par. $100,750,000
Made of Honor Sony $15,500,000
Baby Mama Uni. $10,332,000
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni. $6,132,000
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay NL $6,015,000
The Forbidden Kingdom LGF $4,200,000
Nim's Island Fox $2,750,000
Prom Night (2008) SGem $2,500,000
21 Sony $2,100,000
88 Minutes Sony $1,600,000

Iron Man in true blockbuster fashion came in at number one at the box office with a whopping $100 million dollar weekend. There were many factors that sealed its current position in the top ten movie opening weekends of all time (10th). When you have your movie shown on 4,105 screens that certainly helps, but most importantly is the fact that there was nothing, absolutely NOTHING it had to compete with. A producer’s wet dream. All of this along with the simple fact that it was actually a good film leads up to Jon Favreau as a real consideration for real films and obviously sequels to come.


Considering its competition and one trick pony screenplay Made Of Honor actually had a modest weekend coming in at number two and a $15.5 million opening. In only its second week Baby Mama dropped to the third spot with $10.3 million and has already topped its production budget and is now officially making a profit, God save us.

As for the rest of the top ten? Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is losing it’s luster fast amongst theater goers as it dropped to the fifth spot from holding second just one week ago. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was not forgotten this weekend as its held the fourth spot yet again. To round out the top ten it’s looks as if 88 Minutes and Prom Night will be heading out of the top ten in the next week or two. I can’t think of two better candidates.

Weekend Box Office Estimates for 4/25-4/27

(Statistics and Links courtesy of http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

1 Baby Mama Uni. $18,271,000
2 Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay NL $14,570,000
3 The Forbidden Kingdom LGF $11,230,000
4 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni. $11,014,000
5 Nim's Island Fox $4,525,000
6 Prom Night (2008) SGem $4,400,000
7 21 Sony $4,000,000
8 88 Minutes Sony $3,600,000
9 Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! Fox $2,410,000
10 Deception (2008) Fox $2,225,000

To say I'm not surprised that Baby Mama topped the weekend box office would be an understatement. When you have a comedy that's been done so many times and is stale as yesterday's diaper, you have to wonder why everyone keeps paying to see this?!? This weekend's box office numbers just encourage the studios to make more, more and Oh GOD more! This film may not get a sequel, but consider Tina Fey might be allowed to write just that much longer because of it.

Harold and Kumar came in a close second, no surprise there, either. Their first adventure was laugh-out-loud funny, so you'd expect the following, despite the film's content. Maybe it's just because enough people like White Castle and Newark.

Deception just managed to just squeak into the bottom of the top ten with a horrific opening of only $2.2 million. Being shown on only 2,000 screens doesn't help, either. Did the studio seem less than optimistic about their own film? It wouldn't be the first time.

As for the rest of the top ten? No real surprises there; three new films in, three films out. Street Kings (7th last week) , Leatherheads (9th last week) and Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (10th last week) was knocked out, which will hopefully signal the end of Ben Stein's pop culture appeal. Bueller? Bueller?

Note: The fact that Prom Night is still in the top ten and is making enough money to spawn more remake-sequels is enough to make a grown man beg for a three-razor-blade lemon-lime Martini. Why does a decent horror film such as The Ruins make no money at all, yet PG-13 fluff like this break the bank? Which of you senseless clowns out there are actually throwing great wads of cash at this crap? Don't you realize that you are only encouraging them? How the hell do you sleep at night? Bastards...