This weekend turned out to be a little different than I was expecting. Film's dropping more than I expected, new films opening below expectations, and one movie making a surprise appearance in the top ten. On one hand some of my faith in the film going public has been restored, just a little bit. On the other hand I am rather surprised at how some of these films fared, both good and bad.At the top of the pile, as expected, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The juggernaut has cruised past the double century mark and seems to have a good chance to at least come close to $300 million. That said, it did suffer a 70% drop from its debut weekend, finishing near the $43 million mark. I have not seen the film and therefore cannot comment on its quality, but I an say that I am surprised that the drop was quite this steep. Considering how huge it opened, a big drop was to be expected, but I still expected it to top the $50 million mark. I am curious to see if this sequel's success carries over to the third film, Eclipse, slated to open in June.
Coming in a close second is the inspirational drama The Blind Side. I must say that this one is a big surprise. Who would have thought this movie would increase its take in its second weekend and challenge for the top spot? Certainly not I. I have heard good things about the film and about Sandra Bullock's performance. Still, I cannot say that I have a lot of interest in seeing it. Perhaps one day I will catch up with it.
Roland Emmerich's latest disaster epic keeps chugging along with another $17 million and a third place finish. It is nearing $140 million domestically. Doesn't sound like much for a film with a $200 million budget, does it? Well, consider that it has taken in more than $450 million internationally. Now that is insane!
Fourth place features one of the week's new releases. Old Dogs limped to a $16 million take. I say limped as I was expecting it to pull in double that. I am happy to see that it did not do as well as I expected. The movie just looks bad and most of the reviews seem to confirm that sentiment.
Skipping down a space we come to another new release, Ninja Assassin. This one finished up about where I expected it to. Despite how much fun I had with it or how good I think it is, it is still a movie with limited appeal. That said, if you like fast paced bloody action in a B-movie setting, Ninja Assassin delivers.
Move all the way down to the bottom portion of the list you will find the two best films of the top ten. In ninth place is Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, a delightful stop-motion animated take on the Roald Dahl story of the same name. There is something about this movie that is absolutely captivating. Following behind it is a movie that can suck the joy out of just about anything. The Road is an amazing film that left me emotionally destroyed. It is possibly the most accurate look at a post apocalyptic world yet seen on the screen. These are two films well worth your attention.
As for next week? Nimrod Antal's new film, Armored, takes a bow and it looks like fun if not all that special. Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhall play brothers with Natalie Portman in the middle in the Jim Sheridan directed drama Brothers. Thirdly is the Robert Deniro holiday movie Everybody's Fine. This one looks pretty good, hopefully it will deliver.
Four movies dropped off the list this week: The Men Who Star at Goats (11), Couples Retreat (14), Michael Jackson's This Is It (16), and The Fourth Kind (19).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | 1 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $42,870,031 | $230,947,696 | 2 |
| 2 | 2 | The Blind Side | $40,111,364 | $100,238,841 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 2012 | $17,651,729 | $138,451,427 | 3 |
| 4 | N | Old Dogs | $16,894,511 | $24,228,546 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | A Christmas Carol 3D | $15,758,273 | $104,927,816 | 4 |
| 6 | N | Ninja Assassin | $13,135,000 | $21,193,565 | 1 |
| 7 | 4 | Planet 51 | $10,218,641 | $28,487,409 | 2 |
| 8 | 6 | Precious | $7,081,032 | $32,433,482 | 4 |
| 9 | 24 | Fantastic Mr. Fox | $6,965,267 | $10,024,072 | 3 |
| 10 | N | The Road | $1,502,231 | $1,977,453 | 1 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
What an interesting weekend. I did not do particularly well. I am guessing it had to do with the long weekend and my inability to predict what people are going to go see. Still, I am surprised at how the weekend played out, with New Moon slipping more than I expected, Old Dogs arriving DOA, and The Blind Side taking a step up and nearly taking down the teen vampire romance. Fascinating.
Here is how the field matched up:
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 1 | 1 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $42,870,031 | $51 million |
| 4 | 2 | Old Dogs | $16,894,511 | $32 million |
2 | 3 | The Blindside | $40,111,364 | $21 million |
| 3 | 4 | 2012 | $17,651,729 | $14 million |
| 6 | 5 | Ninja Assassin | $13,135,000 | $12.5 million |
| 8 | 6 | Precious | $7,081,032 | $11.75 million |
| 5 | 7 | A Christmas Carol 3D | $15,758,273 | $10 million |
| 9 | 8 | Fantastic Mr. Fox | $6,965,267 | $9.5 million |
| 7 | 9 | Planet 51 | $10,218,641 | $8 million |
| 11 | 10 | The Men Who Stare at Goats | $1,501,837 | $2 million |
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