It took three weeks but it finally did it. The Twilight Saga: New Moon dropped out of the top spot. The ubiquitous teen angst/vampire/romance has finally slipped. I have to believe this was not the intended result. I am fairly certain Summit had hoped their blockbuster would lead the charge to the release of Avatar.You know what? It may have done just that if not for the surprise of The Blind Side. Both films were released the same weekend and had gone 1 2 for their first two weeks of release. The Sandra Bullock drama surprised everyone with its take. I know I was shocked. It opened strong, went up in its second week and had a decent third week that saw it claim the spot vacated by the slipping New Moon. Funny thing, I am not terribly interested in either film. I am sure it is inevitable that I will see it at some point, just not now.
Third place sees the big winner among the week's new films. The Jim Sheridan drama Brothers took in $9.5 in its debut frame. This has to be at the low end of expectations. The movie has a decent cast and what would appear to be a good hook to get folks in, but maybe those thoughts are misguided. It makes me wonder if it is another example of people not wanting to see a current war as entertainment. I also wonder if the subject hit a little too close to home with a few out there?
All of the returning films suffered 50%+ drops from last week with A Christmas Carol 3D suffering the smallest and Ninja Assassin suffering the biggest. Two films that I greatly enjoyed for very different reasons.
The latter part of the list features a couple more newcomers. Armored came in a disappointing 7th. I am sure this one was expected to finish much higher. Having seen the film, I agree with where it landed and suspect a quick exit. It is not a good movie. Move down a little farther and you will find Everybody's Fine rounding out the top ten with another disappointment. I really enjoyed this flawed film but suspect not many will get to see it as it will be out of mind by next weekend and definitely in the wake of Avatar.
Next week will see a few new movies enter the fray. First up is Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort Invictus starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as a rugby player. This looks pretty good and Eastwood is always reliable for good movies. Expanding to the nation is Disney's first hand-animated feature in years The Princess and the Frog. I look forward to it but cannot say I am expecting it to be good. It just seems too familiar, it does not look like it takes any chances.
Three movies dropped off the list this week: Fantastic Mr. Fox (11), Precious (12), and The Road (15).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | 2 | The Blind Side | $20,043,181 | $128,867,559 | 3 |
| 2 | 1 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $15,427,628 | $255,363,052 | 3 |
| 3 | N | Brothers | $9,527,848 | $9,527,848 | 1 |
| 4 | 5 | A Christmas Carol 3D | $7,763,244 | $115,249,331 | 5 |
| 5 | 4 | Old Dogs | $6,892,265 | $33,924,385 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | 2012 | $6,771,665 | $148,958,486 | 4 |
| 7 | N | Armored | $6,511,128 | $6,511,128 | 1 |
| 8 | 6 | Ninja Assassin | $5,061,499 | $29,821,996 | 2 |
| 9 | 7 | Planet 51 | $4,386,873 | $34,052,876 | 3 |
| 10 | N | Everybody's Fine | $3,852,068 | $3,852,068 | 1 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
Awful. That would seem to be an apt one word description of my dollar guesses. Well, at least for the top half of the chart, the close you get to the bottom the better I seem to get. I wonder if that means something? Why did I think there would be so much money thrown around this weekend? Seriously, I should no better by now. I don't think next weekend will be any stronger. I am going to have to remember that. I was way over on my top five predictions before settling down with the aging films on the back half. Honestly, I cannot fins any surprises in these totals. I am more surprised by my complete lack of ability to guess. Oh well, it's all in good fun.
Here is how the field matched up:
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 1 | 1 | The Blind Side | $20,043,181 | $32 million |
| 2 | 2 | The Twilight Saga: New Moon | $15,427,628 | $26 million |
6 | 3 | Armored | $6,511,128 | $21 million |
| 3 | 4 | Brothers | $9,527,848 | $18 million |
| 10 | 5 | Everybody's Fine | $3,852,068 | $12 million |
| 4 | 6 | A Christmas Carol 3D | $7,763,244 | $8.5 million |
| 7 | 7 | 2012 | $6,771,665 | $8 million |
| 5 | 8 | Old Dogs | $6,892,265 | $7 million |
| 8 | 9 | Ninja Assassin | $5,061,499 | $6.5 million |
| 9 | 10 | Planet 51 | $4,386,873 | $5.5 million |
1 comments:
Hope Planet 51 grows in that panel! I loved that movie!!
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