Top Grossing Movies This Weekend - Updated October 10th

[Bam!]

hey there duders!

David, Burke, count me in...I thought I had discovered every possible place and thread in this forum but I guess I was wrong...Well David looks like we`ll be chattin here too from now on bud




Bam!

[David Meek]

Excellent! :banana:




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[Burke Strickland]

Is it the end of civilization as we know it? You might justifiably think so, since "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" ranked number one at the box office in its debut weekend.

However, the original Scooby-Doo movie (no, make that "the first" Scooby-Doo movie, which wasn't very "original") also started out the gate in the number one spot when it premiered, but thankfully sank like a rock in following weeks. With any luck at all, Scooby Doo Deux will too. :>)

BTW, the NY Times "Family Movie Guide" had this to say about Scooby-Doo in giving guidance on its suitablility for various age groups:

AGES 6-9 They will enjoy it.
AGES 10 AND UP Quite possibly too old.

Meanwhile, there are some other movies in the commercial theaters that are worth the price of a ticket.

Burke

[H.T.C]

Dawn of the dead made 27mil in its first weekend whats the total for this movie now?




Robert

[Bam!]

Burke!

I guess it`s not only scooby doo that wants a scooby snack ops:

well I thought it was funny...




Bam!

[Burke Strickland]

Dawn of the dead made 27mil in its first weekend whats the total for this movie now?

About $44.2 million so far.

http://movies.nytimes.com/pages/movies/boxoffice/weekend_us/index.html

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

"Hellboy" topped this week's list opening with $23.5 million in weekend ticket sales. Last week's leader, "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed", fell to third place with it's $15.1 million haul. "The Passion of the Christ" dropped to sixth place, but still managed to pull in almost $10 million, bringing its total since release to just over $330 million. For more on this week's box office results, click here.

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

Apparantly a lot of people celebrated Easter weekend by going to see "The Passion of the Christ". It jumped back to first place in North American ticket sales after having slid several places downward in the past few weeks. With the past weekend's strong showing, the distributer is extimating that Mel Gibson's movie will top $400,000,000. It is already in 8th place among the top money-makers of all time (dollars not adjusted for inflation), displacing "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", which had held that spot.

Disney's $100,000,000 historical extravaganza, "The Alamo", fared relatively poorly, tieing for thrid place in its debut weekend at only $9.2 million with "Johnson Family Vacation", which only cost $21 million to make and is therefore in a better postion to recoup its costs at that level of ticket sales.

If anyone has any interest in more information about this, you can check out the article here.

Burke

[Bam!]

Hey Burke!

I have heard how dramatic this movie is...dunno if I could handle it....not very good with those kinda things.....

Take care bud!




Bam!

[Burke Strickland]

"Kill Bill Volume 2" slaughtered its competition, opening in the number one spot this past weekend. Another tale of retribution, "The Punisher", took second place. "The Passion of the Christ", which had jumped back to the top spot Easter weekend, fell to ninth place, just ahead of the ill-fated "The Alamo", which has a long way to go to recover its estimated $150 million production, advertising and distribution costs (it has taken in just over $4 million each weekend since it was released two weeks ago.). More details in this news story.

Burke

[Trevor Schell]

Looks like Passion of Christ will hit 400 Million within the next couple of weeks.
Very impressive.

[Burke Strickland]

Back to the future :&gt

Top Grossing Movies This Weekend - Updated May 19th

Wow -- we're really moving fast around here. :>) "Van Helsing" swamped everything else this past weekend, raking in $54 million. I wonder how it'll do NEXT week end up against "Troy"?

Burke

[David Meek]

Dodgeball??? You've got to be kidding. :E

[Burke Strickland]

Dodgeball??? You've got to be kidding.

Demonstrates once again that "no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public". :>)

Butke

[David Meek]

Hehe. Who said that? P. T. Barnum? :??

[Burke Strickland]

Who said that? P. T. Barnum?

Nope. H. L. Mencken. Quotes and bio data.
But it sure could have been APPLIED to P. T. ("This way to the egress") Barnum. :>)

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

Turns out that "Fahrenheit 9/11" did even better during its opening weekend than the preliminary figures indicated (and those numbers had already made it the highest grossing "documentary" of all time and the number one box office draw this past week end). The "final" tally for June 25 - June 27 was $23,920,637, according to the NY Times box office chart (requires free online "subscription" to view).

Although the movie is unapologetically one-sided in its point of view, it was reportedly number one at the box office in the "red" states (the ones that went for Bush in 2000) as well as the US overall.

From the NY Times article as reprinted in the Montpelier Times Argus (so you don't need an online subscription to read it):

...
The movie, mocking President Bush and criticizing his decision to go to war in Iraq, was No. 1 at the box office, beating out the popular comedies "White Chicks" and "DodgeBall," which were playing on almost triple the number of screens.

Theater owners in large cities and smaller towns reported sellout crowds over the weekend, with numerous theaters declaring house records.

The phenomenal opening represented a decisive victory for Moore and for the Miramax movie executives Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who released the film independently after it was rejected by Miramax's corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co., as too political.

"We sold out in Fayetteville, home of Fort Bragg," in North Carolina, Moore said on Sunday. "We sold out in Army-base towns. We set house records in some of these places. We set single-day records in a number of theaters. We got standing ovations in Greensboro, N.C.

"The biggest news to me this morning is this is a red-state movie," he said, referring to the states whose residents voted for George W. Bush in the 2000 election. "Republican states are embracing the movie, and it's sold out in Republican strongholds all over the country."
...

I'm just guessing that a lot of these folks are going to see it not so much because they had changed their minds about Bush but because they wanted to see what all the hoopla has been about.

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

Must be that "new math" everyone's been talking about. :&gt

9. (tie) Garfield: The Movie, $4.6 million.
9. (tie) Two Brothers, $3.6 million.

It's been a while since I studied math in school, but since when did 4.6 = 3.6 to make it a "tie"? :>)

Meanhwile, "Spiderman 2" has been breaking summertime box office records, and this is one time a blockbuster is worthy of its success (IMO, of course, but apparently with the agreement of a lot of others). :>) Its cumulative gross after one week in distriubution is over $180 million.

After 7 weeks at the theaters, Shrek 2 has pulled in almost $411 million so far, meaning that with a few more good weeks (it raked in over $7 million this past week) it could come close to edging out "Passion of the Christ" ($450 million) as the number one box office draw of the year. Those two may be duking it out in the "Best Picture" category come Oscar time.

The big surprise is the way "Farenheit 9/11" keeps racking up big numbers even though it is a "documehtary". This week's $22,000,000 alone would have made it the biggest grossing docu of all time, but add it to the previous weeks' totals, and they've accumulated over $61 million in ticket slaes. Could this possibly become the first documentary to break $100 million?

Box office data from the New York Times US and Canada Box Office report.

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

Since I can't edit the post at the top of the thread to list this past weekend's box office results (and "no one else" has done it yet), :>) here they are:

Estimated ticket sales for July 16-18 (North America)

1. “I, Robot,” $52.25 million
2. “Spider-Man 2,” $24.2 million
3. “A Cinderella Story,” $13.8 million
4. “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” $13.4 million
5. “Fahrenheit 9/11,” $7 million
6. “King Arthur,” $6.9 million
7. “The Notebook,” $5.45 million
8. “White Chicks,” $3.4 million
9. “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” $3.2 million
10. “The Terminal,” $3.1 million

Burke

[David Meek]

Oops, got busy. . . . ops: Problem corrected.

[David Meek]

Hmmm, not a lot of impressive titles out right now. Although Sky Captain. . . looks like it might be worthwhile.

[David Meek]

Saw Resident Evil: Apocalypse Friday afternoon with my son. Quickie review forthcoming. . . .

[David Meek]

What is it with animated comedies? We've been easing along with $15-20 million for opening day leaders and all of a sudden here comes [i]Shark Tales[i] at $49 million+! Wow!

[Bam!]

What is it with animated comedies? We've been easing along with $15-20 million for opening day leaders and all of a sudden here comes [i]Shark Tales[i] at $49 million+! Wow!

Have you seen it ?

[David Meek]

Nope, not this one Bammer. I hadn't planned on seeing it until it's available on DVD.

[ekkoville]

Saw Shark Tales on Saturday.....great movie, the kids loved it. Had a alot of hip music and some great actors doing voice work. Sound was very good, but the video at home on DVD would be better I think. The stadium seating is awesome, but you so on top of the screen you have to turn your head sometimes to go from left edge to right edge. All in all, I thought it was great. Gotta buy it or the kids will banish me!!

Erik

[David Meek]

Team America is number 3? I just don't get it. A puppet movie????? 8O

[Burke Strickland]

Someone out there must really like "Shark's Tale" -- three weeks in a row at number one! (No, I haven't seen it either. I'm not sure they ever caught the snake :>) so I'm still watching movies at home.)

Burke

[Burke Strickland]

Team America is number 3? I just don't get it. A puppet movie?????

Yeah, when they go to the trouble of making an entire feature film with puppets, you'd think it would debut at number one. :>) But since it is rated "R", unlike "Shark's Tale", it isn't a film you can take the whole family to. However, "Team America" has gotten an overwhelmingly positive critical response (check out www.rottentomatoes.com where they show 80% of paid critics giving "Team America" positive reviews).

This isn't just any "puppet movie" -- it is from the creators of "South Park". As you might expect, they push the limits of acceptable taste in both action and language, satirically pokng fun at every group they could think of to offend and almost getting an NC-17 rating for simulated sex between puppets! In other words, when it comes out on DVD, those viewing it with "filters" for language and "mature situations" may not see anything beyond the opening credits. It will probably end up a "cult favorite". (Which cult, I have no idea.) :>)

Burke

[David Meek]

Wow, The Incredibles is (are?) off to an incredible start! And, to the tune of 70+ million the first weekend, no less. 8O

[Brandon B]

Shows through Sunday evening were sold out online Friday night at my local mallplex. I may have to go see it again during work hours.

This is the first movie I have wanted to see multiple times in quite a while.

BB

[George Bellefontaine]

Another fun dvd I hope to add to my collection. The trailers I have seen are hilarious.

[David Meek]

Sorry I was late with the update on this one. Unavoidable circumstances. . . .

[David Meek]

National Treasure is still number one, beating out The Incredibles and SpongeBob. SpongeBob?!?!?!?!?! 8O

[George Bellefontaine]

Must be that magic Disney touch.

[David Meek]

National Treasure just keeps rolling along. It's box-office gross for 3 weeks is up to $110,249,000 in North America.

[Chris D]

I hear that "Treasure" is just a little too far out-there, though, completely defying plausibility. Mostly, I'm surprised that it's beating the Incredibles.

[David Meek]

Chris, here's my take on it.

We caught National Treasure last weekend with another couple. The theater was packed, but the audience was remarkably well behaved.

Overall this was a fun romp of a movie. Yes, suspension on disbelief is necessary at several points but if you don't go in expecting Citizen Cane or North By Northwest even, and just take it as a light action romp you should have a most enjoyable time. Nicholas Cage is his dryly funny self, the interactions between the characters are about what you'd expect from a film of this type, and Sean Bean is Sean Bean playing Sean Bean - but that's not so bad. Harvey Kietel is - surprise! - the cop on the case, and again that's not bad either. The film moves right along, but doesn't make you dizzy from flitty and incomprehensible scene cuts (which seem to be the thing in Hollywood right now). Visually it's pretty standard fare with some nice CGI in places. Audio is again pretty standard for this genre with good use of the surrounds and nice bass at various points. All 4 of us enjoyed it, and the audience gave it a strong round of applause at the end credits. Again, go see it for what it is - some lighthearted fun - and it won't disappoint.

:3: out of :5:

[David Meek]

Ocean's 12 hit the ground running at almost $41 million! Blade Trinity was a distant 2nd at $16 mil.

[David Meek]

Lemony Snickets is off to a pretty good start. Unfortunately, the remake of Flight Of The Phoenix and Blade Trinity didn't do as well.

[David Meek]

Wow, Meet The Fockers jumped right in there, eh? 8O

[Burke Strickland]

The "Meet the Fockers" clip they played on The Tonight Show last week was pretty funny. In the past few years, the clips on that show seem to have been a pretty accurate gauge as to whether the movie itself was going to be a winner or a turkey. Meanwhile, the published critics were less enthralled about it (Rotten Tomatoes 39%). Roger Ebert gave it 2 stars. But what does he know? After all, he gave Phantom Menace 3 1/2 stars (about three too many). So it looks like we'll just have to go and see for ourselves, as so many others did this past weekend.

Burke

[David Meek]

Oops, meant to mention that MTF started with almost $45 million over the weekend and over $60 million since its release last Wednesday.

[David Meek]

3rd week in a row for Meet The Fockers at number one.

[David Meek]

Robert DeNiro and Dakota Fanning's horror/thriller Hide 'n Seek took number one this week.