Box Office Weekend: Sixth Time Still a Charm for Fast & Furious Franchise
A few big name releases brought in the numbers to the box office, and breaks a welcome streak; six of the films on the top ten made it into double digit earnings instead of just the top three. But the top draw made it all the way into the triple digits thanks to the Memorial Day weekend…Fast & Furious 6 showed the series can still draw a crowd with an estimated $120 million, making a massive d...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Star Trek Into Darkness Less Than Expected, Still Warps Past Competition
When a four-day weekend expected to bring in $100 million only gives an estimated $84.1 ($70.6 million for the three-day), chances are an investor might be a little disappointed. But for most, an opening that big is a good thing, and critics and audiences alike are enjoying their forays to see Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to the J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the classic franchise. It was enough to...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Gatsby Reaches for the Light but Iron Man Snatches It Away
Director Baz Luhrmann may have had a solid weekend with his adaptation of The Great Gatsby, earning an estimated $51.1 million despite mixed reviews, but it failed to keep Iron Man 3 from taking the box office for a second straight week. The Marvel Studios franchise made a fine showing in its second weekend with an estimated $72.5 million, not only profiting on its $200 million budget, but making ...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Marvel Wins Big Again with Iron Man 3
Summer is still some ways off, but looking at box office weekend take you might think it is already here. Still fresh on the heels of its box-office record breaking The Avengers last year, Marvel went back to its solo hero adventures with Iron Man 3, and with a $200 million budget it had a lot of ground to cover. However, with an estimated $175.3 million in a single weekend (and an outstanding $50...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Box Office Gain for Mild Critical Pain as Michael Bay’s Caper Takes Top Spot
To say that Pain & Gain is getting mixed critical praise is perhaps an understatement; it is Michael Bay’s best reviewed movie since Transformers, but then, Transformers was not a critical success. Bay, however, can make money despite critics, and his newest true story crime caper is no exception. On a low (for Bay anyway) budget of only $26 million, Pain & Gain has already made an estimat...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Living in Oblivion Not Such a Bad Thing
Tom Cruise may have been the best thing going for the science fiction action film Oblivion, which has only been getting lukewarm critical reception, but it still took the box office weekend easily. Costing $120 million, it made an excellent head start against its costs domestically with an estimated $38.2 million, though foreign box office has already made it a success with an additional $112 mill...[Read More]
Movie Review: Scary Movie 5
There is a point where even the staunchest defender can be tested. Put bluntly, I actually like the Scary Movie series, to the point where I enjoy the later entries over the earlier ones. Whether it is simply the abject silliness and pointlessness of them, or the warm and welcome presence of both David Zucker (of Airplane! fame) as writer/producer, or the late Leslie Nielsen as a befuddled Preside...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Robinson Leads the Way over a Tepid Scary Movie
Is it wrong for a well-regarded biopic to win the weekend over a comedy that was not even screened for critics? Well, of course not, though to say the abysmally reviewed Scary Movie 5 is a bomb is not exactly true. While the Jackie Robinson movie 42, starring Chadwick Boseman in the title role and veteran actor Harrison Ford, made a comfortable estimated $27.3 million, it has yet to make good on i...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: In Gore vs. Guns, Evil Dead Triumphs Over G.I. Joe
Having missed the weekend in which G.I. Joe: Retaliation took charge of the box office thanks to a horrific flu (though to be fair, no movie was responsible for that condition), Box Office Weekend returns only to report that the sequel has been upended, both critically and financially, by the remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic Evil Dead. Scoring a strong estimated $26 million in revenue, th...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Being “Crood” Not a Bad Thing
Oz the Great and Powerful finally met its match in not one, but two films released this weekend. The Croods got off to a rousing start with an estimated $44 million, proving itself a winner among audiences and critics. Olympus Has Fallen got mixed critical response, but with an estimated $30.5 million the so-called “Die Hard in the White House” had a better reception than the fifth Die Hard film, ...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Oz Remains Top Draw as Audiences Ignore the Other Films Behind the Curtain
Oz the Great and Powerful did it again; though it has yet to make up its costs domestically (the film cost $215 million), it is well on its way there, with a second week performance of an estimated $42.2 million. So far, the film has been a strong contender here and overseas, its $281.1 million in worldwide totals making it a solid blockbuster success. The Call cannot claim that level of success, ...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Oz Truly is the Great and Powerful with a Solid #1 at the Box Office
If there was to be any film to slay the mediocre Jack the Giant Slayer, it would be Oz the Great and Powerful, and the Sam Raimi-directed prequel did not disappoint; while it still has a long ways to go to make up its $215 million budget, it made a much better head start than the Bryan Singer-directed megaflop. Oz the Great and Powerful made an estimated $80.3 million, well ahead of any contender,...[Read More]