Weekend Box-Office: Critics May Have Put the Bite on It, but Audiences Made Hotel Transylvania a Hit
From director Genndy Tartakovsky and Adam Sandler comes…the highest grossing September release of all-time? Apparently so, as the critically panned CG comedy Hotel Transylvania defied its reviews and earned an estimated $43 million…not enough to top its $85 million budget, but a fine start to its theatrical run and more than surpassing the original high-grosser of September, Sweet Home Alabama, wh...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: Epic Struggle as End of Watch and House on the End of the Street Fight for First
While the Monday totals will officially decide which movie comes out on top, it was a tough call to make between the crime drama End of Watch, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and written and directed by David Ayer (of Training Day fame), and the PG-13 horror House at the End of the Street. Both films made an estimated $13 million, but as I write this, End of Watch currently holds the lead due to a higher...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: 3D Takes the Top Spots!
It was a battle between the newest adventure of Alice the monster killer and the re-release of a Pixar classic…and zombies were the winners. Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth entry in the movie series (now only vaguely) based on the videogame series and the second in 3D, came in first with an estimated $21.1 million…still not much to speak of in terms of box office, but a sight better than The...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: The Possession Not Exorcised During Slow Weekend
The Possession remained at #1 at the box office, though with only one new release, it had little in the way of fresh competition. It also caps what is shaping up to be a major box office slowdown, as at an estimated $9.5 million, it did not even break into double digits, a major blow compared to last week when Labor Day weekend had three films do so. Lawless remained in second place with an estima...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: The Possession Takes Over the Box Office on Labor Day
The lot of the PG-13 ghost story has been tough of late, with entries such as The Apparition disappearing almost as fast as its namesake, but The Possession, despite critical panning, drew in crowds handily enough, earning an estimated $21.3 million and blowing past its $14 million production costs. This probably comes as a shock to those behind Lawless, whose much better critical reception and We...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: The Expendables 2 Still Knocking Off the Rest
They still have pull, though probably not as much as they would like…The Expendables 2 held the crown of the top draws at the box office, but at an estimated $13.5 million this week and $52.3 million in domestic success, it probably wishes it was doing much better to help offset its $100 million costs. Still, it was the only film this weekend to break into double digit earnings, which was enough t...[Read More]
Weekend Box-Office: The Expendables 2 Tops the Box Office, But with an Opening Less Stellar Than Its Cast
With a lineup of legendary action heroes (including a handful who only made cameos in the first film in the series), hype was big for The Expendables 2, and critically was more well-regarded than the first film. However, it did not translate into big money as, while The Expendables 2 opened at the top of this week’s list, it only made an estimated $28.8 million, about $6 million short of its prede...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: A Legacy Continues as The Bourne Legacy Opens On Top
Could the Bourne series survive without star Matt Damon? Quite possibly…though rising star Jeremy Renner has proven himself quite handily in other films (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Avengers), his The Bourne Legacy has not performed as well with critics as the previous Bourne films. It did have the third highest opening of the four films, earning an estimated $40.3 million, and he...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: The Dark Knight Need Not Rise; Stays Well Ahead of Competition
While it was not the Avengers-killer that DC was hoping it would be, director Christopher Nolan still brought in big numbers with The Dark Knight Rises, which, with an estimated $36.4 million this weekend, puts its on solid footing as the third most domestically successful film of 2012, and at $733 million in worldwide sales is doing well pretty much everywhere it is being shown. Total Recall, the...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: Batman and Mammoths Hold Off Ben Stiller and Dancing
It has been a week since the horrific shooting in Aurora, Colorado that turned what was meant to be an exciting night at the movies into a weekend of grieving and sorrow, and the studios decided to avoid releasing their box office estimates in response so as not to capitalize on the event. It’s hard to discuss going back to “business as usual” at a time when the shooter is still splashed across na...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: After Aurora, Box Office Numbers to Be Announced Monday
Following the horrific events that occurred in Aurora, Colorado, Warner Bros. declined to release the box office estimates for The Dark Knight Rises for the weekend, opting instead to wait until Monday to show respect to those who lost loved ones in the shooting. Other studios did the same…there is a time and a place to be concerned about box office receipts, but this is not one of them. We here a...[Read More]
Weekend Box Office: Ice Age: Continental Drift Off to Glacier Start
American audiences apparently have decided they’ve had their fill of talking cartoon animals for a little while, as Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth in the 20th Century Fox franchise, earned an estimated $46 million, about $14 million shy of DreamWorks’ Madasgascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’s opening weekend (which landed in tenth place this weekend for an estimated $3.5 million). However, th...[Read More]