No One Cares About What You Dreamed About Last Night
By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Box Office Round-Ups | Comments (15)
It was a fairly unexciting weekend at the box office this week as we head into the summer’s last hurrah, next weekend’s Man vs. Woman vs. Geek showdown between The Expendables; Eat, Pray, Love; and Scott Pilgrim. After that, so much for noteworthy films until around mid-September. It’s going to be a brutal month, folks.
This weekend, The Other Guys won the box office, putting up a well-deserved $35.6 million (or $8 million less than the entire theatrical run of the last buddy cop movie to grace theaters, Cop Out). It was something of a career-saver for Will Ferrell, after two of his last three movies — Land of the Lost and Semi-Pro — fizzled spectacularly at the box office. The Other Guys actually represents his second biggest opening, after Talladega Nights, and it was even Mark Wahlberg’s second biggest opening, too, behind Planet of the Apes. Hopefully, Ferrell learns that family comedies and remakes don’t suit him particularly well (and another shout-out this weekend to original movies, which have dominated the latter half of the summer).
Inception, now 2010’s highest-grossing original property (and sixth, overall), held on to the second spot in its fourth week, dropping a steady 30 percent week to week, bringing its cumulative total to $227 million. The one unfortunate side-effect to the success of Inception, however, is that I’ve noticed people seem a lot more eager to share their dreams, a personal tidbit that ranks only behind what you had for lunch as the most excruciatingly tedious bit of information you could possibly share (except where those meals or dreams involve me!). But thanks to Facebook, we now know not only what everyone had for lunch, but what they dreamed about last night. Thanks modern technology! (I kid, of course. I love hearing about what other people are eating. I also love Twitter’s new “Who to Follow” function, and so appreciate that they recommended Harry Knowles to me! I’m totally going to take Twitter up on the rec.)
Step Up 3D (review tomorrow) did not have a particularly great opening weekend, debuting with $15 million, compared to the $18 million its predecessor opened with (though, Step Up 3 did not have the benefit of 3D ticket prices). Salt held on to number four, as it continues to perform modestlyl, adding $11 million to bring its total near $92 million (with $154 million worldwide now, the set-up sequel doesn’t seem completely out of the question). Dinner for Schmucks, however, plummeted 55 percent, putting up only $10 million. It looks like Schmucks may not top out above $65 million. Charlie St. Cloud, however, fell even harder — 62 percent — and it doesn’t look likely to earn back its $44 million price tag.
Out in the indie world, The Kids Are All Right broke the top ten in its 5th week. It now has made $14 million, and looks like the lone breakout indie hit of the summer. Middle Men, the Luke Wilson movie about the Internet porn industry, didn’t fare so well in its opening frame, however, averaging a paltry $1200 per screen average. Rob Reiner’s Flipped did a little better, with a PSA of $5200 on 45 screens, which should be enough to elevate its screen count next week. Joel Schumacher’s Twelve, on the other hand, crashed on arrival, with only a $463 per screen average, the lowest of the top 30.
Finally, the Braves won, hanging on to their tenuous two game lead over the red-hot Phillies. If someone could please shank Roy Halladay, I’d really appreciate it.
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Comments
Posted by: An Atlantan at August 8, 2010 6:27 PM
Dustin, Do you live in Atlanta or just randomly follow the Braves?
It's not random! I'm a Southerner (with no homestate team to call my own). I have followed the Braves since the Bob Horner, Dale Murphy (*hero*), Glen Hubbard, Claudell Washington, Chris Chambliss, Pascuel "Cocaine" Perez years. In other words: A lot of shitty years before the string of divisional titles. But not as many shitty years as the Phillies have endured during that time.