Bad Moon Rising

By William Goss | Box Office Round-Ups | November 22, 2009 |

By William Goss | Box Office Round-Ups | November 22, 2009 |

The second film based on the Twilight series of novels, New Moon, opened to $140 million with the third highest-grossing opening weekend ever. Truth be told, I’ve just about exhausted my sarcasm stores elsewhere for this pallid little franchise, and since you guys and girls are doing such a terrific job keeping the hater levels high with your comments on Dustin’s review, I suggest that you keep it up over there.

The Blind Side opened in second place with $34.5 million, just slightly more than The Proposal opened to this summer and just slightly more than All About Steve earned in its entire run this fall. Like it or not, Sandra Bullock is back in the good graces of the masses, and with any luck, her next flick could combine rom-com wackiness AND mawkish multi-cultural sentiment. Maybe they could even work the word “Twilight” into the title somehow …

2012 dropped two spots and a good sixty percent from last weekend, but between $26.5 million in third place and a worldwide gross approaching $450 million, I sure as shit ain’t weeping for it. Fresh kiddie offering Planet 51 landed in fourth with $12.6 million, while A Christmas Carol stuck around in fifth with $12.2 million; I suspect that both films and the world at large will suffer from next week’s release of Old Dogs.

Sixth place went to Precious: Because Oprah Needs Your Money Now To Make Up for Her Show Ending Eventually with $11 million, seventh place went to The Men Who Stare at Goats with $2.8 million, eighth place went to Couples Retreat with $2 million, ninth went to The Fourth Kind with $1.7 million and tenth went to Law Abiding Citizen with $1.6 million.

And can I just mention how I can’t wait for Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans to go wider? Pals who caught it on this weekend’s 27 screens are positively abuzz about Nic Cage’s reportedly gonzo performance, and frankly, New Moon just doesn’t have enough lucky crack pipes in it to compare. (Our Bad Lieutenant review will post on Tuesday.)