Ranking Anna Friel's 9 Biggest Box-Office Performances (Or, A Shameless Excuse to Fawn Over Anna Friel)

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | March 20, 2011 |

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | March 20, 2011 |

It’d be easy to suggest that the nation’s attention was turned toward March Madness and the War in Libya this weekend, which was why the overall box-office was so lackluster, but the reality is probably that the three new offerings simply weren’t all that compelling. Limitless, which boasted one scene with the beautiful Anna Friel (looking not so beautiful), inexplicably took the top spot, scoring $19 million. There was nothing particularly compelling about the film, so it’s modest success can only be attributed to The Emu. It’s all the more strange because I thought the movie and its release had the feel of a film that had sat on a shelf for three years and was dumped into a quiet weekend, like two of Cooper’s previous efforts, Case 39 and All About Steve. Presumably, that was not the case here — Cooper actually chose it among all the post-Hangover scripts he was sent. A bizarre choice, to say the least, particularly for a bright guy (Fun Fact: The Emu graduated with an English Degree, with honors, from Georgetown University. It’s a little harder to dismiss him now, especially now that he’s got a David O. Russell movie in the works).

Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey took a pay cut to appear in The Lincoln Lawyer, and it’s opening $13.4 million (and fourth place) had to be something of a disappointment for the $40 million film. Good reviews, and the relative lack of adult-oriented fare in the marketplace, may give the film some legs over the next few weeks and hopefully keep McConaughey out of romantic comedies for a while. The Lincoln Lawyer did slightly better than Paul, however, which opened at number five with $13.1 million. With foreign box-office, it’s nearly recouped its $40 million budget, but it’s still not a ringing endorsement for the future of the Nick Frost/Simon Pegg team. The nation loves them, we apparently just prefer them on DVD.

Rango held on to number two for the weekend, dropping only 32 percent in its third week. The movie is now pushing $100 million. Battle: Los Angeles didn’t hold nearly as well in its second weekend, falling 60 percent, but still topped $14 million to come in third place. With $60 million in revenue, it should easily recoup its $70 million budget.

And finally, let’s take a look at the box-office career of Anna Friel, better known for her television work (on “Pushing Daisies”) but, believe it or not, has been around since 1998, debuting with the film Land Girls.

9. Everlasting Piece ($75,000)

8. . Goal 2: Living the Dream ($225,000)

7. The Land Girls ($238,000)

6. Me Without You ($305,000)

5. Goal! The Dream Begins ($4 million)

4. A Midsummer Night’s Dream ($16 million)

3. Timeline ($19 million)

2. Limitless ($19 million and counting)

1. Land of the Lost ($49 million)

Did anyone else remember she was in Midsummer NIght’s Dream? Here’s proof:

Believe it or not, that is Dominic West aside her.

I have no recollection of Timeline, which she starred in along with Paul Walker and Gerard Butler, in a movie directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) based on a Michael Crichton novel. Apparently, the movie was not as impressive as it sounds on paper.

I don’t know what Goal is, either, but I assume she was this guy’s love interest:

You can immediately tell that Everlasting Piece is a British film based on this photo alone, but you’d probably never guess it was directed by Barry Levinson:

I’ve never heard of Me Without You, either. But after seeing this image, my interest is piqued.

I think we’d all just like to forget about Land of the Lost:

Sadly, I think that Ms. Friel will probably end up on one of our “The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Actress’” lists in a few years, so as she exits stage left, let’s remember her fondly this way:

We’ll always have pie, Ms. Friel.