Popcorn 'N Roses

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: "Breakup" unexpectedly breaks up "X-Men"

The new comedy The BreakUp, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, far surpassed expectations to land in the number one spot this weekend. The movie, largely panned by critics, bested the predicted $29 million it was expected, coming in at $38 million.

A lot is being made by the huge 66% drop X-Men:The Last Stand took this weekend, down to second place with $34 million, but all movies drop off considerably after opening weekend, and X-Men had an extra day during the holiday weekend. It's take should surpass the $200 million mark by Wednesday of this week, if all projections hold up.

The surprise of the early summer so far has been the resiliance of Over The Hedge, which racked up another $20 million to capture third place this weekend. It appears that the animated hit, based on the popular comic strip, is doing great repeat business, and has held up extremely well over its three weeks.

The DaVinci Code continues to tumble faster than expected, dropping to fourth place with another $19 million added to its take, bringing it to a total of $172 million so far.  MI:3 is also fading much faster than expected, down to 5th this week with another $4 million, bringing its total take to $122 million, which is about 40% below expectations at this point.

Former Vice-President Al Gore's well-recieved documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, gained amazing ground in its second week of release. Showing in just 77 theatres, the movie managed to pull in $1.3 million, giving it a whopping $17,000 per screen, miles ahead of BreakUp, which despite it's number one position managed only $12,000 per screen. Truth landed in the top ten at #9.

Full Box Office top ten results can be found in the left railbar as always!

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Road Trip Fantasy contrasts against harsh reality for top two spots

The Robin Williams family comedy "RV", about exactly what it implies - a 21st century take on "Vacation", racked up the bucks this weekend at the box office, earning $16.4 million.

Lagging behind, but NOT that far behind (despite what some sources would say) was "United 93", the critically-praised, all-too-real story of what happened on board the doomed flight that plowed into the Pennsylvania countryside on 9/11. Named as extremely intense by many critics due to its documentary-style presentation, and based on transcripts of what was heard from the flight on that tragic morning, it came in a strong second with $11.6 million, proving that it may not be too soon for a fact-based 9/11 movie. Although online site Box Office Mojo points that the movie did not meet expectations relative to the press coverage it recieved,  most other Hollywood sources, including Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and other industry trades  agree that the movie is far from a dud. Universal is very happy with the boxoffice, and has stated that it didn't expect the movie to be a moneymaker anyway, but that it did well beyond what many insiders expected it to do this weekend.

Gymnastic comedy "Stick it" came in 3rd place with $11.2 million despite mixed reviews.

The big loser this weekend was the critically praised "Akeela And The Bee", which despite rave reviews from most quarters only squeaked into the top 10 at Number 8, with a relatively mild $6.2 million.

But the really big dud of the late spring quarter appears to be "American Dreamz", which despite  huge hype and a largely favorable reception at the Hollywood-liberal-ensconced Sundance Film Festival, plummeted from it's already disasterous opening weekend, where it opened in 9th place, all the way down to 16th place, with just $1.6 million taken in. Its subject matter, focusing on a buffoonish president becoming a judge on a TV talent show to help boost his poll numbers and how he's exploited by the host of the show, is played for laughs, but could still be considered a bit controversial. Its colossal failure at the box office should make some in Hollywood realize that the often polarizing agenda being pushed by the democratic minority out there in La La Land doesn't connect with most of the American populace, and has given birth a string of mostly box office bombs (Syriana, Munich, et al) to cost the movie industry millions in lost revenues, with "Dreamz" apparently the latest in the line.

The full box office from this week can be found under Movie News on the left menu  as always!