Much like Happy Feet and Casino Royale before them, Night at the Museum and The Pursuit of Happyness have combined to be an impressive one/two punch at the top of the box office for the past three weeks. In particular, Museum had proven to be a huge hit for Fox and for Ben Stiller.Both of these top two films are very entertaining, but for two very different reasons. Museum is just a fun romp with plenty of special effects, while the latter is an inspirational family drama about overcoming the odds. Crowd pleasers to be sure, and the audience has responded. I saw the former when it opened just prior to Christmas and walked out with a smile on my face, it was not the most memorable movie that I have seen, but it was fun while it lasted. A few weeks later I added my cinematic dollar to Sony's pot when I went to see the Will Smith drama. That was a film that tells a familiar story, but is anchored by Smith's excellent performance, and not relying on the standard type of obstacles and villains that you usually get in this type of movie.
There were three new releases in the freshman class of 2007, one of which did not make it to the top ten. The highes ranking was the number 4 placing Freedom Writers, which I have not seen, to be honest, it strikes me as abeing a little too formula. Drop down a couple of places and you will find the aptly named Happily N'Ever After. This I did see, and it was a mistake, it was a dull, unfunny, mess. Drop again, this time completely out of the top ten to 12th place and you will find the Cedric the Entertainer vehicle, Codename: The Cleaner. That was another one that I skipped, I don't think it looked all that funny.
One other film made its debut in the top ten, the fantastic Children of Men. This is a film that is worth seeing on the big screen. For that matter, it topped my best of the year list. It was a transcendent experience anchored by the performance of Clive Owen. This is a modern masterpiece.
Of the other returning films, they all did a pretty good job of hanging onto their audience. Overall, it was a pretty strong weekend to start the new year. It will be interesting to see if it will hold in the weeks to come.
Three films dropped from the list this week: Eragon (11), Happy Feet (13), and The Holiday(14).
This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | 1 | Night at the Museum | $23,743,960 | $163,840,714 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | The Pursuit of Happyness | $12,880,926 | $124,039,482 | 4 |
| 3 | 22 | Children of Men | $10,197,775 | $11,805,273 | 2 |
| 4 | N | Freedom Writers | $9,405,582 | $9,405,582 | 1 |
| 5 | 3 | Dreamgirls | $8,663,380 | $54,322,145 | 4 |
| 6 | N | Happily N'Ever After | $6,608,244 | $6,608,244 | 1 |
| 7 | 4 | Charlotte's Web | $6,598,179 | $66,963,119 | 4 |
| 8 | 5 | The Good Shepherd | $6,446,345 | $48,344,025 | 3 |
| 9 | 6 | Rocky Balboa | $6,017,649 | $60,642,611 | 3 |
| 10 | 8 | We Are Marshall | $4,875,400 | $35,165,379 | 3 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
Another week, another embarassment. I did manage to hit a couple of placements, but failed to do anything terribly impressive with my guesstimations.
Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 1 | 1 | Night at the Museum | $23,743,960 | $18 million |
| 5 | 2 | Dreamgirls | $8,663,380 | $16 million |
| 3 | 3 | Children of Men | $10,197,775 | $15 million |
| 2 | 4 | Pursuit of Happyness | $12,880,926 | $13 million |
| 6 | 5 | Happily N'Ever After | $6,608,244 | $10.5 million |
| 4 | 6 | Freedom Writers | $9,405,582 | $7.75 million |
| 7 | 7 | Charlotte's Web | $6,598,179 | $6 million |
| 12 | 8 | Codename: The Cleaner | $4,244,142 | $5.75 million |
| 9 | 9 | Rocky Balboa | $6,017,649 | $5.25 million |
| 8 | 10 | The Good Shepherd | $6,446,345 | $4 million |
0 comments:
Post a Comment