Amazing Spider-Man Tops Box Office

Though there were a lot of doubters, Sony's reboot of the Amazing Spider-Man franchise took in a hefty $140 million in just six days. It began with a $65 million weekend and beat both of the most recent comic book superhero movie reboots, X-Men: First Class and Batman Begins. Seth McFarlane's Ted fell 40% to land in the #2 position.

© C Harris Lynn, 2012

Box Office Falls Short

The box office is down 4% from this time last year, hitting a three year low over the weekend. While the major release was a star-studded ensemble affair which topped the charts, New Year's Eve made less than $15 million.

© C Harris Lynn, 2011

Harry Potter's Biggest Opening

The first release in the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (until they reboot it in 2013), brought the YA fantasy series its best opening night ever. Deathly Hallows - Pt. 1 earned nearly $25 million more than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which held the record with over $102 million. Analysts say ticket sales have remained strong throughout the weekend, as well.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Xenu Fails Cruise - Knight & Day Clunks in at #3

A lot of people weer counting on Knight and Day to bring in the big bucks, but it clunked into the box office's #3 position with a take of only $20 million. To be fair, Knight and Day opened with about the same take as Cruise's last movie, Valkyrie -- actually, five of the last 10 Cruise releases opened in the $20m range -- and Toy Story 3 maintained its reign, but Knight and Day did not do anywhere near as well as many had hoped.

Fox isn't giving-up on it though, nor are they giving up on Cruise. The $100+ million summer blockbuster may have bombed on its opening weekend, but it still has a long way to go -- Valkyrie wound-up a sound moneymaker. "It's a marathon, not a sprint," Chris Aronson, a Fox studio executive, told E!.

The last Tom Cruise film to hit $100m domestically was Mission: Impossible III. Cruise leapt up and down on Oprah Winfrey's couch that year. "I think Tom Cruise is still the guy," Aronson said.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Karate Kid Dominates Box Office

Sony's remake of the classic Karate Kid surprised market analysts with a $56 million opening, which some say helped boost A-Team sales. A-Team debuted in the #2 spot with a respectable $26 million and executives hope word-of-mouth will bring more young audience members, as the majority of the audience proved to be males 25+. A Sony spokesperson said they had taken "a beloved title and made it fresh and relevant."

Next up is a live-action Rainbow Brite movie, which finds Brite, now making hardcore anal pornos in Prague, trying to come up with $1 million before gangsters kill her mother. But Brite, ravaged by AIDS, first has to kick a nasty junk habit. Starring Miley Cyrus, one exec called it "the feel-good movie of the summer that really speaks to today's generation."

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Shrek Tops Memorial Day Weekend Box Office

The fourth installment in the franchise, Shrek Forever After opened at #1 in America with a reported $55.7 million take. Shrek had some intimidating competition in Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2, both of which also opened in the top-five; Prince of Persia pulled $37.8 million, and the Sex and the City sequel came in third with $37.1 million. Iron Man 2 fell to #4 and Russell Crowe's Robin Hood rounded-out the top five.

The Memorial Day weekend is one of Hollywood's biggest times of the year, but the 2010 season bore a pretty big drop in ticket sales - from $213.8m in 2009 to $182.2 million.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

A Dragon Kicks Ass

How to Train Your Dragon narrowly edged-out Kick-Ass for the #1 position at the box office this weekend. Dragon pulled an even $20m, while Kick-Ass pulled just under that, at approximately $19.7m.

Kick-Ass suffered largely from mixed reviews, and a mixed message. Touted as a satire of fanboy culture, few think it hit its mark. Famed movie reviewer, Roger Ebert, panned the film on moral grounds, and it appears he may have struck a chord with moviegoers.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Clash of the Titans Conquers

Despite lukewarm reviews, the new Clash of the Titans remake conquered the U.S. box office over the Easter weekend. Most critics seemed to like the movie and the updated FX, but panned the 3-D. Still, Clash of the Titans made away with nearly $61¹/₂ million in its opening weekend.

Alice in Wonderland, also in 3-D and formerly #1, fell to fifth place, while last week's #1, How to Train Your Dragon, fell to #3.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Avatar Unseated

Sci-fi box-office behemoth, Avatar, has finally been overthrown - by a rom-dram! Romantic drama, Dear John, dethroned the 3-D epic after seven weeks at the #1 spot, bringing in nearly $20 million more than Avatar, and $20 million more than expected. John Travolta's From Paris with Love landed at #3 with less than $10 million. Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness and The Rock's Tooth Fairy rounded-out the top five.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Harry Potter Beats Dark Knight

According to an e-mail from the studio, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince's midnight showing took-in some $22.2 million - beating The Dark Knight by $4 million. The e-mail contained a single quote: "Wow."

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Grosses $201 million

According to some reports, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will have taken in nearly $400 million by Monday. Transformers 2 grossed $201 at the North American box office, alone; China took in right at $30 million; and Britain took about $27 million. Other markets, including Australia ($13 million) and Japan (unknown), helped bring the global total to about $387 million its opening week.

The Dark Knight retains its titles for opening-day, three-day, four-day, and five-day grosses. But Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the second-largest opening weekend (behind the aforementioned Dark Knight). It also set a few records of its own, including biggest five-day return for an IMAX movie (beating the recent Star Trek.

Sources say director, Michael Bay, spent $200 million on the sequel, and industry experts had predicted Transformers: RotF to make about $130-150 its opening weekend.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Fast & Furious Overtakes Box Office

The full cast reunion of the 2001 The Fast and the Furious brought fans racing to theaters this weekend, with Fast & Furious bringing in a whopping $72 million for the box office win. Just after it came Dreamworks' Monsters vs. Aliens, followed by A Haunting in Connecticut and the sci-fi thriller, Knowing (with comic book geek, Nicolas Cage). Paul Rudd's "bromance" comedy, I Love You, Man rounded out the top five.

Fast & Furious proved the best April opening ever, as well as the best opening of 2009 so far. Weirdly, 2003's Anger Management held the record previously. And that movie basically sucked... like all Adam Sandler movies. Yet they're nearly all #1 hits, so maybe it's only weird to me?

Watchmen is still in the top 20, appearing at #13 after five weeks in release. It isn't right to say it bombed, but I did hear someone blew their brains out at a screening.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Bolt Takes UK Box Office

Disney's Bolt conquered the UK box office over the weekend, with US winner, Friday the 13^th, came in a distant 6^th. Just no accounting for taste, hrm? Interestingly, My Bloody Valentine is still in their top ten, though at 10.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Jason Slays Box Office

Friday the 13^th killed the competition over the weekend, bringing in a whopping $62 million (estimated). The closest thing to it was romantic comedy, He's Just Not That Into You, which grossed an estimated $20 million (rounded up). However, critics expect a big drop in Friday the 13^th's returns next week.

Not only did Jason score the biggest opening weekend of 2009 so far, it was also the best opening weekend of any flick in the nearly 30-year old franchise in what was the best President's Day Weekend, ever. It was also the biggest return on any horror movie remake.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

Paul Blart: Mall Cop #1 at Box Office

Last week's winner, Gran Torino, fell only 25% - but it was enough to allow Kevin James' Paul Blart: Mall Cop to grab the top spot at the box office this weekend. Executives say the near-$34 million take "...is just, like, a 'wow' number."

I could not agree more, yet I have resigned myself to acceptance of such atrocities.

Lionsgate's remake of the classic, Canadian B-rater, My Bloody Valentine - My Bloody Valentine 3-D - ironically came in at #3. I had drafted my take on this, as My Bloody Valentine is one of my all-time favorite flicks, but it was one of those posts that just came too hard; I haven't seen any of these new releases, so I really don't want to be one of those wet blankets who sits around, telling all these Gen Netters how much better things were back in My Day... Besides, I'm always torn when it comes to these things:

My Bloody Valentine is a great movie - for what it is - and what it is is a low-budget splatterflick. It has more story and - dare I? - heart (AAAAAAARRRRGGHH!) than most of its peers, but I'm not about to sit here and argue its cinematic merits (although I insist it has one of the best "shower scenes" in movie history). On the one hand, I believe the original should be viewed and appreciated for what it is; OTOH, I completely agree that it's a movie that could be great as a remake. I just didn't, and don't, think it needed a gimmick. But - again - gimmicks are as much a part of horror movie history as mad slashers, so I bit my tongue.

At any rate, there really wasn't much for movie-goers to choose from this week, and I'm quite sure the powers behind Paul Blart: Mall Cop took that into consideration.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Spirit Barely Makes Top Ten

Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit barely managed to stay in the top ten at the box office in what turned out to be Hollywood's biggest Christmas weekend in history.

We told you The Spirit came in seventh on Christmas day returns and the PR campaign stayed in full-swing throughout the weekend, with copious spots running on many cable outlets, including last night's [adult swim] block. But when the smoke cleared, Miller's feature-length directorial debut had fallen two spots to #9, followed only by Doubt.

Marley & Me, Bedtime Stories, and Benjamin Button were the top three movies of the Christmas weekend.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

The Spirit Clinging to Life at Box Office

Frank Miller's film adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit was soundly pummeled by Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson's dog (sans pony) show, Marley and Me, Christmas day. According to initial returns, The Spirit came in a distant seventh at the box office.

Of course, Christmas day brought a lot of heavy-hitters, including the Brad Pitt vehicle, The Curious Case of Benjamin Bratt; the Tom Cruise-ical Valkyrie; Jim Carrey's remake of Liar, Liar, Yes Man; and Adam Sandler's Disney outing, Bedtime Stories - all of which fared better than The Spirit. Miller's directorial debut could become a sleeper hit, but mixed reviews make it seem unlikely.

Perhaps it's a mixed blessing: if recent superhero movie performances are an indicator of audience taste, maybe the superhero movie fad is finally over; no longer will studios be able to churn-out cookie-cutter crap with a cape and expect big box office returns. Genuinely good movies, such as Iron Man and The Dark Knight, have proven the genre capable of delivering quality material - and it may well be that The Spirit will, in time, rise to such status, it may have just missed the boat. Only time will prove either theory true.

If The Spirit is a good film, it may have been overlooked in the wake of the superhero fad's (hopeful) death; it may (also) have been overcome by bigger box-office star-power; or it could just be a bad flick. Again, we'll just have to wait and see.

Interestingly, both The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Tale of Despereaux followed it on the charts. It may be safe to say audiences' love affair with all things comic has finally ended.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

The Day the Earth Stood Still Conquers Box Office

The Day the Earth Stood Still, the remake of the classic sci-fi movie, took the #1 spot at the Box Office this weekend. It had the biggest opening since Max Payne, which was based on a video game of the same name. Twilight passed the $150 million mark, coming in at #3. Former #1 title-holder, Four Christmases came in second.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Punisher Flops

The box office results for the post-Thanksgiving weekend are in and Punisher: War Zone is a bonafide turkey. Grossing just over $4 million, Punisher: War Zone is officially the worst-performing Marvel screen adaptation so far - doing even worse than their most famous flop, Howard the Duck!

Some blame the release of Transporter 3 for stealing some of Punisher: War Zone's thunder, while the slim advertising campaign was also mentioned, but what threw me in the trailers I saw was the over-acting by whomever is playing Jigsaw (not to mention that high voice) and the fact that Punny once again has no skull on his chest. As at least 249020490 others have said before me, a Punisher without his logo is just a gun-wielding psychopath in black garb.

Four Christmases led the charts for a second week, followed by Twilight.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Twilight's Opening Does Not Suck

Teen-angst, vampire-romance movie, Twilight, based on the best-selling series by the same name, opened with a $35 million premiere - a significant portion of which came from Friday night advance screenings. The movie only cost $37 million to make, meaning Twilight is set to turn a hefty profit - especially since the weekend is yet to close!

It beat both Inidiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls as well as Quantum of Solace and is poised to become the 15^th best opener of all-time.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008