Stereoscopic Deathvision's Moment Has Arrived!

The weather has exceeded 100° in Los Angeles for several days now. A mountainous billow of white smoke has settled to the north, hanging ominously above the city like the stalled spacecraft of District 9. This morning, Gov. Schwarzenegger has urged 12,000 families to flee their homes before it's too late. For many, heading into a movie theater to watch a young woman have her head sanded off by a car wash buffer was the only hope for relief. Their story and more after the jump.
more »

Friday Box Office: Safe Destination

In the box office derby of righteous kills, 3-D blood spatter trumped Michael Myers yesterday. The Final Destination took the top spot rather easily with $10.9 million, while Halloween II will have to fend off Inglourious Basterds for second place. Meanwhile, despite opening on almost a third of the screens as its competition, Taking Woodstock took a could-be-groovier ninth place.

Full Friday figures after the jump:

more »

Now, Gods, Stand Up for Basterds!

What a difference a week makes. Just last Sunday, we were all slogging through the NY Times's Weinstein Company deathwatch profile, seeing in Bob's acute case of ping-pong elbow a sad metaphor for a once-indomitable media empire on the verge of extinction. Today, the company is back at the top of their game, with the whole country buzzing about their brutal, campy, must-see Nazisploitation romp. And that's just Project Runway! We haven't even gotten to Inglourious Basterds yet. The weekend numbers are after the jump.

more »

Friday Box Office: Glorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds is predictably perched at the top of Friday's box-office standings, but its estimated numbers are anything but predictable: $14.3 million all told, setting it up for minimum $40 million debut weekend. It would be Quentin Tarantino's all-time best bow, and looks likely to exceed Scary Movie 4 as the Weinstein Company's best opening since its launch in 2005. Harvey is sending Bob to buy champagne as I write this, and the Sony gang is nursing a bit of vertigo after District 9 looked set to drop as much as 60 percent in week two. And people are still watching G.I. Joe. View Friday's full top 10 after the jump.
more »

Green-Light District

The good guys won this week at the box office -- and by "good guys," I simply mean a modest, smart, well-made, exciting summer movie that critics and regular moviegoers alike all seem to agree on. Now was that really so hard, Hollywood? What are the chances of a repeat any time soon? Enh, on second thought, don't answer that. Let's just savor the numbers after the jump while we can.

more »

Friday Box Office: 9 Lives, Goods Bad

District 9 cost a mere $30 million to make, and judging by its performance yesterday, it should make that budget back and then some by the end of this weekend. The alien actioner brought in $14.2 million for first place, followed by The Time Traveler's Wife with a solid $7.7 million. Faring less well were The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, which brought in only $2 million, and the teen movie Bandslam, which couldn't even crack the top ten.

Full figures after the jump:

more »

Go, Joe!

That this weekend's showing of sheer, shock-and-awe-inducing might from the U.S. Armed Ninja Forces should fall on the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki is probably worth noting -- but seeing as we're just Hollywood numbers guys, we'll stick to what we know and leave the "man is apt to repeat himself" analysis to the action-figure-military historians. The weekend results are after the jump.

more »

Friday Box Office: Go Joe

Despite the vehement protestations of young Dylan Dakota Banana Murphy, America made G.I. Joe a fairly staggering opening-day success. Paramount's daring "Fertilize Mid-America" plan clearly paid off with $22.3 million on Friday; if that pace holds through Sunday, it would give Joe the highest grossing August opening for a non-sequel. You're witnessing history, folks! Perhaps Sony might have thought to try a similar strategy with Julie and Julia, which performed just about in line with its modest expectations. And shed a tear for Funny People, which appears to be setting up for a slide of nearly 70 percent from last weekend.

G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA: $22,300,000

JULIE AND JULIA: $6,500,000

G-FORCE: $3,000,000

FUNNY PEOPLE: $2,600,000

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: $2,550,000

[Source: Variety]

Some People Just Can't Catch a Break

Number-one could feel a little better today for the gang behind Funny People. High expectations gave way to the sobering reality that the world might not be quite ready for an epic study of relationships, mortality and comedy -- unless you can find a way to make it with guinea pigs, in which case the sky is apparently the limit. Read on for the rest of this weekend's box-office power rankings.

more »

Friday Box Office: Not So Funny

Judd Apatow's Funny People looks like it's headed for the low end of its expectations for the weekend, collecting $8.6 million on its opening day and working toward an estimated $24 million three-day total. The Ugly Truth may have siphoned some of Universal's cash away with a better-than-expected Friday, and as totally expected, the guinea pigs of G-Force are making short work of Fox's embarrassing Aliens in the Attic. Horror fans rallied around Orphan, failing to boost the $1.3 million-grossing The Collector even into the top 10. Dog days indeed.

FUNNY PEOPLE: $8,630,000 (new)

G-FORCE: $5,750,000 ($55,153,000)

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: $5,405,000 ($243,168,000)

THE UGLY TRUTH: $4,450,000 ($45,931,000)

ALIENS IN THE ATTIC: $2,875,000 ($2,875,000)

ORPHAN: $2,445,000 ($21,986,000)

ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS: $1,715,000 ($178,258,000)

THE PROPOSAL: $1,660,000 ($145,694,000)

THE HANGOVER: $1,545,000 ($252,241,000)

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN: $1,450,000 ($384,951,000)

Our Talking Guinea Pig Pack, It Grew By One

As we pack up our Movieline-skinned Smart Car and prepare to journey up the 5 back to L.A., we look back at our time at Comic-Con mostly with fondness, and maybe just a twinge of regret (primarily over the onset of "Twilightnitus," an irreversible form of hearing loss which manifests itself as the persistent sound of 6500 teenage girls screaming "TAKE IT OFF, TAYLOR!!!" in your ears).

Anyway, HERE ARE YOUR BOX OFFICE NUMBERS. (WHAT?! WE'RE NOT SHOUTING - YOU'RE WHISPERING!)

more »

Friday Box Office: G Whiz

The costumed masses at Comic-Con may seem silly sometimes, but as I blog from the floor of the convention center next to a woman dressed as a sexy, blue-haired cat, I learn that back on Planet Non-Con, talking guinea pigs and vibrating panties triumphed at the box office yesterday. So, I put it you, dear reader: Perhaps it's mainstream America that needs the intervention? The full Friday numbers, after the jump:
more »

Boffus Boxoffum!

Bruno was so July 11th. This weekend was all about taking refuge from sweltering summer temperatures with a bucket of popcorn and Hermione's (technically legal) doability. How much did Harry & Co. manage to conjure up after its five-day opening? Clickus Continuum to find out!

more »

Friday Box Office: Half-Blood Bank

It wouldn't require much magic to foresee Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince crossing the $100 million mark by late Friday, though the boy wizard may need a whole new spell to regain the momentum that can boost the franchise's sixth entry to the $170 million five-day most of Hollywood forecast for it. Holdovers Ice Age 3 and Transformers 2 kept a safe distance in second and third place respectively, but pity poor Bruno, which is on track for a 70-percent drop from its number-one opening last week. Blame the Irish, I suppose.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: $26,830,000 ($107,017,000)

ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS: $5,400,000 ($139,705,000)

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN: $4,175,000 ($354,292,000)

BRUNO: $2,883,000 ($44,098,000)

THE PROPOSAL: $2,750,000 ($122,544,000)

THE HANGOVER: $2,505,000 ($230,072,000)

PUBLIC ENEMIES: $2,323,000 ($74,214,000)

I LOVE YOU BETH COOPER: $1,000,000 ($8,596,000)

UP: $970,000 ($277,381,000)

MY SISTER'S KEEPER: $900,000 ($39,579,000)

These Lips Are For Praising Brüno

Vassup! Sick of Brüno yet? Tough. Universal spent $100 million marketing this thing, which means you're going to have to read about his farshtinkeneh kugelsack some more. How much of that did they make back? It's after der jump.

more »