Shared Darkness

You’ve heard whispered stories about them — your nephew’s babysitter’s older sister, who works in corporate publicity at Exxon Mobil — but you’re increasingly not sure of anyone who hasn’t seen The Dark Knight, which topped the domestic box office for the fourth consecutive frame this past weekend, grossing $26 million, and pushing its cumulative haul to $441.5 million. (Next up, competition-wise: Michael Phelps.) The latest Apatow-branded comedy, Pineapple Express, grossed $22.4 million over the weekend to place second, and has made $40.5 million since its bow last Wednesday. Brendan Fraser’s third Mummy flick held on to the third spot, pulling in $16.1 million (up to $70.7 million total), while fellow Wednesday, August 6 opener The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 earned $10.7 million over the weekend, and $19.7 million from its debut.

Rounding out the top 10, Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and John
C. Reilly’s R-rated Step Brothers
slotted fifth, with $8.9 million ($80.9 million overall); the ABBA-inflected stage musical adaptation Mamma Mia!
placed sixth, with $8.1 million ($104 million overall); Fraser’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D finished seventh ($4.9 million, $81.8 million overall); Will Smith’s Hancock placed eighth ($3.3 million, $221.8 million overall); Kevin Costner’s Swing Vote slotted ninth ($3.1 million, $12 million overall); and Wall▪E placed tenth ($3 million, $210.1 million overall). Falling way out of the top 10 in just its third week, The X-Files: I Want to Believe scraped up another $1.18 million, pushing its total to $19.6 million and leading one to believe that perhaps 20th Century Fox should have been more aggressive in its marketing.

In limited release, writer-director Randall Miller’s ensemble wine dramedy Bottle Shock grossed $295,000 on 48 screens; Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz’s Elegy made $102,000 on six screens; and writer-director Larry Bishop’s Hell Ride pulled in $83,500 on 82 screens.

More box office records fell to The Dark Knight over the weekend, including the tab for biggest 10-day opening and quickest film to $300 million. In taking in $75.1 million over the past three days, The Dark Knight has now grossed just under $314 domestically, easily besting the comparable-period hauls of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($258 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($240 million). That tally was also, obviously, more than enough to hold on to the top box office spot. Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s R-rated Step Brothers slotted second, with $30.9 million. A decade since its last big screen outing, and five years since the end of its small screen run, The X-Files: I Want to Believe opened in fourth place, to just over $10 million — a mere third of the debut-weekend take of its 1998 predecessor.

Meanwhile, ABBA-inflected stage musical adaptation Mamma Mia! placed third for the weekend, singing its way to $17.7 million; it’s now grossed $62.6 million overall. Rounding out the top 10, Brendan
Fraser’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D placed fifth ($9.7 million, $60.5 million overall); Will Smith’s Hancock placed sixth ($8.3 million, $206.5 million overall); Wall▪E slotted seventh ($6.4 million, $195.3 million overall); writer-director Guillermo del Toro‘s eye-popping, idiosyncratically flavored Hellboy II: The Golden Army finished eighth ($5.1 million, $66.1 million overall); animated flick Space Chimps dropped to ninth ($4.5 million, $16.2 million overall) in its sophomore frame; and hyper-kinetic shoot-’em-up Wanted ($2.7 million, $128.6 million overall) held off Get Smart for the final spot.

Warner Bros.’ aggressive push for the record books with The Dark Knight paid off, in the form of a $158.4 million opening weekend that knocked Spider-Man 3 from its brief perch as the biggest three-day debut ever. After its $66.4 million Friday gross was revised upwards to $67.8 million, showings held strong on Saturday at an estimated $48 million, leaving it a gimme putt on Sunday for the record. Hollywood also smashed the overall cumulative revenue record for a three-day weekend with $256 million-plus, beating the $218.4 million haul over the weekend of July 7, 2006, when the bloated Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opened a week after Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada.

ABBA-inflected stage musical adaptation Mamma Mia! placed second for the weekend, singing its way to $27.6 million, while fellow new opener Space Chimps debuted to $7.4 million, good for seventh place. Will Smith’s Hancock,
which owned the box office over the July 4 weekend, held in third place, with $14 million, and has now earned around $191.5
million since its sneak debut on the evening of July 1. Brendan
Fraser’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D placed fourth, with another $11.9 million in sales; it’s now grossed $43.1 million in two weeks of release. Writer-director Guillermo del Toro‘s eye-popping, idiosyncratically flavored Hellboy II: The Golden Army tumbled to fifth place, down more than 70 percent off its first-weekend gross, bringing in $10 million and change.

Rounding out the top 10, placing sixth was Wall▪E ($9.8 million, $182.5 million overall), the latest collaboration from
Pixar/Disney; eighth was hyper-kinetic shoot-’em-up Wanted ($5.1 million, $123.3 million overall), starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman; ninth was Steve Carell‘s big screen action-comedy adaptation of Get Smart ($4.1 million, $119.6 million overall); tenth was animated family flick
Kung Fu Panda ($1.8 million, $206.5 overall). Eddie Murphy‘s Meet Dave, meanwhile, fell out of the top 10 after one week, earning a paltry $1.6 million. In limited release, Brad Anderson’s Transsiberian opened to $35,200 on two screens, while Lou Reed’s Berlin cleared $7,650 at a pair of venues. Losing three screens, sophomore holdover Garden Party pulled in only $2,620, pushing its two-week gross to just under $20,000.

Box Office Mojo and others are reporting a $66.4 million opening-day gross for The Dark Knight, which bests the $59.8 million Friday bow of Spider-Man 3, from last summer, and stands as the single best one-day haul on record.

Writer-director Guillermo del Toro‘s eye-popping, idiosyncratically flavored Hellboy II: The Golden Army owned the top spot at the box office this past weekend, ringing up $34.5 million, or 57 percent of its 2004 predecessor’s total domestic haul. Will Smith’s Hancock, which owned the box office over the July 4 weekend, came in a close second, with $32.1 million, and has now earned around $164.1
million since its sneak debut on the evening of July 1. Brendan Fraser’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D opened third, with $21 million. Meanwhile, Eddie Murphy‘s very quietly screened Meet Dave opened to $5.3 million, good for seventh place for the weekend.

Rounding out the top 10, placing fourth was Wall▪E ($18.8 million, $163.1 million overall), the latest collaboration from
Pixar/Disney; fifth was hyper-kinetic shoot-’em-up Wanted ($12 million, $112.5 million overall), starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman; sixth was Steve Carell‘s big screen action-comedy adaptation of Get Smart ($7.2 million, $111.6 million overall); eighth was animated family flick
Kung Fu Panda ($4.4 million, $202.2 overall); ninth was Universal’s Edward Norton-starring reboot of The Incredible Hulk ($2.3 million, $130 million overall); and tenth was Abigail Breslin‘s Kitt Kitredge: An American Girl ($2.3 million in its second weekend in release, $11 million overall). In limited release, Harold, starring Breslin’s older brother Spencer, opened on three screens to $10,578, while Garden Party opened on seven screens to around a single Andrew Jackson more than that tally.

Filed under “C,” for Complete Lack of Surprise, Will Smith’s Hancock topped the July 4 weekend box office, with an estimated $66 million gross over the three-day holiday, and around $108 million since its sneak debut on the evening of July 1. Last weekend’s big debuts certainly had solid enough holdovers, though. Wall▪E, the latest collaboration from Pixar/Disney, added $33.4 million to its domestic tally, which nows stands at $128.1 million; the hyper-kinetic action vehicle Wanted, starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, pried loose another $20.6 million from wallets, bringing its two-week total to $90.8 million. That’s apparently good enough, when combined with sure-to-be-solid international returns, to guarantee a sequel or two.



Placing fourth for the weekend was Steve Carell‘s big screen action-comedy adaptation of Get Smart, which added $11.1 million to its coffers, pushing its cumulative domestic haul less than two million short of the $100 million line. Rounding out the top 10 were the animated family flick Kung Fu Panda ($7.5 million, $193.4 overall); Universal’s Edward Norton-starring reboot of The Incredible Hulk ($5 million, $125 million overall); Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($4 million, $306.6 million overall); Abigail Breslin‘s Kitt Kitredge: An American Girl ($3.6 million in its first weekend in release, $6.1 million overall); Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker ($2.3 million, $144.9 million); and Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan ($2 million, $94.8 million overall). In limited release, The Wackness and the Hunter Thompson documentary Gonzo grossed $145,000 and $190,000, respectively, with expansions planned in the coming weeks.

Will Smith’s Hancock pulled in $6.8 million from its Tuesday night sneaks (second to Wall▪E‘s $7.6 million), and looks to have added an estimated $17.3 million from its official Wednesday bow. Its five-day-plus holiday weekend haul should easily top $100 million, maybe by as much as 20 percent.

A G-rated robot did battle with a slick actioner with a hard R rating this past weekend, and there was plenty of business for both. Pixar’s latest animated effort, Wall▪E, debuted to $62.5 million, while hyper-kinetic action vehicle Wanted, starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, tallied $51.1 million. Both films should continue to woo large audiences throughout the week and over the extended July 4 holiday, though with Will Smith’s Hancock set to invade theaters tomorrow night, in advance of its official Wednesday opening, the drop-off for Wanted could be a bit steeper.

Placing third for the weekend, Steve Carell‘s big screen action-comedy adaptation of Get Smart, which topped the box office last week, added $20 million to its coffers, pushing its domestic total to $77.3 million. Rounding out the top 10 were the animated family flick
Kung Fu Panda ($11.7 million, $179.3 overall); Universal’s Edward Norton-starring reboot of The Incredible Hulk ($9.2 million, $115.6 million overall); Mike Myers’ The Love Guru ($5.4 million, $25.3 million overall); Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($5 million, $300 million overall); writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening ($3.9 million, $59.1 million overall); Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, ($3.8 million, $140.1 million); and Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan ($3.2 million, $91.2 million overall).

In limited release, Kitt Kitredge: An American Girl, starring Abigail Breslin, held on five screens in advance of its nationwide bow this week, and picked up $106,000, pushing its two-week total to $449,000. The Last Mistress and the documentary Trumbo opened on a handful of screens, grossing $35,200 and $28,500, respectively. John Cusack’s sprawling satire War, Inc., meanwhile, added another $50,000 to its limited, six-week domestic haul, pushing its total theatrical gross to date to just under $410,000.

Steve Carell washed most of the stench of Evan Almighty off himself this weekend, headlining the big screen action-comedy adaptation of Get Smart, which topped the box office with a better-than-expected $38.7 million in receipts. The other big entry of the week was Mike Myers’ The Love Guru, which didn’t fare so well; budgeted at $60 million-plus, the comedy grossed an anemic $13.9 million on 3,012 screens.

Placing second and third, in a photo finish, were Universal’s reboot of The Incredible Hulk, with another $22.1
million in receipts, and the animated family flick
Kung Fu Panda, which used a lack of direct genre competition and voice work from Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie to add $21.9 million to its $155.8 million domestic haul thus far in three weekends of theatrical release.

Rounding out the top 10 were writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening ($10.5 million, $50.8 overall) in fifth place, followed by: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($8.5 million, $291 million overall); Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan ($7.5 million, $84.3 million overall); Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, ($6.5 million, $132.5 million); Iron Man ($4 million, $304.8 million cumulatively); and the well-crafted horror-thriller The Strangers,
$2.1 million, $49.8 million).

Opening in limited release, Kitt Kitredge: An American Girl, starring Abigail Breslin, picked up a whopping $220,000 on only five screens, while Sony Pictures Classics’ Brick Lane grossed $47,000 and change at seven theaters. Continuing to fare quite well were Mongol ($1.15 million in less than three weeks of release) and The Visitor ($7.2 million in 10-plus weeks of release), while John Cusack’s sprawling satire War, Inc. added a screen and $57,000 to its domestic tally of $328,000.

Will people turn out to revisit a character they revisited only five years previously? It seems so. Universal’s reboot of The Incredible Hulk owned the top spot at the box office this past weekend, grossing $54.5 million (down from the $62.1 grossed by Ang Lee’s 2003 version, starring Eric Bana). Powered by voice work from Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie — and abetted by a lack of direct genre competition — the animated family flick
Kung Fu Panda made a strong second week showing, earning an additional $34.3 million to push its accumulated domestic receipts to just under $118 million. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s R-rated The Happening, meanwhile, debuted in third place with $30.5 million.

Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan slotted fourth, with an estimated $16.4 million in its second week of release. Placing fifth was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which grossed another $13.5 million; the
fourth film in the iconic period adventure franchise has now grossed
$275 million domestically and another $327 million overseas. Rounding out the top 10 were Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and a bunch of shoes and handbags ($10.2 million for the weekend, just under $120 million in total); Paramount’s high-flying Iron Man ($5.1 million, $297.4 overall); horror
thriller The Strangers
($5.1 million, $45.3 million overall); The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($3 million, $131.7 overall); and Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz’s What Happens in Vegas ($1.7 million, $75.8 overall).

In limited release, meanwhile, writer-director Steve Conrad’s
quietly funny The Promotion, added 75 screens and grossed $137,000; John Cusack’s sprawling satire War, Inc.
added nine more theaters and pushed its slow roll-out, month-long total to around $236,000. Werner Herzog’s documentary Encounter at the End of the World opened in a single theater in New York City, to $17,500.

There’s been a low-key martial arts vibe bubbling up in arthouse theaters over the past few weeks, what with David Mamet’s Redbelt and Danny McBride’s The Foot Fist Way each hitting theaters in the past month, and all it took to deliver mondo box office was a little animation. Powered by voice work from Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie,
Kung Fu Panda made an authoritative statement, grabbing the top weekend spot with an estimated $60 million in receipts. Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan slotted second, with an estimated $40 million.

Placing third, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull grossed another $22.8 million; the fourth film in the iconic period adventure franchise has now grossed $253 million domestically and another $267 million overseas. Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, pulled in another $21.3 million over the weekend, pushing its second-week cumulative total to just under $100 million. Horror thriller The Strangers,
meanwhile, added 11 screens and finished fifth for the weekend, tallying $9.3 million, good for $37.6 million overall, in its second week of release.

Rounding out the top 10 were Iron Man ($7.5 million, $288.9 overall); The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($5.5 million, $125.8 overall); Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz’s What Happens in Vegas ($3.4 million, $72.2 overall); Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Baby Mama ($779,000, $57.9 million overall); and Patrick Dempsey’s Made of Honor ($775,000, $44.7 million overall). In limited release, meanwhile, John Cusack’s sprawling satire War, Inc. added 21 screens and pulled in another $47,600, to pull its limited, three-week total to around $130,000. Writer-director Steve Conrad’s quietly funny The Promotion, meanwhile, opened on six screens, to $28,900.

Sex and the City, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, pulled in $56.8 million over the weekend, easily coasting to the top spot at the box office despite the cringing indifference of wide swathes of the country, regionally and otherwise demographically. Fellow freshman entrant The Strangers, meanwhile, grossed an extremely robust $20.9 million, good for third place at the box office; the horror thriller benefited from both strong word-of-mouth and a lack of direct genre competition, outperforming both wider-appeal recent PG-13 fare like When a Stranger Calls and similar R-rated product like Captivity. Holding onto the second spot, meanwhile, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull added $44.7 million to its coffers for a cumulative $215.6 million gross in 10 days of release.

Iron Man only furthered its reputation as the early summer’s biggest hit, adding $13.5 million to its cumulative $276.2 domestic haul. Placing fifth for the weekend was The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; down 44 percent, the family-friendly sequel grossed $12.7 million, and has now made $115.3 heading into its third week of release. Rounding out the top 10 were What Happens in Vegas ($6.7 million for the weekend, $66 million overall); Speed Racer ($2.3 million, $40.7 overall); Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Baby Mama ($2.2 million, $56.1 overall); Patrick Dempsey’s Made of Honor ($1.9 million, $42.9 overall); and Forgetting Sarah Marshall ($1.1 million, $60.5 overall), directed by Nicholas Stoller.

In limited release, controversy took a hit. John Cusack’s sprawling satire War, Inc., holding over on two screens, pulled in just under $20,000, to pull its two-week total to $74,000-plus. Documentary Bloodline, meanwhile, downsized instead of expanding, and subsequently grossed only $3,000 on one screen. Sundance cast-off The Foot Fist Way, starring Danny McBride, opened bi-coastally on four screens, and grossed just under $36,400.

There was little guesswork with respect to box office prognostication this week, as The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was the only new release opening wide. It grossed $56.6 million at over 3,900 screens, and dutifully inherited the top spot from Marvel comic book adaptation Iron Man, which released its iron grip only nominally. The comic book adaptation still pulled in $31.2 million in its third week of release, and has now grossed an estimated $222.5 million.

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher’s What Happens in Vegas held onto the third spot, adding another $13.9 to its coffers, good for $40.3 in its second week of release. The story of the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer as the box office bust of the spring continued, though; in its sophomore frame the gumball-colored family flick added a meager $7.6 million to its $29.8 million cumulative haul. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s Baby Mama held strong in fifth place — nudging out Made of Honor, which grossed $4.5 million for the week, and $33.7 overall to date, on the strength of Michelle Monaghan (three percent of its audience) and Patrick Dempsey’s stubble (the other 97 percent) — by delivering another
$4.6 million for distributor Universal, good for $47.3 million overall.
Fellow laffers Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,
meanwhile, placed seventh and eighth for the weekend, grossing $2.5 and $1.8 million, respectively. The former film has now made $55 million, while the Harold & Kumar sequel has made $33.9 million to date.

Placing ninth was the time-spanning martial arts flick The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan
and that noodle-armed kid whose last name sounds like a disease,
with $1 million, and now $50.3 million overall. In the final spot was Tom McCarthy’s well-reviewed The Visitor, which pulled in $687,000 on only 224 screens. Falling out the top 10, meanwhile, were critically embraced Swiss Family Robinson-esque family flick Nim’s Island (which has grossed $45.2 million to date) and the critically maligned Prom Night
($43.5 million to date), featuring Brittany Snow. In other limited expanded releases, and Fox Searchlight’s Young @ Heart and Paramount Vantage’s Son of Rambow added 25 and 55 theaters, respectively.

Marvel comic book adaptation Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., grossed just over an estimated $100 million for the weekend, inclusive of its Thursday night sneak screenings, meaning it placed second to Made of Honor, starring Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, which grossed $115.5 million on the strength of Dempsey’s stubble. No, just kidding… the latter film placed second for the weekend, with $15.5 million. Its makers were then promptly euthanized Saturday night.

Baby Mama,
starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, fell to third, but delivered another
$10.3 million for distributor Universal, good for $32 million overall.
Fellow laffers Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,
meanwhile, placed fourth and fifth for the weekend, each grossing just
over $6 million. The former film has now made $44.8 million in
three-plus weeks of release, while the Harold & Kumar sequel has made $25.2 million heading into its second full week of release.

Placing sixth for the weekend was time-spanning martial arts flick The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan
and that noodle-armed kid whose last name sounds like a disease,
with $4.2 million and now $45.1 million overall. Rounding out the top 10 were Swiss Family Robinson-esque family flick Nim’s Island, starring Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin ($2.8 million, $42.5 million total); the critically maligned Prom Night,
featuring Brittany Snow
($2.5 million, $41.4 million total); the ensemble blackjack flick 21 ($2.1 million, $79 million cumulatively); and Al Pacino’s 88 Minutes ($1.6 million, $15.4 million total). In other, limited releases, Son of Rambow released in five theaters to $52,500; kick-’em-up Redbelt, written and directed by David Mamet, grossed $68,600 in a half dozen theaters; and Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces, starring Stephen Dillane, Rade Serbedzija and Rosamund Pike, rang up $108,000 in 30 venues.

Friday estimates for Iron Man, inclusive of its Thursday night sneak preview, come in at $38 million, meaning it’s looking at more than $90 million for the weekend. Seems like a lot of the Grand Theft Auto IV crowd is getting out of the house after all.

Baby Mama, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, owned the top spot at the box office
this weekend, delivering $18.3 million for distributor Universal, on the heels of its triumph last weekend with romantic disaster flick Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Fellow laffer Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, placed second for the weekend, debuting to $14.7 million, and presumably inspiring lots of concession sales to patrons stricken with mysteriously sudden hunger pangs. The only other new wide release was 20th Century Fox’s Deception, which bowed at just over 2,000 theaters and placed tenth for the weekend, with $2.2 million earned.

The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan
and that noodle-armed kid whose last name sounds like a disease, slipped to third place, adding $11.2 million to its coffers, for a $38.3 million total haul so far in less than two weeks of release. Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis, Forgetting Sarah Marshall dropped only 38 percent, placing fourth, with just over $11 million.

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were nicely crafted family flick Nim’s Island, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin ($4.5 million, $39 million total); the critically maligned Prom Night,
featuring Brittany Snow
($4.4 million, $38.1 million total); ensemble blackjack flick 21 ($4 million, $75.8 million cumulatively); Al Pacino’s 88 Minutes ($3.6 million, $12.6 million total); Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who ($2.4 million, $147.9 million in its now seventh week of release); and the aforementioned Deception. Falling out of the top 10 were Keanu Reeves‘ testosteronized urban cop thriller Street Kings, George Clooney’s period piece football comedy Leatherheads, and Ben Stein’s anti-evolution doc Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan and noodle-armed Michael Angarano, owned the top spot at the box office this weekend, roundhouse kicking $20.8 million out of filmgoers’ wallets. At around 350 fewer venues, romantic disaster flick Forgetting Sarah Marshall, starring Jason “Full Frontal” Segel and Kristen Bell, placed second for the weekend, ringing up $17.3 million. In other new, wide releases, Al Pacino’s 88 Minutes slotted fourth, with $6.8 million, and Ben Stein’s anti-evolution doc Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed placed ninth, with $3.15 million, and an impressive $2,997 per screen.

Critically maligned Prom Night,
featuring Brittany Snow, added another $9.1 million to its coffers; it’s now grossed $32.6 million headed into its second full week. Nicely crafted family flick Nim’s Island, meanwhile, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin, showed staying power in its third week, taking in $5.65 million, good for a $32.9 million total.

Rounding out the top 10 were ensemble blackjack flick 21 ($5.5 million for the weekend, a cool $70 million cumulatively), top-lined by Jim Sturgess; urban cop thriller Street Kings ($4 million for the weekend, $19.9 million in total), starring Keanu Reeves; Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who ($3.5 million for the weekend, $144.4 million in six weeks of release); the aforementioned Expelled; and George Clooney’s period piece football comedy, Leatherheads, with $3 million for the weekend, and now $26.6 million cumulatively. Falling out of the top 10 were the mostly derided ensemble dramedy Smart People, spoof flick Superhero Movie, teen-pitched horror travelogue The Ruins, and budget-bodyguard comedy Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson.

Critically maligned Prom Night,
featuring both Brittany Snow (below, but on much more interesting display here) and the stone-faced intensity of yes-he-really-spells-his-name-like-that killer Johnathon Schaech, took the top spot at the domestic box office this weekend, stealing an estimated $20.8 million out of the wallets of mostly regretful 13- to 25-year-olds. The weekend’s other big new wide release, urban cop thriller Street Kings, placed second with a $12.4 million take. Ensemble blackjack flick 21, starring Jim Sturgess, continued to display staying power, taking third place with $10.4 million; this brings the movie’s total gross to just under $62 million in three weeks of release. Rounding out the top five were Nim’s Island, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin, with $9.1 million, and George Clooney’s period piece football comedy, Leatherheads, with $6.2 million.

Completing the top 10 were Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who ($5.9 million for the weekend, $139.5 million in total), the mostly derided ensemble dramedy Smart People ($4.1 million in its first frame), The Ruins ($3.4 million in its second weekend, for a total of $13.5 million), Superhero Movie, ($3.2 million, $21.3 million in total), and Owen Wilson’s Drillbit Taylor ($2 million, $28.4 million in total).

Sony’s spry ensemble blackjack flick, 21, held on to the top spot at the box office this past weekend, stiff-arming George Clooney’s period piece football comedy, Leatherheads. The former film, starring fresh, exceedingly likeable newcomer Jim Sturgess alongside Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth, grossed $15.1 million, and has now won a robust $46.5 million in its first two weeks of release. Clooney’s third film behind the camera pulled in an estimated $13.48 million at just under 2,770 theaters, while fellow new opener Nim’s Island finished just off that pace, with an estimated haul of $13.3 million at 3,500-plus screens. Also debuting this week was the R-rated The Ruins, which grossed around $7.8 million, good for fifth place. I think the problem there, as a friend of mine excellently pointed out, is that not enough people know the girl, Laura Ramsey, who gets naked in it.

Like it or not, Horton Hears a Who is the spring’s biggest hit; it grossed another $9.1 million, and has now raked in over $131 million domestically in total, and another $76 million and change abroad. Writer-director Craig Mazin’s Superhero Movie placed sixth for the weekend, adding $5.4 million to its coffers; it now stands at $16.8 million. Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns finished seventh, with $3.51 million; Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson, finished eighth, with $3.49; the atrocious Shutter placed ninth, with $2.8 million; and Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 B.C. clung on to the 10th spot, with $2.7 million. The heavily marketed, effects-laden prehistoric actioner has now pulled in $89 million domestically for Warner Bros., and another $143 million internationally, proving that there apparently is a market for movies aimed at sabretooth tiger enthusiasts.

20th Century Fox’s Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who put the box office in a sleeper hold this past weekend, pulling in $45 million in its first three days of release, over $11,300 per screen. Brace yourself, parents, for the eventual adaptation and release of the entire Seuss catalogue. In second place, 10,000 B.C. raked in another $16.7 million, proving the spending power of CGI sabre-toothed tiger enthusiasts and putting the movie’s two-week total at just under $62 million. Never Back Down opened third for the weekend, with $8.6 million. The week’s other wide opener, meanwhile, Doomsday, wasn’t fooling quite as many folks; not screened in advance for critics by Universal/Rogue, it slotted seventh for the same frame, grossing $4.9 million on just over 1,930 screens, for a $2,544/screen average.

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were College Road Trip, with $7.8 million (now $24.2 million total); Vantage Point, with $5.4 million (now $59.2 million total); The Bank Job, with $5.1 million (now $13.3 million total); Will Ferrell’s R-rated Semi-Pro, with $3 million (now $29.8 million total); inert bodice-ripper The Other Boleyn Girl, with $2.9 million (now $19.1 million total); and The Spiderwick Chronicles, with $2.3 million (now $65.3 million total). Opening in 274 theaters, meanwhile, writer-director Michael Haneke’s controversial Funny Games grossed just under $511,000, or $1,864 per site.

I mentioned previously that indie darling Juno has crossed the $100 million mark, but it’s worth pointing out a few other tidbits — namely that the movie has spent six consecutive weeks since its release in the top 10, and is now the sixth highest-grossing platform opener of all time, and the biggest such release since 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It also bests all-star indie distributor Fox Searchlight’s previous company highwater mark — 2004’s Sideways, which drank up $71.5 million in theatrical receipts.

Following in the tradition of its spoof predecessors from 20th Century Fox, Date Movie and Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, a send-up of 300 and other recent hits, claimed the top box office spot this past weekend, pulling in $18.5 million. Running second, Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo somehow tricked $18.2 million out of wallets, perhaps fooling some into thinking its unremitting brutality was some sort of profound statement on violence in today’s world. Or maybe that’s just the going exchange rate for monosyllabic entertainment featuring bayoneted babies. Fellow weekend newcomer Untraceable meanwhile, starring Diane Lane and Colin Hanks, placed fifth overall, with $11.3 million in receipts.

After its $41 million debut, Cloverfield dropped 68 percent $12.7 million; it’s now grossed $64.3 million in total.  Outpacing it for third place was Katherine Heigl’s 27 Dresses, which earned $13.3 million, and has now raked in just over $45 in total. Still strong in long-play release were Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman’s pairing, The Bucket List, which added $10.5 million to its coffers in its fifth week of release, and indie darling Juno, which crossed the $100 million mark with an additional $10.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10, Nicolas Cage’s sequel to National Treasure placed eighth with $4.9 million, while writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, previously in extremely limited release, added just under 500 screens and pulled in $4.8 million. Finally, in its second week, Mad Money nipped Alvin and the Chipmunks for the final spot, pulling in $4.6 million (now for a total of $15.2 million) to the latter’s $4.5 million. Still, don’t cry for 20th Century Fox — they’ve somehow now wrung $204 million domestically and over $300 million worldwide from that movie, despite the presence of Cameron Richardson and the depressingly inevitable scene of rodent flatulence.

Looking forward, it’ll be interesting to see how all the top-shelf Oscar nominations for Michael Clayton impact its box office fortunes; despite the fact that its DVD release looms on the horizon (it’s currently slated for February 19), the film is reopening in theaters for a few more weeks, cleansing audience palettes leading up to the (planned) Oscar ceremonies on Sunday, February 24.

Proving that labyrinthine viral marketing campaigns can actually deliver an audience (sorry, Snakes on a Plane), and not all major studios are hopelessly clueless when it comes to turning out the fickle youth dollar on a non-summertime P&A budget, the monstrous, handheld-shot disaster flick Cloverfield raked in $41 million this past weekend, a new box office high-water mark for January releases.

Katherine Heigl’s 27 Dresses, meanwhile, won the battle for female and run-off audiences, placing second for the weekend with a $22.4 million debut; Callie Khouri’s femme-centric heist flick Mad Money, starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes, placed seventh for the same frame, pulling in $7.7 million. Sold on the strength of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman’s pairing, The Bucket List placed third for the weekend in its second week of wide release, adding $15.2 million to what is now a $41.5 million total. Little-indie-that-could Juno added another $10.3 million to its coffers; it now totals an amazing $85 million in theatrical receipts, proving once again that Fox Searchlight (The Full Monty, Napoleon Dynamite, Sideways) is currently, far and away, the best in the business at connecting films with eager niche and arthouse audiences.

Nicolas Cage’s sequel to National Treasure placed fifth with $8.1 million, while Ice Cube and Tracey Morgan’s First Sunday added $7.8 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were Alvin and the Chipmunks (now a $280 million earner worldwide… sigh) with $7 million, Will Smith’s I Am Legend (a $470 million worldwide smash hit) with $5.1 million, and Joe Wright’s Atonement with $4.8 million. The cancellation of the made-for-TV Golden Globes event likely had a wet-blanket commercial effect on particulary that latter film and Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, tough-sell awards contenders which each added a significant number of theaters this past week.

Bee Movie and American Gangster flipped top spots at the box office in their sophomore weekly engagements, pulling in $25.5 and $24 million, respectively. Still, those returns were more than enough to hold off the week’s newcomers, which included Fred Claus — the biggest debut, at $18.5 million, on just over 3,600 screens — and fourth-place finisher Lions for Lambs, which grossed $6.7 million at 2,200 theaters. The other wide release, P2, saw Wes Bentley and Rachel Nichols’ cleavage pull in just over $2 million, good for ninth place over the weekend.

Steve Carell’s Dan in Real Life added just over $6 million to its theatrical gate, good for fifth place. Saw IV tumbled 52 percent in its third week of release, pulling in $4.9 million to raise its total to $58 million and change. The rest of the top 10 was rounded out by The Rock’s family hit, The Game Plan ($2.5 million, $85.5 million total), the vampire horror flick 30 Days of Night ($2.1 million, $37.4 million total), the aforementioned P2, and John Cusack’s The Martian Child, which grossed $1.8 million in its second week of release.

In other studio releases of note, eschewing commas isn’t helping Gone Baby Gone at the box office; despite its literary pedigree, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, which I assay in talking head fashion here, has pulled in just over $17 million in over a month of release. George Clooney’s Michael Clayton is doing better; it added $1.7 million to its haul over the weekend, and now stands at $35.7 million domestically for its six-week duration. Sean Penn’s Into the Wild has grossed $12.5 million in eight weeks of somewhat limited release; writer-director James Gray’s We Own the Night, meanwhile, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, has grossed $28.5 million in five weeks of release.

Despite the precedent of retarded ploys like this one, and another whispered, opt-in-only go-round of “courtesy screenings” on its day of release, the Saw franchise saw no signs of slowing this past week, topping the weekend box office with just over $32 million on 4,600 screens, better than 2005’s Saw II and just off the $33.6 million haul of last year’s Saw III, both of which released during the same pre-Halloween frame.

Steve Carell’s Dan in Real Life rang up just over $12 million, good for second place. 30 Days of Night, meanwhile, took a steep tumble in its second week of release, banking $6.7 million to pull its 10-day total to $27.3 million. The Rock’s The Game Plan actually added theaters in its fifth week of release, and now stands poised to crack the $80 million mark domestically in the next several days. George Clooney’s Michael Clayton, which my dad lost $11 on by dozing off during, added $5 million to its coffers; it now stands at $28.7 million domestically. Eschewing commas isn’t helping Gone Baby Gone at the box office; despite its literary pedigree, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, which I assay in talking head fashion here, slipped to seventh this week with $3.9 million, and has pulled in $11.3 million to date. We Own the Night, meanwhile, dropped 37 percent in its third week of release, adding $3.4 million to its $25 million cumulative gross.

In limited release, finally, Mr. Untouchable laid hands on $50,000 on 25 screens, while recently announced LAFCA Career Achievement honoree Sidney Lumet‘s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead rang up $73,500 on two screens. The big micro-release winner, though, was Toronto Film Festival winner Bella, which grossed $1.3 million at 165 theaters.