'Madea' beats 'Jonas Brothers' at the box office

By Sarah Sluis

Contrary to industry expectations, last week's Madea Goes to Jail won the weekend, earning 30% more than the debut of Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. Alas, teen audiences are fickle, and the

teen idol on everyone's wall and bedsheets one day becomes the thing to be "too cool for" the next. With so many other projects in the pipeline, including their own television show, does this mean the popularity of the Jonas Brothers has already peaked, or is their awareness still just way lower than Hannah Montana? On the plus side, the 3D concert film had the second highest per-screen average of the week, beat only by its 3D competitor, Under the Sea 3D, which is in release on just 51 screens.

The other new release, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, snuck in at number eight,

earning $4.6 million. A straight-up genre choice with a small release and even smaller marketing budget, its top ten showing is probably in line with expectations.

Best Picture victor Slumdog Millionaire (its "Best Song" "Jai Ho" means "may victory be yours") expanded its release and brought in $12.1 million, its highest weekend gross to date. The movie has been in release for four months, and just crossed the $100 million mark last week, and with this weekend its gross is $115 million. Not bad, especially for a film purported to have a roughly $15 million production budget (who doesn't like to have a 1000% return?), but the marketing costs over the four-month period most likely make a significant cut into their profits.

Although outside of the top ten, the pictures winning Best Actor and Best Actress saw their grosses jump. Milk, for which Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar, saw a 37% increase at the box office, and The Reader, the movie Kate Winslet received the Best Actress win for, received a 10% boost. Doubt, The Wrestler, and Frost/Nixon all decreased, despite their publicity at the Oscar ceremony.

Among the returnees to the top ten, Taken, at number four with $9.9 million, is probably taking the market that would have gone to see The International (#14; $2.8 million) had it been any good. Both in the Top Ten, He's Just Not That Into You (#5; $5.8 million; $78.5 million) has had a much more lasting presence than Confessions of a Shopaholic (#9; $4.4 million; $33.6 million).

Delightful Coraline, which deserved to do well at the box office so more films like it can be made, has racked up $61 million over four weeks, including a $5.2 million showing this weekend at number seven. Its precipitous five-place drop in the top ten (it finished at number two last weekend) and 54% decrease in take probably comes from a decline in its 3D venues, as theatres shifted to the Jonas Brothers film.

Coming up this weekend, everyone is going to be watching the Watchmen, to see if its so-so reviews decrease its fan fervor, or galvanizes a group determined to see the comic book film years in the making.

Weekend moviegoers to get �Fired Up' for ...'Madea'

By Sarah Sluis

In an exceptionally meager weekend at the box office, only two movies open in wide release today. The frontrunner is Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2,032 screens), which shows all signs of winning the

weekend. While the Madea character has appeared in several of Perry's films, this will be the first since his dbut film to center the story on his most popular creation (played by Perry himself). The comedy puts the grandma-with-attitude in jail, where presumably she will be able to run down even the toughest of the prisoners. Based on a time-tested play written by Perry, the material has already made an appearance on the small screen via a DVD of the production. I am consistently amazed by Perry's business savvy. Hollywood Reporter profiled him here, including the incredible terms he was able to finagle from Lionsgate, based on his willingness to front risky projects that ultimately pay off in a big way. He's also been on the radar recently for adding his support to Lionsgate's Sundance acquisition Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire. Under his 34th Street Films label, he plans to pick up and develop additional projects that he will oversee without directing or starring.

Eye-rolling teen flick Fired Up (1,810 screens) follows two football jocks who decide to switch to cheerleading for the male-female ratio at cheer camp. One of those "going to extreme measures to

achieve something they could probably do from the comfort of their football uniforms" movies, I am sure they will learn not only to love a fellow cheerleader, but also gain newfound respect for the sport itself. Yawn. Apparently, even teenagers aren't fired up about this comedy.

With the Oscars this Sunday evening, many contenders will likely see a boost in box office as people try to evaluate pictures in their Oscar pool, but the biggest jump among Oscar films will likely be the following week, especially if there are any dramatic upsets or overwhelming victories.

Among holdovers, last week's winner Friday the 13th will surely have a top ten presence, but might drop significantly as audiences drawn to the Friday the 13th release date wane. Coraline has maintained its business through strong word-of-mouth, and even won the box office on the President's Day holiday, so it will probably continue its finish in the top ten. He's Just Not That Into You has also held up well, and in fact won the Wednesday box office, so the ensemble romance will probably hold steady as other titles (like Taken) drop lower.

For specialty film lovers, theo Bollywood release Delhi-6 opens on 89 screens. Katyn, director Andrzej Wajda's dramatization of a Polish massacre by Soviet soldiers during WWII, that not only killed his father, but also was forbidden to be discussed by the post-war government, opened at IFC Theatre in New York this Wednesday. As New York's fashion week is cresting, documentary Eleven Minutes (4 screens), about "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll's attempt to launch a fashion label, opens on four screens. Pieced together through family home movies, Must Read After My Death documents an unhappy family's struggles, revealing "not only dark, painful personal truths, but also something profound and disturbing about American society in the recent past." Think about that the next time someone records a family event.