Audiences swoon for 'The Proposal'

By Sarah Sluis

Sandra Bullock had her best opening ever with The Proposal. It's been nearly two months since a romantic comedy debuted in theatres, and audiences turned out in force. The film made $34.1 million, $11,000 per theatre, a sign the showings were packed with laughing audiences.

Even with The Proposal's strong performance, The Hangover held strong, slipping just 16.1% from last weekend, an even smaller drop than last week's 27% dip. It brought in $26.8 million and grabbed the #2 spot. The jackpot film (especially for the studio, since none of the stars receive back-end profits) has coolly raked up $152 million. How the male-bonding film holds when the machine-bonding film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen releases this Friday is almost irrelevant. I've no doubt that any drop in performance will be a blip in its total box office, given its stellar results so far.

Up held onto its #3 spot, dipping 30% from last week. With a cumulative gross of $224 million, it already has surpassed the box office of last year's Wall-E, which finished 2008 at $223 million. Pixar always surprises: who would have thought the story about an old man, a boy scout, and a balloon-propelled house would beat the environmentally friendly, sci-fi comedy-action film? The studio's films are so original they defy comparison.

Opening at #4, Year One was the second primordial comedy to be received indifferently by audiences. Still, its $20.2 million gross surpassed Land of the Lost's $18.8 opening weekend. The Will Ferrell comedy has dropped 50% each weekend, now holding the #8 spot by bringing in $3.9 million. This summer, the teen comedy A-listers--Jack Black, Michael Cera, and Will Ferrell--just don't seem to be opening movies.

Despite its scathing reviews, Whatever Works ruled the specialty circuit this weekend. It brought in a stunning $31,000 per location, its nine theatres well-chosen for their proximity to Woody Allen fans.

This week, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen jumps the starting gun by opening Wednesday in 4,000 theatres. Interest for the sequel appears to be greater than for the first film. At MovieTickets.com, presales are outpacing all films with the top opening weekends. Transformers is going to open big. As a counterpoint, My Sister's Keeper will keep audiences in need of a good cry happy.

'Marley & Me' charms holiday audiences

By Sarah Sluis

When I expressed my skepticism over Marley & Me (a little too adorable-looking, don't you think?), a friend's mother, who had been hyping the film to me, asked if I was ever a dog owner. If I wasn't, she

said, I just wouldn't understand.

Considering the popularity of pooches among families--and that includes critics--PG-rated Marley & Me proved to be the most enticing option for families over the holiday weekend. The critical applause, included that of our reviewer Doris Toumarkine, who called Marley & Me "[P]erfect holiday entertainment. Families, dog lovers and even demanding breeds of filmgoers will adore it." These thumbs-ups helped pull the film to a $51 million finish, 30% more than the runner up, younger-skewing Bedtime Stories.

It makes sense: Marley & Me appealed to families with teen and adult children (my friend's family falling in that category), while Bedtime Stories targeted the narrower crowd that's still telling bedtime stories to each other. The dog-themed success, coupled with this year's earlier surprise smash, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, must be making studios scratch their heads looking around for another dog title to put into development. However, I chance that eventually there will be a burnout in pet pictures. January's kid-adventurer picture Hotel for Dogs might be the canary-in-a-coal-mine test to see if there's any dog-related viewing fatigue. After all, even playing fetch gets old after awhile.

Other family pleasers Yes Man, Seven Pounds, and The Tale of Despereaux, which finished 1-2-3 last week, moved down to fifth, sixth, and seventh, each dropping a similar amount from last week's open. As audiences see their second- and third-pick movies over the coming weeks, one might break ranks and rise above the others.

For adults, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned $39 million over the Christmas holiday, while Valkyrie made off with $30 million. Button's expected awards campaign should keep it in a top position in coming weeks, while Valkyrie dies off (just like the hero's Nazi coup!).

Among awards contenders, Revolutionary Road earned the most per-screen, bringing in a $64,000 per-screen average at each of its six locations for a total of $196,000. Waltz with Bashir, a Christmas day-opener set in Israel with special appeal to Jewish filmgoers, earned $10,240 per-screen across five locations, taking advantage of the informal Christmas day viewing tradition among Jews. Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino expanded to 84 locations, but kept its per-screen average at $29,048, bringing its cumulative total to $4.3 million. Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire earned in the $7,000 per-screen range, a performance mitigated by being in a wider release and over a month old. Awards voters are a finicky bunch, but having your opinions reinforced by a wider audience certainly helps when it comes to statuette success.

Full box-office estimates available here.

'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa' earns a roaring $63 million

By Sarah Sluis

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa opened to $63.5 million this weekend, slightly exceeding the first-week revenue of this year's animated competitor Wall-E,
which earned $63.08 million.  Because these numbers are box-office
estimates, it's possible that the figures have been rounded up to give Madagascar the reigning position among this year's CGI films.  Even matching Wall-E's take is impressive, given that fall's animated features have generally opened to $30 to $40 million.  2007's Bee Movie, for example, debuted with $38 million.  Overall, this fall has been strong for family-oriented films: Beverly Hills Chihuahua took
advantage of a lull in family fare and drove to a multiple-week #1 finish, and HSM3,
which opened two weeks ago, dropped less than 40% this week to earn
$9.2 million and the highest finish for an existing release (#3).  Of
course, the box office is only a starting point for HSM3's DVD, soundtrack, and merchandise sales.

In second place, Role Models earned $19.2 million, exceeding
expectations and flabbergasting those that expect all R-rated, heavily
marketed comedies to fare the same.  Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which finished at number five this week, earning $6.5 million, only opened to $10 million.

Changeling earned $6.2 million this weekend, dropping only
22%.  While the film has garnered mediocre reviews, with critics
perhaps holding their praise for Eastwood's winter release, Gran Torino,
the word-of-mouth spin on the movie is "it's nothing like the commercials
make it seem," commentary that could raise interest in the film among
those who wrote it off based on the reviews.  A serial child abductor
can do that to a movie.

In a disappointing debut, Soul Men earned $5.6 million.  Perhaps those looking for a career retrospective of Bernie Mac chose Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa instead?

Among the bottom five, Saw V and The Haunting of Molly Hartley both tapered off, earning $4.2 and $3.4 million each.  Despite similar performances this week, Saw V's stellar opening week accounts for a total box-office gross quintuple that of Molly Hartley.

At number nine, The Secret Life of Bees continues to buzz along, also dropping only 22% from last weekend.  Finally, Eagle Eye,
at number ten, is now less than $4 million from crossing the $100
million mark.  While it's already in its seventh week of release, a few
more weeks of crossing the $1 million mark would bring it to the
coveted seven-figure box-office total.

This week has one major release, the twenty-second installment of
the James Bond franchise, so most of these titles will stay in the top
ten for another week.

Complete studio estimates here.

Friday Halloween scares off moviegoers

By Sarah Sluis

Halloween decimated the box office this weekend.  Returning films showed huge drops on Friday, and
new releases opened to disappointing numbers that they were unable to recoup on Saturday and Sunday.  #1 release High School Musical 3, for example, dropped 90% on Friday, earning around $1 million, but then dropped only around 40% from last week for both Saturday and Sunday, earning $14 million for those two days to bring its weekend total to $15 million.  With a Halloween-free weekend, the film would have been on track to make over $20 million.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno opened at #2 with a less-than-stellar take of $10.6 million.  As with other teen-oriented flicks that receive advance buzz for their lewdness (i.e. American Pie), web comments suggest that exhibitors took extra steps to prevent underage patrons from viewing the film, including checking IDs at point of entry, that might have affected the film's gross.  Zack and Miri will have competition next week with R-rated, less objectionably titled Role Models, which might cut into the film's ability to rebound next week.

Horror picture The Haunting of Molly Hartley earned $6 million at #5 (coming in below Saw V's $10 million take at #3).  Both films did comparatively well on Halloween, earning more than #1 release HSM3, but even the scare pictures earned less on Halloween than they did on Saturday and Sunday.

Changeling pulled in $9.4 million, earning $5k per theatre; however, in terms of a Clint Eastwood or Angelina Jolie vehicle, the results are underwhelming.  The film still has room to grow, both from
increasing the scale of its release and by rebounding from the Halloween weekend.  THR's Risky Business blog, however, attributes the film's relatively weak opening to the tepid critical response of the film, noting a correlation between the RottenTomatoes scores of Eastwood's films and their box-office revenues.

Other films in the top ten included Beverly Hills Chihuahua (#6, $4.7 million), now only $8 million under Eagle Eye's total of $94 million and inching towards $100 million.  The Secret Life of Bees dropped only 33% to finish at #7 with $4 million.  Action/crime pictures Max Payne (#8, $3.7 million),  Eagle Eye (#9, $3.4 million), and Pride & Glory (#10, $3.2 million) rounded out the bottom five.  Unlike the films in the top five, these films had below-average box-office drops, averaging 30-40% less than the previous week.

This week Madagascar 2 will release, competing for the G-rated audience, along with R-rated Role Models, specialty picture and European sensation The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Soul Men, and Repo: The Genetic Opera.  Check back on Friday for a further rundown of the week's releases.

Full box office results viewable here.

Teens turn out for 'HSM3' and 'Saw V'

By Sarah Sluis

High School Musical 3: Senior Year won over the box office with an impressive $42 million opening, well
above expectations that put the film at $30 million plus.  That number was left to Saw V, which opened at $30.5 million.  Together, these films made almost twice as much as the remainder of the top ten, each of which earned between $2 and $7 million.  Even number three Max Payne didn't break the double digits, with a $7.6 million take that represented a 56% drop from last week.  Surely High School Musical 3 will be able to extend the success of its $40 million opening, at the very least matching the longevity of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, the surprise doggie hit that was number one two weeks in a row.  However, the film will face tougher competition from the Friday Halloween next week, which will have kids trick-or-treating instead of seeing movies.  G-rated Madagascar 2 and Disney's own Bolt (featuring the voice of fellow teen queen, Miley Cyrus) release in coming weeks, luring away younger audiences.

Pride and Glory debuted at an uneventful number five, earning a paltry $6.3 million.  On the specialty side, Changeling's limited release earned an impressive $33,467 per theatre, totaling $.5 million at 15 locations.  Critics have given so-so reviews to Eastwood's film, instead looking to Gran Torino, a film Eastwood directs and stars in, as the probable Oscar contender.  If Changeling excels at the box office when it expands into wide release this weekend, the voice of the ticket-buying audiences might put the film back in the running.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua, displaying remarkable longevity, held the number four spot, earning $6.9 million, bring its total to $78 million.  The Secret Life of Bees, in its limited release, placed at number six with a $5.9 million take.  Right below Bees, W. earned $5.3 million.

Eagle Eye fell a below-average 26%, coming in a million above Body of Lies' $4 million take.  Horror picture Quarantine dropped heavily due to competitor Saw V, and earned $2.5 million, barely squeaking above Fireproof (#11), the "Middle America" Christian-themed picture that has made most of its $23.6 million take outside of the top ten by posting minimal drops--only 17% this week--and successfully mobilizing churches to organize group viewings.

Full box office results available here.