redblog

… you are clearly new to redblog! Welcome, newest bestest Interweb friend!

But yes, pun and wordplay phobias aside, the Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy did come in on top of the weekend's box office, with more than $34 million.

Audiences had been served spaceships, robots, dinosaurs, murder, mayhem, crime, debauchery, a gypsy curse, and a whole bunch of helium balloons, but so far this summer they had not been given a decent rom-com. (Sorry, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, it's best if we just let it go… it's not us, it's you.) Clearly, they were hungry for pretty people making snappy banter.

Meanwhile, The Hangover remains the summer's biggest success story so far–sure, Star Trek, Up, Transformers 2, and Harry Potter will earn more cash, but the Vegas morning-after pill earned another $27 million this week for second place, boosting its total to $153 million so far–and it's not really slowing down. All that for a film that cost $35 million. Here's hoping at the end of its run, Warner Brothers sends all the filmmakers, actors, and studio suits involved to Vegas for a weekend on the company card. And gives them plenty of digital cameras. Boom, Hangover 2 is in the can.

Up hung in there at third place, meaning the weekend's other new wide release, Year One, came in fourth with $20 million. Normally $20 million would be nothing to be ashamed of, but Year One was pushed hard all year long and featured big comedy names and a well-respected director. What it couldn't escape was that Land of the Lost-like unavoidable whiff of a desperate lack of funny.

Overall, there's a slight lull at the summer cineplexes at the
moment–May was full of big built-in-audience wowers like Wolverine,
Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Terminator Salvation, Night at the
Museum 2, and Up. Studios tend to jump those big tent poles out there
early and grab all the "oh, it's summer, wheee!" glory.

But come
June, the studios often back off a bit and let their big guns keep firing
away for a few weeks. (Right now Star Trek and Up are neck and neck for
biggest film of the year–Up will no doubt pass Trek next weekend, but
then both will likely get stomped down by them big stompy robots.)
Meanwhile, studios open up some of their smaller films (and the big-name
ones they know are likely to bomb…. Helloooo, Land of the Lost and Year
One.) This process isn't all bad–it allows solidly entertaining movies
like The Hangover to build great word of mouth.

And it lets a
fairly run-of-the-mill rom-com like The Proposal to take the top spot
for a week. Of course, all that changes next week when the Second Half
of the Movie Summer kicks off and we'll once again get three or four
weeks of Super Blockbusters, starting with Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen next weekend and winding up with Harry Potter in mid-July.

The rest of the top ten this weekend was filled out by The Taking of Pelham 123, Night at the Museum, Star Trek, Land of the Lost, Imagine That, and Terminator Salvation. Woody Allen's latest, Whatever Works, opened on nine screens and brought in a hefty $31,000 per screen.

Grab a breath while you can… the big stompy robots will be here in less than 48 hours.

Related Posts

Half-Blood is All Good at the Box Office

Down Goes Ferrell! Down Goes Ferrell!

Demonic Curse No Match for Grumpy Old Man