Hey, guess what the headline was for a good third of the box-office reports. Yep, it was some variation of "Film goers say 'Yes' to Jim Carrey Comedy." Headline writers, I know it's the holidays. You're counting the minutes--we all are, but come on. Try.
Thing is, Yes Man didn't exactly clean up at the box office--$18 million is hardly a ringing endorsement. Will Smith's disconcerting downer pic Seven Pounds (which got pounded by the critics--See? I can write lazy puns, too!) came in second with $16 million. Both those tallies are pretty anemic for guys who, five years ago, were kings of the cineplex. Of course, storms and cold weather throughout the Midwest and Northeast are being blamed for slow weekend ticket sales, but honestly, who wasn't looking at the trailers and promo pushes for these two films and thinking, "eh, I'd rather stay home and watch my digits freeze and snap off like brittle kindling"?
The Tale of Despereaux came in third at $10 million, but animated films--especially this time of year, and especially when as nicely reviewed as Despereaux has been--tend to have longer and stronger box-office legs. (Bolt is still hanging in there at number seven.) I'm not going to bet a frostbit toe on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Despereaux ends up out-earning Seven Pounds and perhaps even Yes Man in the long run.
The Day the Earth Stood Still plummeted to fourth in its second week, losing nearly 67% of its audience, while Four Christmases hung in at fifth and passed the $100 million mark. Twilight slipped out of the top five for the first time, while Bolt, Australia, and Quantum of Solace all chugged along in the top ten. However, the list is due for a big shake up this week as Bedtime Stories, Marley & Me, The Spirit, Valkyrie, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button all open wide on Christmas Day.
Meanwhile in Indie-ish-Land, The Wrestler opened strong on just four screens, while Oscar-hopefuls Milk, Doubt, Gran Torino , and Frost/Nixon stayed in the top 20 on limited release. All of these films are simply treading water until January when Oscar nominations should boost many of them into wider release and bigger hauls.
But the biggest box-office story continues to be Slumdog Millionaire, which expanded into slightly wider release this weekend and landed at number eight as a result. There's nothing Industry mavens love more than an easily identified trend and so Slumdog has now been officially labeled this year's Little Miss Juno Sunshine--a small-budget indie with a large heart that doesn't shy away from harsh realities and grim humor, but sends everyone (including studio execs and Academy voters) home with a big 'ol smile.
the thing about Slumdog is if you saw it in the first week or two, you felt like you HAD to tell people... I guess for fear if you didn't tell enough people it was awesome, it would disappear un-noticed under the torrent of crapola currently raining down on the silver screen.
so, say "YES" to India and "No" to anything where Jim Carrey gets laughs by contorting his elastic face for a cheap gag. Come on Jim I thought you redeemed yourself in Eternal Sunshine for a quick minute, but now this?? What's next, the vanilla ice gag from In Living Color?
You can just hear his agent whispering him bad advice... he's not meta enough to pull it off, either.
Posted by: MacQ | December 22, 2008 at 06:38 PM