July 11th-13th: ‘Hellboy II’ $35.8M, ‘Journey’ $20.5M, ‘Meet Dave’ $5.3M

COMMENTS (18)

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  Of course what those numbers mean in reality are:
  Hellboy II: $34.7
  Journey: $19.5
  Meet Dave: $4.9

  This rounding up of boxoffice grosses for the sake of the Sunday and Monday morning news reports is so laughable I don’t know why you bother posting it, considering how anti-studio you seem to be.

  Comment by Skeptic Sam — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 10:24am PDT  Reply to this post

• who advises Murphy on his movie selection? Guy has so much talent and he wastes it time and time again on schlock like this.

  Comment by MK — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 11:14am PDT  Reply to this post

• he has kids. Maybe he wants to do stuff for them. Sadly, America only sees him as a macho superstar.

  You have to admit Murphy has taken many chances. Many times he fails, occasionally he scores – Dreamgirls and Bofinger.

  At least he never settles for boring anymore.

  Comment by anotherWGAwriter — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 11:38am PDT  Reply to this post

• oh, and of course Shreck.

  All will forever be forgiven for Donkeee alone in my book.

  Comment by anotherWGAwriter — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 11:39am PDT  Reply to this post

• skeptic sam,

  nikki is not anti-studio, she is pro-truth,

  duh.

  Comment by trolls, trolls — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 12:54pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Bowfinger was great, as were many other Murphy movies.

  His problem is he keeps trying to do comedy sci-fi – which rarely works. GalaxyQuest being one of the few that pulls it off.

  Comedy sci-fi has potential for massive flops because it requires a big enough budget to pull off the sci-fi part. And that’s how we get disasters like Pluto Nash and Meet Dave.

  Still, Murphy’s great, I’m sure he has some more great roles in the future.

  Comment by jim — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 2:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

• This can’t be right. I’ve seen waaay to many posts on this site about how FOX has the greatest marketing team in town and how they can open anything with their Godlike powers. Run the numbers again and you will see MEET DAVE made 75 million.

  Comment by WBMan — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 3:43pm PDT  Reply to this post

• More importantly, why can’t the lovely and charming Elizabeth Banks find her lovely and charming self in a movie that doesn’t stink? Honestly studios, this woman should be a star in her own right by now.

  Comment by Some Guy — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 4:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Only way Murphy will redeem himself is if he nails BH Cop 4 **and** Ratner makes it an ‘R’.

  Comment by Michael Dobrofsky — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 5:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

• C’mon, people! Eddie Murphy hasn’t been relevant in years. Ask any 20 year-old moviegoer who Eddie Murphy is and all they can come up with is…um, er…they can’t! Ask anyone over 35 and all they can say is Trading Places or 48 Hours and those movies are a hundred million years old. The only reason Eddie Murphy works is…actually…I don’t know why he still works. Except that maybe studio execs still think of him as a name. Also, he stays the hell away from the public which is always a good thing to do. I myself haven’t seen anything he’s done and it would take someone putting a gun to my head to do so.

  Comment by The Right Coast — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 5:44pm PDT  Reply to this post

• He lost it after Norbit. SO out of touch with where the world is. He can be funny and plays drama well, his turn in Dreamgirls amazing but then there is Norbit or was that his evil twin, the same one with the tranny issue?

  Comment by Karenkid — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 9:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

• As a leading man, Eddie Murphy still commands $20 million a picture, correct?

  Comment by greg6363 — Sunday July 13, 2008 @ 9:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I saw Meet Dave. There were problems. I think it was marketed as something it wasn’t. It’s more of a movie for young kids, than the type of Eddie Murphy movie most of his fans are used to. Starship Dave WAS a better title.

  Eddie Murphy is one of the most successful comics in the history of the film business. It might be wiser for some of you to see more of his work before you criticize it. If you go to BOX OFFICE MOJO, you will also see that he is listed as the all time Box Office champ. Number 1. Followed by Harison Ford, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams and Tom Cruise.

  According to MOJO, his movies have topped over $3,450,000,000. That’s over three point 4 BILLION Dollars. You don’t get that kind of return without an audience. Even though like most creative people he has had some misses, I would bet on him almost every time.

  Even Tiger Woods doesn’t win EVERY tournament.

  Comment by Raymond Forchion — Monday July 14, 2008 @ 1:16am PDT  Reply to this post

• Murphy can redeem himself with Cop 4. But again, he needs to reclaim his edge. He should probably try stand up again.

  Also, Hellboy only needs 50 million more to make it’s budget back. I am still amazed at how Del Toro turned in such a visually stunning movie on a 85 million dollar budget. Good for the team over at Uni. They have a good streak going this Summer.

  Comment by B- — Monday July 14, 2008 @ 5:53am PDT  Reply to this post

• Yeah, it’s hard to turn down $20 million, which is why Eddie Murphy’s career has had its ups and downs. When you get to that point, you’re dealing with producers who can raise big bucks rather than have good scripts. You take it for the pay-day, and the fact that after taxes and you pay your krewe, you wind up with less than half.

  Murphy’s really talented, and I think he probably improves any project he’s in. And he’s an international star, so just by casting him, you’re able to market the film internationally, where 60% of the money is now. Meet Dave will probably make back its money.

  When you see him in Bowfinger and Dreamgirls, he proves he can act, and he should have won Best Supporting Oscar for Dreamgirls.

  But unless he wants to star in some indie films to prove his credibility, you’re going to continue to see flops like Meet Dave every other outing from him.

  Comment by Dan Zee — Monday July 14, 2008 @ 7:26am PDT  Reply to this post

• Yeah but Eddie’s a man and so he’ll be able to do 100 more of these piece of shit “comedies” whereas any comedy actress would be a has-been long ago if she’d done as many turds (and even if she didn’t act like a complete asshole like Eddie).

  Comment by Crystal Diane Stevens — Monday July 14, 2008 @ 10:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• Beyond the Meet Dave question: Who’s bright idea was it at Sony to let the Hellboy franchise go? They must have assumed the poor performance of the first film was the fault of the material rather than their crappy marketing department.

  Comment by Paul — Monday July 14, 2008 @ 8:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I saw Hellboy 2 again the other night – first chance I’ve had to give it a PROPER watch. Thought it was ace to be honest, yeah a bit over tilted with C.G.I. But good strong characters, colours, martial arts and some very deep (del toro again) subjects. Thought it was quite subversive (for a commercial film.) But money wise? who cares?
  people make the world go round not money. Is my humble viewpoint. But hey I won’t open that can ‘o’ worms coz it’s a bit touchy at ‘tha mo.

  Comment by The-Egg-Man — Sunday December 21, 2008 @ 4:18pm PST  Reply to this post