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SUNDAY AM: The weather outside is frightful – snowstorms, followed by more cold and snow, in the Midwest and East – on this weekend before Christmas. So very early numbers for the three big movies opening in wide release in some major markets Friday and Saturday looked severely lower from Hollywood predictions. To give you an idea, here are top DMA percentage changes from last Friday: New York -45%/wk, Philadelphia -18%/wk, Toronto -45%/wk, Detroit -32%/wk, Boston -81%/wk. Box office analysts are calling the weekend an absolute disaster weather-wise that’s down over 41% compared to last year.
Everyone expected yucks to trump tears at the North American box office where comedy has been mostly king since Thanksgiving. So no surprise that Warner Bros’ Jim Carrey derivative laugher Yes Man (which is a deadringer for the funnyman’s 1997 Liar Liar) opened with $6.5M Friday and $6.6M Saturday in 3,434 theaters for what was a low $18.1M weekend since the weather did not improve (includes Sunday estimates). Can’t Carrey find new material? Meanwhile, it’ll be interesting to see if Carrey can lay claim to any real coin on this pic’s performance. (Read all about it in my The Worst Talent Deal Ever?) Another risky move was Will Smith choosing this melodrama Seven Pounds for Sony with its downer story that reunites the star with his Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino. But the experiment produced Will’s worst opening since 2001′s Ali. Audiences for Seven Pounds this weekend were 55% female and 64% were aged 25 or older. It debuted to $5.3M Friday and $5.6M Saturday in 2,758 venues for a $16M weekend. But the 2 top films will have to work fast to earn dough before the Christmas onslaught of movies open on on Thursday. Not so No. 3 because Universal’s mouse toon The Tale Of Despereaux which should stay busy throughout the holidays playing to extremely young children. (It did little business after 7 PM…) 
It opened to $3.5M Friday and $3.7M Saturday in 3,104 runs for a $10.5M weekend helped by big presales. Unlike most CG animated films of this scale, the pic’s costs were kept low — $60M — and the studio should see a return on its limited investment because of ancillary markets. Twentieth Century Fox’s The Day the Earth Stood Still was down a big 76% from its No. 1 finish last Friday for 4th place. It earned $2.8M Friday and $4 Saturday for a $10.1M weekend and new cume of $48.6M. Warner Bros’ other comedy Four Christmases came in No. 5 with $2.2M Friday and $3.1M Saturday for an $7.7M weekend and fresh cume of $100.1M.
The No. 6 film was Summit Entertainment’s Twilight in its 5th week of release. Playing in 2,991 theaters, it took in $5.2M this weekend for a new cume of $158.4M. Disney’s Bolt was #7 and also in its 5th week of release. Running in 2,968 venues, it earned $4.2M for a new cume of $95M. Rising to No. 8 in an expanded play of 589 locations, Fox Searchlight’s Slumdog Millionaire finished the weekend with $3.1M and a new cume of $12.1M. “This will be the best playing of all the limited releases through the end of the year,” one rival studio predicted. In 9th place, 20th Century Fox’s Australia in its 4th week in release came up with $2.3M from 2,212 runs for a new cume of $41.9M. And rounding out the No. 10, MGM/Sony’s latest Bond pic Quantum of Solace in its 6th week in release earned $2.1M from 1,874 plays for a new cume of $161.2M.
Now for the Oscar-buzzed pics in limited release besides Slumdog Millionaire… Fox Searchlight’s The Wrestler scored the best performance, with the Mickey Rourke starrer logging the best per screen average of $52,369 playing on 4 screens to score $57K Friday and $79.9K for a $209.4K weekend and $294.9M cume. 
Focus Features’ Milk with Sean Penn expanded to 356 screens for $1.6M which is disappointing (considering it’s on 240 less screens than Slumdog but had same screen average. The pic is only playing well in big cities. Miramax’ Doubt on 39 screens took in $725K and $18,590 per screen average for an excellent start. Warner Bros’ Clint Eastwood auteur Gran Torino on 19 screens earned $482K for a $25,397 screen average that’s a good start. But Imagine/Universal’s Ron Howard directed Frost/Nixon on 39 screens underperformed for $365K . It did half the business of Doubt on the same number of screens. Finally, The Weinstein Co’s The Reader on 8 screens earned just $97K with a terrible $12,128 per screen average that’s lower than Doubt‘s.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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No doubt, the best two recent releases are “Grand Torino” with Eastwood and “The Wrestler” with Mickey Rorke.
Why? Because they show true human emotions and hope for better days.
These other pitiful flics like Milk, Day the Earth Stood Still, are hollywood at it’s worse.
how did bolt do finally?
also, the rednecks on this page is getting really irritating. i am from the midwest and your shit attitude was a prime motivator for imminent exit. so lighten up and stick to movie love and have a relaxed and non-fake holiday season
Nikki, for God’s sake it’s Christmas time. Is money ALL you can think to write about at this point?
How much this movie made verses how much that made. You NEVER once write about whether they’re actually good films.
Life is short.
Stop reporting on money. It’s oh so boring.
Actually Yes Men was pretty good. Had a very good message about attacking life and gave Jim a chance to be jim. Zooey may have been a bit young for him, but it worked. Did the haters here SEE the movie? Not every movie at the Holiday season has to be like Milk or Doubt, or killing Hitler, or about a beat up wrestler (all movies I will see). Some people just want a few laughs and forget about how shitty the world is right now. And Jim brings it.
I stand by this: Hollywood is hellbent on inserting preachy liberal themes in movies. It gets tiresome after the 50th film with the same theme. You aren’t deep or serious. You’re just repeating the beliefs of your cohorts.
Then liberal friends in Hollywood can tell fellow liberals how “brave” they are. No, brave would be coming out as a conservative and making a movie that is skeptical of global warming. That would be brave.
Brave would be making a movie showing how Communists killed thousands upon thousands of people because we lost in Vietnam.
Hollywood has forgotten how to make movies people want to see… Television has forgotten how to do programming people want to see as well. I am sick of being preached to about everything from global warming to accepting gays; if I am going to spend over $20 to go to a movie I want to escape and be entertained, not preached to… I enjoyed Australia, will not spend one dime to see MILK, I love Will Smith, wish he’d get back to what he is best at — I look forward to Valkyrie and will go see the new Eastwood flick, he still remembers why we go to movies.
Geoff says:
“Brave would be making a movie showing how Communists killed thousands upon thousands of people because we lost in Vietnam.”
Yes, because THAT would be a huge Christmas draw. Oh wait, the “Communists” in Viet Nam are now members of the WTO–perhaps that can be the sequel.
Geoff, you are spot on about liberal b.s. inserted into Hwood movies. It does sap the life out of them and one needs to be that much pickier about one’s choices.
Having said that, I enjoyed “…Earth Stood Still”. It wasn’t “bad”. It just wasn’t a great film. On the other hand, I’m a scifi addict and always bring very low expectations to a scifi new release.
I hear Jim Carrey is reprising that old “rubber face” expression thingie. Hey, that’s gotta be a little bit special, Dontcha think? I’m smelling Oscar here (without having even seeing the film, or even caring)!
Day the Earth Stood Still was booooorriiiinnnnggg….I wanted to see Gort kick some earthly ass. Instead I got a lot of Jennifer Connelly tearing up. For that I could have re-rented Beautiful Mind.
Mickey Rourke is an actor of immense talent. It has seen him shine brighter than most in his craft. It has driven him to the limits and back again. But then again, he has always been one to make the most of all that comes, the least of all that goes.
Yes, we’re “hell bent on inserting preachy liberal themes into movies.” Bolt was clearly a leftist manifesto. As was The Game Plan. And Marley And Me. And don’t get me started on the High School Musical crowd.
Hollywood INVENTED the happy ending. If we’re guilty of anything it’s taking the easy, crowd-pleasing, apolitical route too often. The bad guys always lose, the girl always winds up with the less attractive but more charming guy, and the workaholic always realizes family is more important than money. These endings and messages are immutable to the point of cliché.
My god, you people must have just shit yourself during the 70′s when film makers were ACTUALLY critical of life in the U.S.
Man…The Day the earth stood still really sucked…. If i Wanted Global warming propaganda stinky crap I would log onto Al Gore’s website… They really ruined a great old movie…and yes it is tanking because of word of mouth….IT SUCKS
People will go see good movies in any weather. Especially at Christmas. Unfortunately Hollywood keeps trotting out the same tired stars and running 2-minute-thirty trailers that reveal every conceivable plot thread and impactful line of dialogue contained in the film. Why bother seeing the film when you’ve already seen it in the previews? It’s all “money shot” and no tease. How about making 5 smaller films with brilliant actors instead of one giant expensive remake turkey?
I see a lot of movies…and, excluding the family fare (which is pretty decent if you have kids, FWIW), the best of the crop out there right now, by far, is Slumdog Millionaire. It think it’s going to get mainstream legs over the next few weeks like Juno or Sideways if Fox SL can get it out of the art houses and into the suburbs. (I see it arrived at my local AMC megaplex this weekend as an “AMC Select” offering. )
Cadillac Records is a damn nice film too. Some folks might think it’s a movie just for black audiences based on the cast – but let me tell you, it’s not. If you’re yawning at the usual mediocre Hollywood crap, give CR a shot before it goes away.
Geoff: So, you want to insert preachy conservative themes in movies, huh? You’re not opposed to preachy themes, you just want preachy themes you agree with. You must not understand much about being an American, huh?
Also, to say MILK has “gone sour” is actually pretty ridiculously dumb. Some people just can’t see past their own ill-informed half-baked personal agendas … *sigh*
@ Geoff…
The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia is remembered mainly for the many deaths of an estimated 1.5 million people or 1/5 of the country’s total population (estimates range from 850,000 to two million) under its regime. That’s just in one country, mind you.
The Day The Earth Stood Still is bad for many reasons and none of them have to do with the talented acting performance by the black child. He delivers one outstanding scene after another as a kid dealing with the loss of his father and a new step mom. However, if one chooses to go through life with blinders on, you’ll totally miss that point. It’s a shame there are still people in this great world who will one day die never having never lived at peace with anyone including themselves. That type of mental instability leads to many kinds of behavioral illness including the inability to behave rationally in public. One shining example is the lack of self restraint in leaving bigoted remarks on the internet and not realizing the long term repercussions. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad a ending for them. Living your life hating/judging people for the color of their skin is tantamount to drinking poison everyday and hoping they will die from it. You’re only making yourself sick and it’s that type of asinine reasoning that results in a steady stream of confusion in your life. We know the movie has some right messages when one have to go into evilness to try to belittle it. Stop the insanity in movie critiques and dislike a movie for valid reasons; stiff acting, poor special effects, weakly developed plot details, etc. Any reason for hating a movie outside of the continuity of the picture, is being fueled by ignorant arrogance and that only makes that individual’s life more miserable.
Seven pounds was a great movie, sad and depressing, but great. Will Smith’s and Rosario Dawson’s performance were great, i recommend it.
Wait a minute — If YES MAN is a rip-off of LIAR LIAR – then Hollywood adapted a novel by Danny Wallace that ripped off a movie? Do their lit hounds not go to the movies? Am I the only one who finds that hilarious?
On the topic of lit adaptations and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE — it’s amazing how Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy get all the credit in the Slumdog ads…. Vikas Swarup, author of the source material, should enjoy the increase in sales of his novel.
With all those lit adaptations, re-imaginings and outright remakes (like suckfest QUARANTINE) — one is tempted to look and see if they really do so much better than films based on risky, risky, oh so risky “original screenplays” by – gasp – those “unknowns” like… dunno, Nick Schenk (GRAN TORINO), Robert D. Siegel (THE WRESTLER)…
SEVEN POUNDS needs a scene where the seven families dance on Tim Thomas’ grave. They way too often do demand their pound of flesh. POUNDS revisits the theme from RESERVATION ROAD.
Curious, though, how bad so many of the reviews are. A. O. Scott gave it 0/100 – I had to wonder who or what he’s really trashing, as his h8-piece is so way out there. Compare that to 70/100 a gushing Dargis gave the laughable Vicky Cristina Barcelona (and her equally laughable reasoning) and you once again appreciate the world of reviews not listed under “cream of the crop” on your fave site, RT.
Re Liberal Preaching in films from Hollywood.
Liberalism is the Establishment. It has been since 1968. Liberals produce year after year after year, the same message-preaching movies, and control Hollywood, the University system, the media, both houses of Congress, and soon the Presidency.
Liberalism is the establishment and people are tired of it. It’s playing it safe, not taking a risk, and being … PREDICTABLE. Which is killing many of the films Hollywood makes. Along with TV.
TDTESS was a bad, boring, predictable remake because of the predictable preachiness of the Liberal Establishment message. The same preachiness that infected Wall-E without the wonderful animation and characterization by Pixar’s craftsmen.
No one cares about the polar bears or global warming in a blizzard, still less in a blizzard with a depression that will last for years. If Hollywood insists on preachy establishment movies preaching Global Warming and such stuff, it will lose EVERY time, Without Wall Street money to bail them out.
Hollywood USED to get this season right: feel good Christmas themed films, not warmed over anti-Christmas junk like Four Christmases, and action-adventure films, often Christmas themed, like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. Stuff for families and for guy action film fans.
Who is really stiffed here? The Action Film fan who no longer gets movies released during the Christmas season that offer excitement and thrills. Even with the terrible weather had someone released an Action film done half-way competently, it would have killed.
But Hollywood can’t even make those anymore. It’s too Establishment.
Slumdog was probably the single most predictable movie i have ever seen. everyone loves an underdog but the average sitcom has more twists. why would this film win awards??
I am hoping for a good thought free laugh with Yes man. I was very excited to hear about a remake of earth stood still but I just cant pay to be preached at for 2 hours especially at a time when more scientists and climate experts are starting to rethink the whole man made global warming thing.
I want entertainment or thought provacation but not preaching and the same tired messages. I’ll be back when the politics leave. (and from what I saw of Obama’s grade transcripts- he did not out perform Bush, so what joys are we instore for?)
Snake, totally agree, saw CADILLAC RECORDS last night and really enjoyed it. Great story, cast and Beyonce has never been better (or sexier).
Also saw DOUBT, well-worth seeing especially for the great performance of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the did-he-or-didn;t-he priest.
Geoff, this Christmas, why don’t you just stay home and watch a bootleg of AN AMERICAN CAROL over and over again. A nice change from your fantasizing anout being Rush Limbaugh.
And Nikki, if DEVEREAUX cost $60 million (not including marketing costs of at least $25 m) and only does $10 million its opening weekend, how do you figure Universal is happy about this?
Left-wingers run Hollywood: the evidence is everywhere, and as a result you will have movies containing leftist propaganda of some type much too often.
The problem is: how does the story contain the agit-prop?
Wall-E is a good example: it obviously is a “Save-the Earth” movie, but more from the standpoint of a crypto-religious attitude against materialism. I am sure Pope Benedict would agree with its message. Yet in spite of that, the message is more than counterbalanced by the “character” of the robot and the general overarching story, which predominate as they should, rather than the message.
With The Day The Earth Stood Still 2008 you have the message delivered to you with sledge hammers to the brain: the original had a message as well, but the story was more important.
Rent/Buy the original! You will at least have Bernard Herrmann’s excellent music to enjoy!