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SUNDAY AM: For the second straight weekend, No. 1 went to moronic comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop with an amazing hold of 32%, closely followed by a newcomer, the derivative vampire threequel Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans. Sony Pictures grabbed bragging rights with both pictures which were neck and neck all weekend. Screen Gems' Underworld playing in 2,942 theaters opened with a $20.7M weekend right in line with expectations and its modest $35M negative cost but still short of the second installment Underworld: Evolution's debut of $26.8M in January 2006 and the original Underworld's $21.7M in January 2004. But Columbia's Mall Cop made $21.5 million from 3,144 venues and hefty new cume of $64.8M after only 10 days of release. The Kevin James starrer cost only $26M to produce. Again, if Americans want Hollywood to make better quality movies, then they should stop showing up for crappy ones.
Warner Bros' Gran Torino stayed strong with 3rd place after earning $16M from 3,045 dates for an amazing $97.5M cume. So the fact that Oscar voters blanked Clint Eastwood for nominations hasn't hurt the performance of his pic one bit. Hotel For Dogs from DreamWorks / Paramount jumped up to 4th with $12.3M in 3,271 venues (only -27%) because of big Saturday kiddie matinees with a new $36.9M cume. No. 5 Slumdog Millionaire, the Academy Award frontrunner from Fox Searchlight expanding into 1,411 runs and taking in $10.5M for a new cume of $55.9M. As for the non-Oscar buzzed pics, Lionsgate's 6th place My Bloody Valentine 3-D eked out another $10.5M from 2,534 theaters (-53% from a week ago) for a new cume of $37.7M. The only other newcomer, New Line/Warner Bros' kids/family fantasy Inkheart, opened disastrously at No. 7 with just $7.7M Friday from 2,655 dates. 20th Century Fox's Bride Wars hung on for #8 with $7M from 2,621 runs and $48.7M cume. After snagging 13 Oscar nominations, Paramount's The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button got only a modest bump with a $6M weekend but a big new cume of $111M. Finally, Fox Searchlight's Notorious finished #9 with $5.7 million (a staggering -72%) from 1,641 plays and $31.7M cume.
Best Picture-nodded films went into wider release this weekend: Paramount Vantage's Revolutionary Road made in 1,058 theaters made $5.2M for a new $11.8 cume. Fox Searchlight's The Wrestler expanded into 566 venues and earned $3.7M this weekend and new cume of $9.5M. While Imagine / Universal's Frost/Nixon expanded into 1,099 plays for $3 million this weekend and a cume of $12M. The Weinstein Co's The Reader in 367 dates took in $1.4M this weekend for a new cume of $9.6M. Focus Features' Milk still in only 250 theaters snagged $864K this weekend for a new cume of $21.6M. And Focus' Doubt, in 404 venues, earned $852K for a $26.7M cume.
Overall, this was a big $160M weekend, up 13.7% over last year's.
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re “Again, if Americans wants Hollywood to make better quality movies, then they should stop showing up for crappy ones.”
1) Is there evidence of your thesis? Are Americans, to your knowledge, crying out for “better quality movies”? Exit polling indicates otherwise.
2) Personally, I would think that someone of your vast experience would see this for what it is: a minor for-the-whole-family comedy that apparently works at the box office. I haven’t seen the film, but you editorialize vehemently against genre movies in your weekly Friday business report… And I don’t see that as useful. Horror movies, comedies, romantic comedies, tearjerkers – the list of normal genre pics that audiences enjoy from time-to-time is pretty long. That won’t change. So shake your fist at the business all you want, I suppose. I’m not thrilled to see junky product do business either, but it doesn’t surprise me. Nor does it particularly anger me.
The real story here is that Jeff Blake’s genius continues to rule the early months of the year. Sony cleans up every winter.
Revolutionary Road made me want to jump off a bridge. There was awkward silence between my wife and I as we drove home contemplating the core theme about the hopelessness of connubial suburban existence. This is the biggest anti-date movie I’ve ever seen. Michael Shannon deserved his Oscar Nomination since he made the biggest impression out of the entire cast in the scant screen time allotted. Leo and Kate were also great but their self-absorbed characters were very hard to sympathize with or care about. I’m waffling about whether or not it’s a good film because, even though I didn’t necessarily enjoy it, I’m still thinking about it.
Here’s the analogy.
Revolutionary Road is the answer to the question “What would have happened, if the Titanic hadn’t sunk?” …
… as Mall Cop is the answer to the question “What would have happened if Napoleon Dynamite got a job when he grew up?”
I don’t think it’s the “GENRE” Nikki is criticizing.
I think it was the production value and originality in the scripting of Mall Cop that was so below par (as compared to other films of this same genre.) But slap me if I’m wrong Nikki – you’re the babe! Getting slapped by you is an accolade.
In Nikki’s defense I must say that as far as this genre goes, Mall Cop was a VERY mediocre – a less than average attempt at the genre.
Basically baby formula work, as compared to the classic Napoleon Dynamite. But at least it was “entertaining enough” to be profitable, on a common denominator level of the mass audience.
Probably a lower common denominator that doesn’t “get” stuff like Revolutionary Road (which was by the way was ALSO a VERY mediocre attempt at another great American classic, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe”).
The Americans got too affluent and ran out of organic new art, music, fashion, film, style and substance, decades ago. (The best we can hope for it the foreign markets for new material like “Slumdog Millionaire”.)
“Mall Cop” truly is the end of the “art” world as we know it.
Michael
Yeah Nikki, chill with the rant. It’s a waste of time. The real story is that the Wrestler is picking up traction in only 566 theaters. One hell of a movie. If you haven’t seen it…GO NOW!
Regarding InkHeart, notice how the poster and font on the titles resemble The Golden Compass and Narnia. The fantasy genre has taken up the generic crown right now. It needs to go away for awhile or steer towards a more adult demographic. Everyone so far that I’ve taken a gander at since the LOTR trilogy now has this vanilla, digital grading look. Enough! Bring back a hard R gritty Conan or something.
Hey Nikke, have you seen the movie Mall Cop? Or are you one of those ” I don’t have to see it to know it stinks” types? If the movie was that awful bad word of mouth would have made it drop like a rock. Apparently a LOT of people have a different sense of humor than you. That doesn’t mean they are stupid or moronic it just means that they find humor in something that you don’t. All I hear is that parents are happy to have a movie without sex and drugs and cursing that they can take their kids to and get a laugh themselves as well. But hey it’s your site so you can be as snobby and wrong as you like. After all it’s only an opinion.
I wonder how many under 17 bought tickets to Paul Blart to actually see Notorious…
I finally got to see “Slumdog Millionaire” and now know why it is an OSCAR favorite. While some scenes in the film are hard to watch and or experience, especially those dealing with the kids, overall, this is an amazing film. The performances of the entire cast and especially the kids, the visuals, the music are all outstanding. You get no quarrel from me if this ends up BEST PIC of the Year.
Critics hate slapstick comedy, audiences not so much. Even a classic like Bringing Up Baby would be destroyed by critics bemoaning the decline of civilization were it to be released today.
Nikki, your elitist snout is showing again. Did it ever occur to you that not everyone thinks watching a movie that makes you want to slit your wrists is a good time.
For every brainless by amusing Mall Cop, there are five Susan Sarandon wristslitters.
The fact that Mall Cop has made so much money while movies like Frost/Nixon have been ignored speaks volumes. Nobody’s interested in Frost/Nixon but still Hollywood continues to churn them out. A real businessman sees what the audience wants and pumps that out. They don’t hold their elitist snout in the air, pump out pretentious drivel and then call those who don’t rush to see their wristslitting drama “fools”.
The only fool is the latter IMO.
Is Mall Cop an objectively crappy movie? The lower than expected dropoff likely means good word of mouth. People like what they like, and clearly no amount of critical acclaim is helping the oscar contenders. It also didn’t hurt Gran Torino, another pic with good word of mouth.
Look at Revolutionary Road and Frost/Nixon, neither of which is likely to crack $30M in total domestic gross. People don’t want to be hit over the head with politics or told that life in the suburbs is worthless.
I thought show business was a business, but increasingly the studios are pumping out low-grossing movies with no audience in mind other than each other and Academy voters.
anyone know how The Dark Knight is doing on round #2 yet?
Paul
I bet by Monday, you’ll find yourself thinking more about “RR”, and might even venture out for a 2nd viewing before the week is out.
Like Yates’ novel I feel its intent is not to make us feel good or to entertain, but rather to make us think about our own personal relationships and choices.
Some of the best movies I’ve seen are foreign. Like American cars, they suck and foreign cars are better.
These hollywood art films suck, we are suppose to watch them because hollywood says so.
Folks at Sony must be relieved to forget about their Christmas turkey ,seven pounds, and move on quickly. Big sighs of relief!
The good news is: “a big $130M weekend close to last year’s” despite the recession. Let’s appreciate that for a sec.
Another way to interpret MALL COP’s success: KEVIN JAMES is a bankable actor whose millions of fans show up to see him even if they know going in it’s not going to be a great film. And by the way, what Nikki calls “moronic” I would call “an early draft”. There’s a nice story buried in there, but it’s not quite there. Moronic we’ve seen too many times and Mall Cop doesn’t quite qualify. BRIDE WARS comes much closer, THE SHAGGY DOG and CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS comes to mind. (The latter still boggles the mind as the book by Grisham already sucked so bad, there’s no explanation as to why on earth it was adapted in the first place.)
Talking about moronic…. To release INKHEART at the heels of BEDTIME STORIES, now there’s a moronic move for you. Let’s go see the movie where chars from bedtime stories come to life. We just saw that, stupid, and it was rather boooooring, so no need to repeat that experience, Fraser or not.
Michael wrote: “The Americans got too affluent and ran out of organic new art, music, fashion, film, style and substance, decades ago. (The best we can hope for it the foreign markets for new material like “Slumdog Millionaire”.)”
Did you mean to add a “?”, pointing out how ridiculous that is? Did I completely miss the sarcasm? If not..
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, *new* material? … discredits the statement right away. Now had you pointed to the Dardenne brothers, to Laurent Cantet, to Asia, earlier works of Wong Kar Wai, had you said “LET THE RIGHT ONE IN” (Sweden) or “AICHA (FIGHTER)” (Denmark) —- I’d still not get it, but at least you’d not look like a lemming. Nevertheless, the phenomenon isn’t an American one, it seems rather universal. Average Joe goes to the multiplex and guess what they’re screening… It ain’t gonna be WENDY & LUCY, that’s for sure.
It’s not that there isn’t any interesting art, it’s just that the art isn’t “high concept” enough in a way that telegraphs a cool tag line to the marketing department where the less creative reside. That department, so one would guess, considers their fave demo to be of a certain age, gender, and totally narrow re: what interests them.
If we insist on lamenting, let’s bemoan the fact that small, interesting indies w/o STARS don’t get much of a release, let alone marketing. Or let’s bitch about lame/unimaginative/same-old and/or condescending indiewood productions with STARS being screened at film festivals and wasting space – but hell, they draw interest and will get a theatrical release and mindboggling Independent Spirit noms. So who’s to bitch.
“Did it ever occur to you that not everyone thinks watching a movie that makes you want to slit your wrists is a good time.”
——————————–
Seriously! I read the spoiler for Revolutionary Road, and based on that alone I’d rather watch ‘The Three Stooges’ for two hours. Or infomercials. Hell, it would be a hard call to make between Revolutionary Road and a root canal.
…maybe if “Inkheart” had been in 3-D, and WB had stuck with their original (for 2009 anyway) January 9th release date, it might have fared a tad better.
In retrospect, opening a kid-skewing film like “Inkheart” just seven days after rugrat-friendly hits like “Paul Blart” and “Hotel for Dogs” (both of which had bigger than anticipated opening weekends) wasn’t a smart move.
michael,
Revolutionary Road was published in 1961, a year before Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe did not come out until 1962 on Broadway. If there is imitation involved, it would be Albee taking from Yates.
“Moronic” may be too strong a word, but let’s not pretend that PAUL BLART: MALL COP is a good movie. I like Kevin James and now he’s a star And it’s connecting with the family audiences. Nothing wrong with that, but it is pretty dumb. Not everyone is ten years old.
And speaking of dumb, criticizing Hollywood for making quality, intelligent adult dramas like FROST/NIXON and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is simply idiotic.
From the same brilliant minds who loved MY BLOODY VALENTINE…
I LOVED revolutionary Road and I think it is more deserving of an oscar nod than The Reader or even Benjamin Button. Leo and Kate deserved to be nominated — the best performances of the year in my opinion. Not to be missed.
Nikki — regarding your comment on Paul Blart — we should all be happy that people are watching something in droves right– is that not good for the industry? Besides if families want to go the movies, what are their choices from the top 10?
I also saw the trailer for RR and commented (apparently loud enough for people sitting around us to hear) “Another feel good movie!” …which produced a lot of laughs. Sam Mendes has a very strange embedded view of suburban life in America. Never mind the fact that every year when PEW releases it’s “Happy Poll,” it is the married suburbanites with children who consistently–and by a large percentage–rank the happiest. Apparently the studio folks buying into this sort of movie are clearly living in the same alternate reality as Mr. Mendes and his pathetically neurotic wife.
Here’s a hint: it’s cold…ridiculously cold in the midwest. People are, and have been cooped up for days on end. A simple film, short on angst, comes to mind to break the frozen monotonoy. We saw Blart because it was the only thing in the theatre complex that all of us–teenagers, college student, and middle-aged parents–could agree upon.
I’ll grant you that we all were not terribly thrilled with the opening half hour, but in the end, the film entertained. Isn’t that enough?
“Again, if Americans want Hollywood to make better quality movies, then they should stop showing up for crappy ones.”
Nikki, I completely agree! However, after the elite Academy snubbed “The Dark Knight” whats the point in the creative branch of Hollywood working their ass off to make a near flawless blockbuster and not getting award recognized by their peers?
This isn’t the same Academy who nominated “The Towering Inferno” for Best Picture, let alone gave the top Oscar to a ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie.
Mall Cop looks tasty, but I’m saving my money in case they decide to make Big Momma’s House XVII.
Seriously though, times are tough. People’s lives are tough. This is a bad climate for “serious” movies, because we’re already in a serious enough mood as it is. We want something to break the tension, not create more of it. I spend enough time contemplating the futility of human endeavor when I watch the news.
I find it amusing how comedies get panned even when they do well, but some heavy-handed crap is always Oscar bound, regardless of whether it tanked at the box office.
Mall Cop had a funny trailer, and Kevin James is an extremely likable everyman type. The film isn’t great by any means, but it has some amusing bits and fulfills the general audience’s expectations for the genre. Faint praise, I know, but I’ve seen much worse.
On the flip side, I just love the reverse snobbishness of those who get bent out of shape when the studios dare to release something that lacks broad appeal (Revolutionary Road). It’s like complaining that McDonald’s added a veggie-burger to the menu. You don’t like it? So what? It’s not FOR you. Buy your Big Mac and be on your way.
“Wristslitting” films aren’t exactly crowding wide-appeal films out of the marketplace (see chart above)!
Cathy: All due respect, but do you want the studios to release only those films that appeal to your taste? I haven’t seen Frost/Nixon, but SOMEBODY is interested in it. It’s out there, it’s nominated, it’s making a few bucks, it’ll do well on DVD and cable. But it’s no threat to the more commercial stuff, so why fret?
And if your assessment of the studio heads were correct, wouldn’t the Frost/Nixons far outnumber the Paul Blarts? Even during Oscar season, the commercial product always outnumbers the “elitist” stuff (again, see the chart). Shouldn’t you be gloating instead of complaining?
I went to see Mall Cop for one simple reason. The trailer made me laugh out loud. The reasons it succeeded are:
1.) There’s not a lot of new competition in the marketplace right now.
2.) Americans like to go out.
3.) When families go out, if they want to bring their kids, they don’t want offensive material in a movie.
4.) It had some funny, laugh out loud moments in it.
Was it the greatest comedy ever made? Of course not. Was it even memorable? Not really.
But right now, for those of us who enjoy going out, it’ll do. I paid 6 bucks for a matinee. Totally worth it.
So, let’s not call people morons for wanting to have fun for a couple hours, in these troubled times, drink.
Especially when there are plenty of other reasons to call morons, morons. Like the non-sense that people post on message boards these days. =)
I proudly consider myself a bit of a film snob, but picking on a film such as Paul Blart as being some horrible part of American film making is rather absurd. I will watch just about everything, and running a movie theater I screen most every mainstream film prior to running it for the public. The only films I refuse to watch are the torture/horror porn (Saw 1, 2, 3 etc…) and films starring Dane Cook. Paul Blart was not that bad of a film, I enjoyed it for what it was, a mindless family comedy with a good heart. There was nothing particularly original about it, nor was there anything terrible about it.
I have stood inside the theater as Paul Blart plays, and I hear lots of laughter. People tell me they thought it was great as they exit. The idea that the American people want great films is a joke. People want to be entertained, that’s why they go to the movies in the first place. Not everyone finds There Will Be Blood as entertaining as I do, but why should we look down at those who prefer a silly family comedy over a 2 1/2 hour intense masterpiece?
Honestly there are many terrible terrible mainstream movies to criticize, Paul Blart isn’t nearly in the bottom tier. The new Underworld was truely horrible, so was Bride Wars, and you know what? So was The Women, which you went on and on about being so important for older female actresses. The American public just wants to be entertained, and who can blame them, and seeing how the last few “spoof” films have crashed and burned maybe they are not as dumb as you think.
Nikki, excuse me for piling on about your opinion of Paul Blart. It is not that I object necessarily to the idea that it’s a bad movie, but that you, for the second week in a row contradicted the statement within two ratings. As you pointed out “Gran Torino”, a movie that by all rights should turn off casual audiences, was number two last week and number three this week. To me that indicates that people are equally willing to watch good movies as they are bad. Indeed, nearly everyone would say that the two most popular movies of the year, “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man”, were “good” movies. Thus evidence seems to suggest that Americans are willing to see good movies.
Besides, “Paul Blart” is a family film, which requires that it be treated differently. These film makers are not trying to make a great movie. Instead they’re trying to make something innocent that appeals to families. If it isn’t the highest quality film, so what?
Cat, the root canal would be a better choice than sitting through “Revolutionary Road”. I knew I was in trouble when eight minutes into the film, I wanted to kill both Leo and Kate’s characters.
Is it a total loss? No. Michael Shannon is great in his very brief role and Thomas Newman’s score is quite good. But are those enough to sit through the film? Hell and no.
To all those who object to movies that make you want to “slit your wrists”:
I don’t quite understand your sentiments. Is the only criteria for quality entertainment, something that makes you “feel good”? I guess that rules out roller coasters?
Life isn’t always about prat falls and fat jokes. Sometimes there’s pain and suffering, but usually that pain and suffering can be lessened if it can be approached and/or avoided by understanding the origins and causes of that pain. Films, TV shows, and literary stories that deal with “wrist slitting” subject matter are a way to examine (with all of its depressing realism) life and those individuals going through difficult situations and themes.
Sometimes it ends on a positive note, sometimes it ends with a negative resolution, but one can gain a better understanding of those darker places (that life sometimes brings) in order to better deal with those trials and tribulations.
Laughing about the bars of your cell can be needed escapism, but sometimes taking a real look at the walls that surround you may just facilitate an actual escape.
Too bad about “Inkheart.” I really enjoyed it. I wish more people had given it a chance.
Great timing by EW with their Respect Brendan Fraser piece. They really need to stop writing whatever PR flacks want them to and do some actual reporting.
As for Mall Cop, I can’t comment on it because I haven’t seen it but I wouldn’t go so far to dismiss the inoffensive slapstick comedy. A PG film, it’s essentially a kid’s flick that might tickle the funny bone of some parents. I won’t see it but there’s definitely room for lighthearted, check your brain at the door comedy in the world.
The bizarre thing about Mall Cop is that the script is totally ripped off from a couple of kids who didn’t know better than to copyright it and moved very slowly in getting it out there to potential participants. They even had a table read way before Mall Cop was written and there’s a direct line from someone who pitched the script to someone who is connected with Mall Cop. At first I urged them to sue but maybe the lesson they should learn is you snooze you lose. These kids are young, smart and funny so this isn’t the only shot they will have. Now, to have it be a big hit is even harder for them to take!
I’m a man in his late 20’s who saw Mall Cop because of the Happy Madison production association (which has produced several non-Sandler headlining releases that I enjoyed like Grandma’s Boy). I thought it was lame, sitcom-y, and only sporadically humorous but I realized at the time of watching it that I wasn’t the target audience. It’s an innocuous movie for families with kids who are in the 9-12 range. The people in my showing who fit that bill most assuredly seemed to be eating it up: the parents derived enjoyment from seeing their kids in that particular age bracket belly-laughing at the eponymous character falling down repeatedly. Kevin James is a really likeable actor who genuinely seems like he’s one of the rare industry guys that isn’t a douche so I’m happy for his success here. It’s kind of depressing though that something like this has already turned a massive profit relative to the studio’s meager investment while an unapologetically ambitious project like Benjamin Button, which took major fortitude for the financers to invest in, will have to rely on overseas markets and home video to break even.
Kevin James is awesome. The business model is undeniable — PG, comedy, clean, family, funny. If you want to make money, look no further.
This was the only movie I went to take my entire family to since Wall-E. We saw it opening night with a packed theater.
Couldn’t be happier. Can’t wait for the next one! And the next! Kevin James is here to stay! Way to go!
All hail the new millennium’s fat funny guy!
Former Fat Funnies:
John Belushi – Dead
John Candy – Dead
Sam Kinison – Dead
Chris Farley – Dead
Artie Lange – Just about dead
Hey Kevin, just a suggestion: stay away from the drugs, drop thirty pounds and don’t become friends with Howard Stern.
I watched both INKHEART & BEDTIME STORIES and I would have to say that INKHEART was better.
Larry is exactly right. 9 to 12-year-olds like silly films, and parents have fun watching their kids enjoying silly films. The kids giggle, they laugh out loud, and they look over to their parents to see if they are laughing too.
There’s room for all sorts of movies. Someone understood that at Sony, and it will help pay for all those dreadful independent movies that do everything but entertain.