12/03/09

Tops at the Box: And the New Moon train don’t stop. After a record breaking opening weekend two weeks ago, the latest installment of the teen vamp franchise followed up with a strong second weekend, topping the box office while bringing in another $42.5 million. Thus far, the film has set a huge number of box office records, already selling over $500 million in tickets worldwide. Once it’s all said and done on the big screen for Moon, look for the film to have strong DVD, Blu-ray and rental numbers, most likely bringing it’s total gross to over $1 billion worldwide. Amazing that a film so many people don’t even like too much can do so well. I blame the studlies. 

More From the Box: While Moon did take the top spot last weekend, The Blind Side was the real star of the long Thanksgiving stretch. Not only did the sports-y do-gooder drama - starring the new Julia Roberts - sell the most tickets on the most popular Thursday of the year, but it finished the weekend an eyelash behind Moon at a surprising $40.2 million, bringing its two-week total to over $100 million. Silly sci-fi blow-out 2012 continued to do fairly well, taking the No. 3 spot last weekend with $18 million in sales, upping it’s three-week total to about $140 million. Last week’s No. 4 film, Old Dogs, brought in about $17 million last weekend while Robert Zemecki’s holiday remake, A Christmas Carol, brought in $16 million. Newcomer Ninja Assassin (looks like been-there neu-ninja tripe) sold $13 million in its first weekend while the only film that matters right now, Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, brought in a disappointing $7 million in its first week as a wide release. Lastly, Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces continued to test well - though not as good as Disney’s new 2D animated feature, The Princess and the Frog, which tested as well as any film in years, bringing in $712 thousand while only playing on two screens for three days. Look for that flick to make some serious holiday season bank. Opens everywhere on Friday, December 11.

Opening this Week: Ehh, not much to speak of this week. Okay, okay, I lie. There’s actually almost too much opening this weekend - ‘tis that time of the year. Should-be-awesome drama Up In the Air, starring George Clooney in what looks like a sequel to Michael Clayton (which, stylistically, was kinda/sorta a sequel to The Insider) will slowly begin hitting screens while Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles, a film I ranted about in last week’s column, will see an expanded release. Dramedy Serious Moonlight, written by the late Adrienne Shelly (Waitress) and directed by her friend Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), will test on a few screens this week. Word is that the film won’t see a wide release, despite starring Meg Ryan, Justin Long and Kristen Bell. Four major releases open this week, including the forgettable looking horror/comedy Transylmania. Pass. Armored, a thriller about a crew of armored car employees (Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Skeet Ulrich, and Laurence Fishburne) who rob armored cars, no less, would be a notable release if not for two other possibly great films - Lionsgate drama Brothers and Mirimax holiday season dramedy Everybody’s Fine - opening this weekend. Everybody’s Fine, based on Giuseppe Tornatore’s great Stanno tutti bene and armed with a stellar cast, tells the story of a father (Robert DeNiro) attempting to reconnect with his adult children (Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale) over the holiday season. Brothers, an intense-looking family drama directed by the great Irish director Jim Sheridan (In America, My Left Foot), looks at modern family dynamics during wartime as a black sheep brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) attempts to watch after his brother’s family when his Marine brother (Tobey Maguire in what is said to be a wicked, Oscar-worthy performance) goes missing. (What happens when the brother kisses the wife and the thought-to-be-dead brother returns? Oh snap!) Also stars the dreamy Natalie Portman as the lady in the middle. Looks fantastic.

The Buzz: Nothin’ doin’ this week as far as concrete buzz goes. Well, I suppose I did hear something about Woody Allen casting Carla Bruni-Sarkozy - aka, the former-model-now-wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy - for a future film. The endlessly charmed life of Dame Bruni continues.

New to DVD: Who cares. Get out to the theatre this week and save the DVDs and Blu-ray business for next week.