Weekend Box Office

As America celebrates it's independence, the film industry celebrated its favorite Fourth of July tradition, seeing the latest, biggest offering from the Hollywood studio machine march its way to the top of the holiday box office.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon for this achievement, is now the top grossing film to open over the Independence Day weekend.  The top ten are:

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)- 97.5
2. Spider-man 2 (2004)- $88.1
3. Transformers (2007)- $70.5
4. War of the Worlds (2005)- $64.87
5. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)- 64.83
6. Hancock (2008)- $62.6
7. Superman Returns (2006)- $52.5
8. Men in Black II (2002)- $52.1
9. Men in Black (1997)- $51.0
10. Independence Day (1996)- $50.2

And so Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg and Paramount Pictures are a little bit richer, and the film adapted from silly toys in it's third outing boasted the highest grossing opening weekend of the year thus far.  The only caveat was that it slightly trailed the opening weekend gross of the second film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen...that was likely to be slightly expected, considering that film, you know, was awful.  Dark of the Moon wasn't nearly as disliked, meaning that it might stick around for a little while, and since the 3-D was one of the films best selling points, it counts as a cold victory for Hollywood.  There were also a few other milestones this weekend.

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon- $97.5 million\$162 million since Wednesday
2. Cars 2- $26.1 million\$117 million in two weeks.  The latest Pixar release dropped a striking 60% from weekend to weekend (it will look a little better once Monday grosses come in), and marks the steepest decline for a Pixar product.  We all knew this was a bad idea!
3. Bad Teacher- $14 million\$59 million in two weeks.
4. Larry Crowne- $13 million.  In it's opening outing, the Tom Hanks-Julia Roberts comedy failed.  After this, and the soft box office of their first film together-- Charlie Wilson's War (2007)-- I suppose the world just isn't into the both of them together.  Fortunately, this one only cost $30 million to make.
5. Super 8- $7.8 million\$108 million total.  The J.J. Abrams throwback may not have been the huge blockbuster that it's hype alluded to, but it's doing remarkably well for itself, easing just 35% in its fourth weekend.  This marks the second film produced by Steven Spielberg in the top five.
6. Monte Carlo- $7.4 million.
7. Green Lantern- $6.5 million\$102 million.  Down 63% in its third weekend, the Ryan Reynolds superhero movie has to be considered that top dud of the summer given its $200 million price tag.
8. Mr. Popper's Penguins- $5.4 million\$50 million to date.
9. Bridesmaids- $3.6 million\$153 million to date.  Over the weekend, Bridesmaids, the little engine that could this summer became the highest grossing film that Judd Apatow has ever been apart of, period.  The bridesmaid spot belongs to Knocked Up (2007) which made $148 million.
10. Midnight in Paris- $3.5 million\$33.7 million to date.

The other big news over the weekend was that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides became the seventh highest grossing picture in history with a worldwide gross of $1.0 billion.  It's reasonably tepid domestic take of $234 million is kind of encouraging, but again it calls into question the real power of the international movie sales.  And when Part 5 is announced, we will all have our answer.  We can all at the very least take pride in the fact that adjusted for ticket inflation (3-D inflation as well) and overall movie attendance the third unnecessary Jack Sparrow tale would be way further down on the list...

Blowing Up This Week

The major movie over this weekend, and the big fourth of July event film is, but of course, Michael Bay's third entry in the Transformers series.  Right on schedule two years after the dreadful (and looong) and noisy Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which arrived two years after (nearly to the day) of the very first Hasboro-inspired sensory onslaught, the journey of the Autobots and their odd attachment to Shia LaBeouf continues, this time famously missing Megan Fox (I suppose comparing her director to Hitler didn't win her any favors; she's recast, or whatever, by British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.)  What's fascinating, more so than the movies themselves is the career of Michael Bay.  After a successful run in music videos, and now with nine feature films to his credits, and well as numerous successful outings as a producer, he's the most successfully hated director perhaps in Hollywood history.  None of his features (outside of the ill-fated 2005 outing The Island, an awkward Logan's Run-type story) have been commercial duds, and despite critical raping nearly every time out, here's a wiz-bang, blow 'em up auteur that intrigues, that despite tyrannical press releases, always manages to garner not just buttloads of box office, but draws in an unusually high-prestige cast nearly every time (Steve Buscemi, John Turturro are regulars; and actors from Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery and Billy Bob Thornton and Ewan McGregor have taken the Bay trip; Transformers: Dark of the Moon adds highbrown thespians Frances McDormand and John Malkovich to the Bay mix.)  His films have also netted 13 Oscar nominations, winning one for the sound editing of Pearl Harbor.  Part of the fun of his movies (even when they're epic failures) is that I think we all secretly or not so secretly want them to fail due to the mindless indulgences and illogical storytelling, but his popcorn sensibilities and pure artificial goofiness sometimes have an almost infectious charm; 2006's Alcatraz lark The Rock is my favorite just because it's implausible absurdity ekes a grin every time.  And while the case may almost remain whether his derision is called for or not, I suppose I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to see his latest, and while I fully expect to hate it and pick it apart for my own amusement, yet that itself, no matter how mean-spirited, has a certain charm as well.


Transformers: Dark of the Moon has already grossed $64.6 million, thanks it's early Wednesday opening and Tuesday night sneaks and midnight screenings.  It will, like it or not, be the top-seller this weekend, and likely the top seller of the summer.  Also available in 3-D.

Also opening this week:

• Larry Crowne- A generically nauseating comedy starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
• Monte Carlo- Tweener fantasy starring Selena Gomez.
• The Perfect Host- Creepy looking indie starring David Hyde Piece (limited release.)
• Terri- Awkward looking coming of age tale with John C. Rielly (limited release.)

Fourth of July Weekend

BIG MOVIE WEEKEND:

For anybody who hasn't heard Transformers opened Tuesday, and grossed $27 million opening day. Anybody else out there who think real filmmaking died the day daily grosses became news. Like lets not even comment on quality (haven't seen the film, I'll reserve myself until fully viewed), but it made a crap load of money. It's a winner.

Fortunately, some interesting stuff comes out as well, like Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale, which is currently getting good notices. Some small quibbles, courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes:

"A small miracle-- a smart popcorn movie,"
-Kurt Honeycutt, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"A potentially commercial audience-pleaser that retains of the characteristic Herzog complexity and nuance, Rescue Dawn is an electrifying action adventure that clamps your nerves with jaws of steel"
-Rex Reed, THE NEW YORK OBSERVER






















So happy movie-going fourth-- don't let number dictate your life!