Box Office Report - April 9-11 (for now?)

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Date Night - $27.1 million

2. Clash of the Titans - $26.875 million

3. How to Train Your Dragon - $25.3 million

4. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? - $11 million

5. The Last Song - $10 million

6. Alice in Wonderland - $5.6 million

7. Hot Tub Time Machine - $5.4 million

8. The Bounty Hunter - $4.3 million

9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - $4.1 million

10. Letters to God - $1.2 million

The final weekend box office is turning into a clash of the studios as both Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox are in dispute on whether or not Date Night really did trump Clash of the Titans, but since final numbers will not be in until tomorrow, this is what's being reported...and we're sticking to it (for now).

Either way, it turned out to be a solid weekend for Steve Carell and Tina Fey, whose $55 million comedy Date Night opened with at least $27 million, which is a career opening weekend high for Fey, but not so much for Carell - Get Smart opened in 2008 with $38 million.  Even if it does drop to second place when the actuals come in tomorrow, Fox does seem happy with the results.

Not surprisingly, Clash of the Titans took a 56% drop in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $110 million.  That's a steep drop, however, it's not nearly as bad at the 60% or more drop some insiders were projecting for this weekend.  Its total worldwide box office is now $229 million.

Regardless of who winds up at the #1 spot this weekend, it's looking like the real box office champ is Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon, which declined a mere 13%, thanks to what appears to be spectacular word-of-mouth (including mine, I've seen this film twice and I can't say enough good things about it) and making its lackluster opening weekend a distant memory.  Its box office total is now $134 million and could be headed for a $200 million total domestically.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? took an even bigger tumble than Clash this weekend, a 62% drop with $11 million.  But with a budget of roughly $20 million and a total domestic gross of $48 million in just one week...that drop really doesn't even matter.  It's another hit for Tyler Perry.

Miley Cyrus' drama The Last Song also managed to hang in there this weekend, dropping only 37% and staying in the top 5 with $10 million, bringing its domestic total to $42 million.  Looks like Miley managed to survive some pretty scathing reviews and wind up with a decent hit film after all.

Alice in Wonderland also managed to have another solid weekend, coming in at #5 with $5.6 million.  Its domestic total now stands at $319 million, and its worldwide total stands at a staggering $780 million. 

The other new release of the weekend was Vivendi Entertainment's Christian-themed Letters to God.  Opening in just 897 theaters, the film managed to make a respectable $1.2 million and just make its way into the #10 spot.

We'll be checking when the weekend actuals come in to see if we need to change the picture at the top of the page.  Hell, if they can't figure it out by then we may just change it to a How to Train Your Dragon shot, since we know that one is doing well.

30 Years of "Empire"

Ugh, now I'm sad I let my subscription to Entertainment Weekly run out.  Actually, I'm really not that upset about it, but this would have been a cool issue to find in the mailbox this week:

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, this week's issue of EW will feature excerpts from Lucasfilm's new book Star Wars: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, including never-before-seen set photos, early character sketches of Yoda and Boba Fett, and an original script page.  

In other words...I NEED THIS BOOK!  (which will arrive in bookstores this October)

I actually saw Empire in theaters when it was first released, so all of this anniversary business is making me feel a bit old.  But I'm not sad about it, because I got to see the "I am your Father" scene before anyone knew it was going to happen.  Of course I was kindergarten and terrified of Darth Vader at the time, but the resulting emotional scars were a small price to pay for the awesomeness of seeing the original Star Wars trilogy during its first release.

"Dinner for Schmucks" Trailer

Paramount has released the trailer for what might possibly be the most awesome movie title of the year: Dinner For Schmucks, starring Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, and Zach Galafianakis.  The story reminds me a little of the 1991 movie Dogfight...only funny this time. 

Dinner for Schmucks will open July 23rd.

"Real Steel" NOT Headed for 3D!

With the 3D craze nearing out-of-control proportions these days, I thought it was worth nothing that at least one big-budget movie (featuring robots, no less) will not be headed to an overpriced 3D screen near you.

The movie is Dreamworks' Real Steel, which is scheduled to start filming in June, and directed by Night at the Museum's Shawn Levy.  It's based on a Richard Matheson short story - which was also adapted as a Twilight Zone episode - and takes place in a future where human boxers have been replaced by robots.  Hugh Jackman plays an ex-boxer who finds some luck promoting an unlikely robotic boxing champ while bonding with the 13-year-old son (Dakota Goyo) he didn't know he had.

Speaking with MTV Movies Blog while out promoting his new comedy Date Night, Levy describes the film as "part sports movie, part relationship drama, part action flick."

"It's a weird amalgam," Levy says. "What it's not is 'Transformers' or 'Terminator.' There's definitely shades of that 'Rocky' paradigm. There's shades of 'Paper Moon,' in that it is a father-child road movie. And it's really kind of a redemption movie. It's got some humor, but it's definitely not a comedy. It's got a lot of action, really kind of muscular action, and a lot of... heart."

But no 3D.  Partly because several other 3D films will be released at the same time, but mostly because Levy wants the the film to focus on the father-son relationship, and having the 3D effects wil just relegate it to "that robot boxing movie.

Which it will probably be called anyway, but it's nice to hear anyone saying they want to concentrate on story and character rather than obsess over 3D.

Meanwhile, Real Steel's star, Hugh Jackman, was also asked the dreaded 3D question on the red carpet at the New York premiere of Date Night, this time in regards to Wolverine 2.  While he praised Christopher McQuarrie's script, calling it "the best one we've had," and did confirm that at least part of the movie will be filmed in Japan, there's no word on whether or not the sequel will be in 3D.  And I hope it won't be.  It really doesn't need it. 

Real Steel is set to hit theaters on November 18, 2011.

Harrison Ford Joins "Cowboys & Aliens"

A rumor started via Latino Review that Harrison Ford had signed on for "a huge comic book movie to be directed by a director coming off a soon to be released huge comic book movie" is a rumor no more:  Harrison Ford will be joining Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde in Jon Favreau's sci-fi western Cowboys & Aliens.

The confirmation came from Favreau himself, who posted this on his Twitter page earlier today:

"Please stop asking if Harrison Ford is in Cowboys & Aliens. Okay? He is. Please don't tell anybody."

So I guess that settles that.

Cowboys & Aliens is based on the 2006 Platinum Studios Comics graphic novel by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley.  The story takes place in Arizona in the 1800s, when a battle between cowboys and Apaches is interrupted by (of all things) an alien invasion, forcing both sides to join forces to save the planet.  Cool.

It's not known yet what role Ford will be playing, as Daniel Craig is already set to play the role of the main cowboy, Zeke Johnson.  I guess it's safe to assume that there's another really cool cowboy part for him...since he's Harrison Ford and all...

The movie is set for release on July 29, 2011. The script was written by Star Trek's Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof, who are also producing, along with Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, among others.  

Sounds like a crazy enough concept to be a really fun movie, and the team behind it just keeps getting better.  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it. 

"A Nightmare on Elm Street" - New Trailer

For anyone who hasn't seen Clash of the Titans yet - or more importantly, anyone who hasn't seen the new trailer for A Nightmare on Elm Street that ran in front of it in theaters this weekend - Warner Bros. has released the official trailer online today:

It's looking good.  I'm loving Jackie Earle Haley's take on Freddy just from what I've seen so far.

Two Droids Walk Into a Bar....

This is definitely one of the stranger turns Star Wars has taken in recent years (and that's saying a lot).  According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm has recruited the team behind the Robot Chicken parodies to create an animated Star Wars series that will focus on the comedic aspect of that galaxy far, far away.

The creative team behind this new series will include Robot Chicken writers Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, as well as The Daily Show's Brendan Hay, with producers Jennifer Hill and director Todd Grimes.  The plan, according to Senreich is "to pull back the curtain on some of those behind-the-scenes shenanigans"

And if you've ever seen a Robot Chicken parody about Star Wars, you know some of those shenanigans are pretty damn funny (unlike the prequels, which made many fans cry).  But a series?  I'm not sure.  The joke could wear out fast, but there have been some terrific Star Wars spoofs done in the past and the stuff this team has done before is good enough that I would probably check it out anyway. 

No word yet on what network will carry the show, but it's likely headed for the cartoon network, where the Robot Chicken spoofs have had success as part of the Adult Swim programming block.

You really just have to be amazed at how George Lucas manages to find news ways to keep Star Wars in the mainstream... 

Weekend Box Office: April 2-4

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Clash of the Titans - $61.4 million
2. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? - $30.1 million
3. How to Train Your Dragon - $29.2 million
4. The Last Song - $16.2 million
5. Alice in Wonderland - $8.2 million
6. Hot Tub Time Machine - $8 million
7. The Bounty Hunter - $6.2 million
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - $5.5 million
9. She's Out of My League - $1.4 million
10. Shutter Island - $1.4 million

When including the box office from the Thursday night showings, the domestic total for Clash of the Titans through Sunday was $64 million, and it finished the weekend with $108 million worldwide.  Not a bad haul, however, the Los Angeles Times reports that the grosses dropped 18% from Friday to Saturday, which is usually a sign of bad word-of-mouth.  It did receive a not-great Cinemascore of "B" from audiences, so expect a big drop next weekend.

The $30 million take for Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? is Perry's second-biggest opening weekend behind last year's Medea Goes to Jail, which opened with $41 million.  The guy just can't go wrong.

My favorite box office news of the weekend was the modest 33% drop of How to Train Your Dragon.  Despite winning the box office last weekend, the grosses were considered somewhat disappointing (in fact, Dreamworks stock actually dropped on Monday), but it looks like it's getting the good word-of-mouth it deserves and is headed for a good run.  This is a great film - if you haven't seen it yet, go.

Despite getting critically stomped for her first non-Hannah Montana film role, Miley Cyrus' dramatic debut in The Last Song held up decently this weekend with $16.2 million, which comes to $25 million when including the grosses since opening on Wednesday. 

Disney's Alice in Wonderland had its lowest-grossing weekend with just $8.2 million, but that was more than enough to push its domestic total past the $300 million mark, and is now past a staggering $700 million total worldwide.

So what have we learned this weekend?  3D is going to be around for a long time. 

Nathan Lane's "Twilight" Cameo

You can always count on Nathan Lane to be one of David Letterman's funniest guests.  While appearing on the show Friday night to promote his new Broadway musical The Addams Family, he shared with Dave details about his role in the upcoming Twilight film ("...it's called Eclipse, because you can't look at it directly..."), along with a clip:

Obviously, just like Lane's Star Trek cameo last year, this won't be part of the film, but it's too bad - that was the most entertaining Twilight clip I've ever seen!

Specializing in the Ridiculous - The new "A-Team" Trailer

We pity the fool who does not check out the trailer for what is sure to be the best stupidest action movie of the summer, The A-Team:

I absolutely loved this insanely preposterous TV show back in the 80s and I completely admit that I can't wait to see the movie - it looks just as ridiculous as the show did back then and I plan to enjoy every minute of it.

The A-Team hits theaters on June 11th.