Holiday Weekend BO
Posted by Dirty Harry on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
1. Marley & Me - $24.7M, $7,047 PTA, $107.16M cume
2. Bedtime Stories - $22M, $5,972 PTA, $87.1M cume
3. Benjamin Button - $18.1M, $6,058 PTA, $78.75M cume
4. Valkyrie - $14M, $5,040 PTA, $60.65M cume
5. Yes Man - $13.9M, $4,048 PTA, $79.37M cume
6. Seven Pounds - $10.96M, $3,976 PTA, $61M cume
7. Tale of Despereaux - $8.1M, $2,621 PTA, $44.87M cume
8. The Day the Earth Stood Still - $5.92M, $2,534 PTA, $75.37M cume
9. Doubt - $5.22M, $4,056 PTA, $18.93M cume
10. Slumdog Millionaire - $4.29M, $7,015 PTA $28.3M cume
Doubt, Slumdog Millionaire, and Milk are already box office hits, Frost/Nixon and The Reader are both fizzling, Gran Torino will probably break out when it opens wide, The Wrestler and Revolutionary Road could go either way as they expand.
Filed in General |
Johnny Ed's Babyon 03 Jan 2009 at 6:38 am 1People like movies about dogs. Remember that chihuahua in Beverly Hills?
Dirty Harryon 03 Jan 2009 at 6:41 am 2Yeah, I know, but I figured it would hit $70- $80 million or something. This is a bona fide smash.
Oh, well, it only confirms my long standing rule to save myself the humiliation of predicting box office numbers.
Johnny Ed's Babyon 03 Jan 2009 at 6:58 am 3Just assume a movie about dogs will outperform expectations. Unless it stars Kathy Griffin.
Texas Billy Rayon 03 Jan 2009 at 6:59 am 4Slumdog is a Bollywood music tracks are a lot of fun to hear.
Dick Clark would say “Good beat, easy to dance to. I give it an 85″
But really, this story is very well crafted and wrapped around the displaced lives of slum denizens of Bombay.
This is the movie you take your kids to when they won’t eat their veggies.
Johnny Ed's Babyon 03 Jan 2009 at 7:13 am 5I have not seen it but some reviews I read said it is not suitable for kids under 7 or so. So that makes it even more surprising for reviewers unless parents aren’t paying attention to reviews and just assume it is safe like a Disney movie.
Growltigeron 03 Jan 2009 at 7:34 am 6“Marley and Me” has Owen Wilson in it. He’s usually good box office. I haven’t seen it because spouse and I are dog lovers and most films with dogs in them go for the tears.
Harry? Does “Marley and Me” go for the tears?
So far as the other films go, I’ve only seen “Valkyrie” which was okay - nothing to write home about. Haven’t seen the others and don’t intend to. Hate to sound like an old fool, but they don’t make movies like they used to.
00smoothieon 03 Jan 2009 at 7:39 am 7The reason for the success of Marley & Me is simple: it’s a sweet, honest, touching, unpretentious story that’s a lot like real life as experienced by those of us in “flyover” country.
The protagonist may be a somewhat typical (i.e. liberal) journalist, but the filmmakers wisely toned that element down and instead featured things that are–dare I say it–almost considered conservative in many circles nowadays: loving, committed sex within marriage; those sexual encounters lead to three babies (three! a shockingly large family those today who feel guilty having more than one for fear of the size of their family’s “carbon footprint” and the “overpopulation” of the earth); the mother makes an assessment of her life and realizes that she can either be a great mother or a great journalist (not both) and chooses stay-at-home motherhood; the mother chafes at the demands required to be that great mother over time and decides in the end that the sacrifices are worth it; the father character witnesses his best friend remaining a free-spirited dude, unencumbered with commitments or children, jumping into bed with any piece of attractive tail that waggles past, yet the father character remains committed to his wife and his children and doesn’t stray; the marriage strains under the (average, everyday) stresses that your marriage probably encounters, yet two loving and committed people decide that divorce isn’t the right choice and they decide to stick it out and are rewarded handsomely for their choice; I could go on. Oh, and there are of course those lovely scenes with the Labrador…what we all thought we were paying to see and nothing more.
The Chihuahua movie was cute but entirely forgettable. I will remember Marley & Me for a long, long time.
Mr Sideouson 03 Jan 2009 at 7:45 am 8With the success of Marley, does this mean we’re poised for the return of “Benji”?
00smoothieon 03 Jan 2009 at 7:46 am 9“The Reader” was an OK book, but I could see the “surprise ending” coming from a mile away. If the movie is faithful to the book, then I won’t be surprised if it fizzles. No one will give a movie good word of mouth if they can predict the ending at the beginning of the second act.
00smoothieon 03 Jan 2009 at 7:48 am 10Hopefully this isn’t a double post…but my first Marley post didn’t seem to go through.
The reason for the success of Marley & Me is simple: it’s a sweet, honest, touching, unpretentious story that’s a lot like real life as experienced by those of us in “flyover” country.
The protagonist may be a somewhat typical (i.e. liberal) journalist, but the filmmakers wisely toned that element down and instead featured things that are–dare I say it–almost considered conservative in many circles nowadays: loving, committed sex within marriage; those sexual encounters lead to three babies (three! a shockingly large family those today who feel guilty having more than one for fear of the size of their family’s “carbon footprint” and the “overpopulation” of the earth); the mother makes an assessment of her life and realizes that she can either be a great mother or a great journalist (not both) and chooses stay-at-home motherhood; the mother chafes at the demands required to be that great mother over time and decides in the end that the sacrifices are worth it; the father character witnesses his best friend remaining a free-spirited dude, unencumbered with commitments or children, jumping into bed with any piece of attractive tail that waggles past, yet the father character remains committed to his wife and his children and doesn’t stray; the marriage strains under the (average, everyday) stresses that your marriage probably encounters, yet two loving and committed people decide that divorce isn’t the right choice and they decide to stick it out and are rewarded handsomely for their choice; I could go on. Oh, and there are of course those lovely scenes with the Labrador…what we all thought we were paying to see and nothing more.
The Chihuahua movie was cute but entirely forgettable. I will remember Marley & Me for a long, long time.
R. Dittmaron 03 Jan 2009 at 7:51 am 11I admittedly haven’t given it much thought, but it’s probably not too surprising that it’s done as well as it has. The book that it’s based on was a tremendous best-seller so it has a large presold audience. It’s probably closest the movie Twilight in that respect.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Just for what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s unsuitable for children because of naughtiness or violence. I’ll just be elliptical and say that it’s based on the author’s life with his dog and in the real world dogs don’t live forever.
Robinon 03 Jan 2009 at 8:15 am 12I’m not at all surprised by the movie’s strong box office because the book was a runaway bestseller that made any pet lover who read it laugh and cry and think about their own pets’ crazy antics, past or present. The book was better/funnier/more touching than the movie, but books usually are better than the films that are based upon them.
I saw it on Christmas Day and there were lots of kids in the theater. I think many parents thought this would be a movie solely about the dog, but it had more to do with the family and thus dragged a bit for young children. Even I would have loved to see more of Marley (the one I grew to know in the book). Still I rate it a 4 out of 5.
Tar Heel Momon 03 Jan 2009 at 8:21 am 13Growl, you might be interested in seeing Slumdog Millionaire.
There’s an actual plot (you’ll laugh, you’ll choke up), the acting is terrific, and it reinforces positive values like honesty and loyalty. A friend described it best by saying, “There was genuine suspense! I can’t remember the last movie that had real suspense.” Plus, the sets and locations are stunning. Hey - it’s India.
Kon 03 Jan 2009 at 10:09 am 14The reason for the success of Marley & Me is simple: it’s a sweet, honest, touching, unpretentious story that’s a lot like real life as experienced by those of us in “flyover” country.
Exactly. I see it as similar to the “March of the Penguins” movie success. There are virtually no Chirstmas oriented heartfelt family movies out this vacation period so people go for anything that fills the bill, much to the surprise of the pundits.
maatkareon 03 Jan 2009 at 10:33 am 15So who the Hell is keeping “Day The Earth Stood Still” in the top 10?? Interesting to see that with the exception of Slumdog and Despereaux, these films are completely movie star driven, although as R. Dittmar notes, Marley was a massively successful book. Keanu Reeves and Will Smith made films everyone considered real dogs, and yet people are clearly still going to see them.
Kiton 03 Jan 2009 at 11:34 am 16JEB,
What Kathy Griffin movie?
PerfectTommyon 03 Jan 2009 at 11:36 am 17Just to echo what others have said, I was expecting “Marley and Me” to do well. When I looked at the movies that came out at Christmas, it was the only one that looked good for the whole family.
There was “Bedtime Stories”, but Sandler scares off the older generations and I’m sure people that don’t read reviews would be unsure if it was really safe for the kids.
(Going to see Slumdog today, hope it lives up to my current high expectations.)
Johnny Ed's Babyon 03 Jan 2009 at 11:38 am 18Kit:
The world will come to an end before I pay any attention to a Kathy Griffin movie. Has she ever made one? Is anyone that stupid in Hollywood to invest in a Kathy Griffin film? Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.
Dirty Harry's Momon 03 Jan 2009 at 11:40 am 19All you had to do was read the book to know this movie was going to be a super, super hit.
L Nettleson 03 Jan 2009 at 1:34 pm 20“Kiton 03 Jan 2009 at 11:34 am 16
JEB,
What Kathy Griffin movie?”
I thought he meant that a movie with a dog will do well, unless the dog is….
Stosh from da Stickson 03 Jan 2009 at 1:53 pm 21Agree with JEB (and several others) about Marley - make a movie about dogs that seems harmless and appears to be oriented to families, and you’ll do just fine.
Saw the thing with my family this week (wife’s got a thing for dogs), and no, I don’t think it’s well-suited for small kids - there’s a fair bit of off-color language, and the sex stuff, though tame by contemporary non-standards, pushed the limit of what I’d normally let my kids see. Those things aren’t over the top, but the movie has too few redeeming qualities to convince me they’re worth putting up with.
Also, the euthanisation of the dog at the end seemed gratuitous to me (you all don’t need a spoiler alert do you? - heck, if you can’t guess it, you probably haven’t got the functioning neurons to remember I told you so anyway). I like Owen Wilson flics, but on the whole, IMHO, I thought it was a mediocre flic - but one that’ll do fine, because that part of the public that isn’t hungering for another hate-America-isn’t-Iraq/Bush-awful movie (ie, 98% of the population) would just like a little harmless dog-oriented-type diversion.
So if you absolutely *must* take your kids to the movie theater this weekend, go see the Adam Sandler thing (in our case, part of a Cub Scout outing) - at least in that flic they laugh at the Prius-driving, granola-eating, tree-hugging crowd.
Oh, and if you want a less-kind review of “Marley”, pop over to Thredonia, and check out trzupr’s review of the thing (Rich et al, if your traffic picks up, you owe me a beer).
Stosh from da Stickson 03 Jan 2009 at 1:58 pm 22Tommy (#17),
Sandler notwithstanding, “Bedtime Stories” is perfectly safe for kids (except for those scandalized by a third grader winning a smooch from an older woman - in this case, a fifth grader).
And Keri Russell is awfully easy to look at.
Kiton 03 Jan 2009 at 4:58 pm 23JEB,
“The world will come to an end before I pay any attention to a Kathy Griffin movie. Has she ever made one? Is anyone that stupid in Hollywood to invest in a Kathy Griffin film? Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.”
SHEESH!
Last time I ask him you to clarify a statement!
Plissken79on 03 Jan 2009 at 6:24 pm 24Anyone who hates Marley and Me, the book or the film, has had their heart turned to a cold, lifeless piece of granite long ago.
And DH, never bet against Man’s Best Friend
PerfectTommyon 03 Jan 2009 at 6:53 pm 25Stosh, You’re right about “Bedtime Stories”, but I was writing about the perception of a Sandler film. (It is a more wholesome film than even “Marley and Me”.) Notice that the top two films are rated PG. Hollywood never seems to.
Oh, saw “Slumdog Millionaire” today. Bollywood Dickens. Good stuff.
David A.on 04 Jan 2009 at 12:46 am 26I had a feeling that Marley & Me would be a big hit. Every time I would see this huge billboard by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway with the adorable little dog and a tagline that read “Heel the Love” I just started feeling that it was one of those films that could just break either way–flop or big hit. I was leaning towards hit but it was a 51/49 % sort of thing.
I’m sure a million kids saw that poster and those ads and asked their parents to see it.
Regarding the actual acting leads, I think this is one of the few times that Jennifer Aniston actually contributed to a film of hers being a hit. I even suspect that she contributed more to the film’s box office than Owen Wilson.
Most of her hits have been co-starring vehicles (Along Came Polly, The Break Up) while anything with her in the lead was a flop. The co-starring vehicles probably brought more people in to the theaters on account of the male leads (Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn).
In this case, being a family film, it is most likely those paying for the tickets were moms and not dads and moms already like Aniston from Friends. This is not too far afield from what the appeal of Aniston was in the first place: she’s attractive, but not too beautiful, she’s not above the average woman but more like the pal women have, she’s the girl next door not the bombshell. She’s like the pretty girl in the next cubicle–not too threatening in her ordinariness.
And from the trailer, she kind of looks like an ordinary average woman.
Women also like Owen Wilson for his easy going charm, despite his recent flops. He’s the guy from “Wedding Crashers,” the guy who grows up and gets the girl. Here, it seems, he already has the girl. He seems like he’s an adult–boyish, but an adult.
And that boyishness coupled with a dog means a seemingly enjoyable time at the movies for the mom’s (and some dads) taking their kids to the movies.
So, a big hit.
There really was only one other movie to compete with Marley & Me and that is Bedtime Stories. It seems to be doing fairly well, although it probably cost a lot more to make than Marley & Me.
I haven’t seen Marley & Me, but I’ll get around to it.
On another note, I predicted Seven Pounds to make it to 100 million. I’m not so sure now. I think it might but it will have to be down to the wire.
I hope it does reach the 100 mil mark if only for my own vanity.
Snarfblatton 04 Jan 2009 at 3:57 am 27Such a cute puppy! My kid sister wanted to see Marley and Me, but somebody told us about the ending and the way it plays out.
SPOILER ALERT
with the dog getting euthanized on camera
SPOILER END
and we decided it probably wasn’t for us. We saw Bedtime Stories instead because of your review DH and we both loved it. We thought it was a very cute, funny movie with a nice magical feel. It was really easy to get immersed in. Several times we were laughing at different parts, but never because they threw in inappropriate-for-the-younguns humor to please the grownups, Shrek-style. We’ll definitely be watching it again when it comes out on dvd.
PerfectTommyon 04 Jan 2009 at 8:42 am 28Marley and Me might also have benifited from clever marketing. It was heavily plugged at the Westminister dog show and on dog food packaging and these ads might have reached an audience that doesn’t usually catch the movie trailers.
00smoothieon 04 Jan 2009 at 1:12 pm 29I remember reading an article in Businessweek magazine a couple of years ago about the pet industry, and at that time the figure was something like $40 billion per year that Americans spend on their pets, which is around five to ten times more than they spend on movie entertainment. So advertising on dog food packing actually seems like a really sound idea.
Jenny C.on 04 Jan 2009 at 1:28 pm 30I heard the ending for “Marley & Me” is heart-wrenching. You will not catch me watching that movie ever. The movie also has Jennifer Aniston who I can not stand!
As for “Bedtime Stories,” I like Sandler and his politics, so good for him. I’m really surprised it was #2 for the second week in a row, as well as “Marley” in #1 for the second week.
I will watch “Grand Turino” tonight. Anything with Eastwood I will watch. I have an autograph I personally got signed from him which is my prized possession. My father used to see Eastwood’s early films in Cuba and continued to be a fan here in the USA. Subsequently I became a fan.
However, I am not excited about Eastwood directing a movie on the Marxist Nelson Mandela.