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Released last Wednesday, Michael Bay’s action spectacle “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” took in megabucks at the box office over the weekend. Since its release, the movie has already grossed $214 million in the United States with an additional $204 million overseas. On its first day out, “Transformers 2″ took in over $60 million. All of this forbids well for the sequel but it was not enough to eclipse last summer’s biggest movie, “The Dark Knight.”

The first “Transformers,” released in 2007 finished worldwide at $708 million, and it was a much better movie. At this rate, “Transformers 2″ will push past “Up” and “Star Trek” to become the highest grossing movie of 2009. Only time will tell if this new sequel can continue to hold its numbers at the box office. It may fizzle out by the time “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” hits theaters on July 15.

Out today are two new films: Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” and the new CGI film “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”

Box Office

For the second week in a row, the Kevin James comedy “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” has dominated the weekend box office. The main competition, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” missed it by this much: $800,000. I’d say that’s pretty darn good for the prequel to the “Underworld” franchise, one in which I have been extremely well pleased with.

Having not seen “Mall Cop” as of yet, I truly cannot judge it. However, I did see “Rise of the Lycans” and I loved it. Let’s just say that it was everything one could of hoped for with an “Underworld” movie. Interestingly enough, the two movies I saw this weekend both featured actor Michael Sheen: “Rise of the Lycans” and “Frost/Nixon,” and while I loved both, “Frost/Nixon” was undeniably the better of the two. Ron Howard’s historical drama didn’t fare too well after achieving a wide release, grossing only an additional $3 million this weekend. I guess not too many people are interested.

As for the best picture nominees (more on that later), “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has the highest gross by far at $111 million with “Slumdog Millionaire” at a distant $55 million. The post-World War II period piece “The Reader” has been doing the worst with its total only at $9 million. In between “Slumdog” and “Frost/Nixon” is Sean Penn’s homage “Milk,” at $21 million. Truthfully, the only one of these films I could ever get excited about is “Frost/Nixon.” And perhaps I will never understand the hype concerning “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Brendan Fraser’s new family fantasy film, “Inkheart,” opened quite badly this weekend at $7.7 million. I think we’re nearing the end of the fantasy era right about now. Still holding up well are Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino,” and the horror movie “My Bloody Valentine 3D.”

Out of the top twelve this weekend are “The Unborn” (#13), “Marley & Me” (#9), and “Bedtime Stories” (#18).

Here are the weekend estimates:
1. Paul Blart: Mall Cop - $21,500,000 ($64,800,000)
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans - $20,700,000 ($20,700,000)
3. Gran Torino - $16,000,000 ($97,576,000)
4. Hotel for Dogs - $12,360,000 ($36,955,000)
5. Slumdog Millionaire - $10,550,000 ($55,916,000)
6. My Bloody Valentine 3D - $10,050,000 ($37,725,000)
7. Inkheart - $7,725,000 ($7,725,000)
8. Bride Wars - $7,000,000 ($48,702,000)
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $6,000,000 ($111,044,000)
10. Notorious - $5,700,000 ($31,795,000)
11. Defiance - $5,432,000 ($18,329,000)
12. Revolutionary Road - $5,268,000 ($11,867,000)

Opening up next week are the romantic comedy “New in Town,” the Liam Neeson thriller “Taken,” and another horror movie “The Uninvited.”

Source: Box Office Mojo

Box Office

Welcome to the brand new Tansut.com Blog! The purpose of this environment is to provide additional commentary on the latest news and happenings in the movie industry. Let’s begin with a look at this weekend’s box office report.

For this Martin Luther King weekend, the Kevin James family comedy “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” took the number one spot with an estimated $33.8 million. James had previously co-starred in the 2007 Adam Sandler comedy “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” after coming off nine seasons of the television series “The King of Queens.” That’s quite an impressive opening for a PG rated comedy film, so here’s hoping the best to the next Kevin James comedy.

Dropping one spot from last weekend, Clint Eastwood’s powerful “Gran Torino” continues its turn at the box office taking in another $22.2 million, giving it a grand total of $73.3 million. Although I plan to have a formal review of “Gran Torino” out shortly, the movie is nothing short of spectacular. Eastwood is phenomenal as an actor and a director and was shamefully overlooked at the Golden Globes. “Gran Torino” definitely deserves some kind of recognition at the Oscars, but we will have to wait and see.

Debuting in third place is the latest horror movie “My Bloody Valentine 3D” which is a huge step up from last week’s wretched poser “The Unborn.” “My Bloody Valentine 3D,” a remake of a classic 80’s slasher movie, is a great example to show that modern horror movies can still be effective and rather simple. With its straight up slasher motif, “My Bloody Valentine 3D” knows no shame and takes 3D horror to the next level. The movie raked in $21.9 million.

Opening in a close fourth place at $21.5 million is the biopic “Notorious.” No, it’s not a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious,” but rather a biographical story about a famous rapper. And rounding out the top five is the new Paramount/DreamWorks collaborative movie “Hotel for Dogs” with $17.7 million.

The romantic comedy “Bride Wars” continues to hang on at number six with an additional $11.7 million, while the aforementioned “The Unborn” took in another $9.8 million. Their totals stand at $37.5 million and $33 million, respectively. Daniel Craig’s World War II drama “Defiance” got a huge boost this weekend jumping from thirty-fifth place to eighth. Finishing out the top ten are the maudlin “Marley & Me” and the Golden Globe winner for best drama “Slumdog Millionaire.”

As for Oscar bait, the Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson romantic comedy “Last Chance Harvey” took in $4.8 million with only 1,054 theaters. Mickey Roarke’s “The Wrestler” is only playing in 144 theaters and took in $1.7 million, while “Revolutionary Road” grossed the same in its 171 theaters. Meanwhile, “The Reader” raked in $1.2 million in its 417 theaters. Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon,” which is supposed to be expanding next weekend has its current total at $8.6 million.

Opening next week are only two movies. I am eagerly awaiting the third installment of the “Underworld” franchise, subtitled “Rise of the Lycans,” while remaining skeptical of the new Brendan Fraser fantasy “Inkheart,” although both look fairly entertaining. See you next week!

Source: Box Office Mojo

Box Office