Defying many who thought the gay content would be “too much” for certain audiences, Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno” debuted at the top spot with an impressive $30 million haul. Sociological ramifications? Eh. “Bruno” proves only what we already knew, that some people still love laughing at gay people, with a select few appreciating the joys of laughing with them. Is there a real life suggestion that homosexuality, because it remains somewhat taboo, should be accepted primarily as a source of humor for both gays and straights?
We look forward to the oddballs claiming “Bruno” is evidence of a breakout of queer cinema, a subgenre that earns its distinction by defying audience expectations, something a mainstream comedy explicitly does not. Perhaps homosexual (romantic/sexual?) cinema can only be embraced as comedic, but then again, how many serious, straight-faced (romantic/sexual?) heterosexual films have become successes in recent memory? For that matter, the chuckleheads who attend mass mainstream cinema seem to favor their films peppered with humor, as “Star Trek” was relatively sitcom-y, and “Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen” can’t stop for two minutes without dropping some braindead gag shooting for the cheap seats? Everything’s a comedy, we suppose.
At #2 is “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” with $28.5 million. Not a bad hold, all things considered, and supposedly Fox keeps the costs low, so this is another big score for the frugal studio. Not a surprise, of course, but while the reception for this has been so-so in America, it’s heavily nuked the overseas market to the tune of nearly $200 million already. At #3, “Transformers” settled in at $24.2 million, running it’s total to $339 million, already passed the first film’s score, and easily 2009’s biggest movie. Your grandkids will read this in the history books and laugh at you.
“Public Enemies” held steady at #4 with $14.1 million and a $67 million total after two weeks- all parties should be happy its not shitting the bed like “Miami Vice” did. “The Proposal” hung strong in the top five with $10.5 million, but “The Hangover” is right on its tail, losing less than 12% of its audience and bringing its tally to $222 million. WB probably had “Terminator Salvation” as a $200-$300 million grosser and would have been happy for the latest from the director of “School For Scoundrels” crossing the $60 million, which shows the volatility of the studio marketplace. “The Hangover” is already more than $100 million under “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” but the former is the story, since it has played and played and played, posting minimal drops after a solid opening to suggest that while “Transformers” might be the summer’s biggest movie, but “Hangover” is the movie people have connected to. When the layman discusses their moviegoing summer of 2009, they aren’t going to discuss the big robots as much as they’ll talk about those three blotto guys in Vegas.
“I Love You Beth Cooper” was given a mercy killing by Fox, scoring only $5 million on a quiet sub-2000 theaters. It will be on DVD and forgotten by the time director Chris Columbus’ next audience-proof tentpole, “Percy Jackson,” hits next year. “Up” continues to play, but “Ice Age” knocked the wind out of its sails, and it will finish short of $300 million. “Up” has pulled in enough to be Pixar’s second biggest hit after “Finding Nemo,” so Disney sure has reason to celebrate- maybe they can use some of those profits to fund the marketing for the upcoming “Ponyo,” but why do we have the feeling it will be in support of “Old Dogs” instead?
As far as other blockbusters, “Night At The Museum” crossed $170 million this weekend, while “Star Trek” surpassed $250 million. Both are franchise pictures, and an interesting study of contrasts- “Trek” producers must be chomping at the bit for a sequel, even though the Paramount shakeup means a greenlight may not be imminent, but its clearly a home run in regards to the franchise. International numbers have been not nearly as robust, however. Meanwhile, “Museum,” which scored bigger abroad, might be the end of the line for the franchise, as it seems dependent on star Ben Stiller, a guy who everyone knows probably has better things to do, even if they’re only vaguely better (“Little Fokkers”?). Current worldwide tally- “Trek” at $377 million. “Museum” at $377 million. Hm.
In indie theaters, “Away We Go” took its shot and missed modestly, and is back to weekly sub-$1 million grosses and a total of $7.4 million. “Whatever Works” is following a similar pattern after a semi-promising opening, clocking in this week with a $3 million gross as it loses screens, and both will soon lose ground to word-of-mouth gainer “Moon.” Sony Pictures Classics hasn’t done the best job releasing the space madness drama, and it added 200 theaters but boasted a middling per-screen average, but the expansion shows faith in the audience, and word of mouth is gaining steadily. The numbers say this thing is dead, but because it is such an anomaly in the marketplace, its hard to immediately write it off after its first really significant expansion.
“The Hurt Locker” continued its push, adding 50 theaters and pulling in $623k to pull over $1 million in very few screens, though the coming wide expansion will be a different beast entirely. Provided it is coming- get going, Summit. Indie cinemas have a major word-of-mouth hit in documentary”Food, Inc.” which has quietly held steady each week and has now pulled in $1.7 million, while “Blood The Last Vampire” debuted at $103k in twenty theaters, a decent showing/advertisement for the DVD. Meanwhile, the biggest per-screen average comes from mumblecore movie “Humpday,” which opened on only two screens for a $29k cume on a $14k per screen average.
1. Fish In A Barrel- $30.4 million
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs- $28.5 million ($121 mil)
3. Transformers: The 9/11 Of Movies- $24.2 million ($339 mil)
4. Public Enemies- $14.1 million ($67 mil)
5. The Proposal- $10.5 million ($114 mil)
6. Drunk Guys- $9.9 million ($222 mil)
7. I Love You Beth Cooper- $5 million
8. Up- $4.7 million ($274 mil)
9. My Sister’s Keeper- $4.2 million ($36 mil)
10. The Taking Of Pelham 123- $1.6 million ($62 mil)