Sometimes a well-placed R-rated boys’ club comedy can do some serious damage in blockbuster land. Word of mouth has to be the culprit, explaining how “The Hangover” is somewhat mimicking recent frat-like R-rated fare like “The Wedding Crashers” with a second straight weekend at #1. Tracking-wise, the film is even crossing over to women, so with $105 million in the kitty after two weeks, it has to be considered a massive breakthrough for WB. Inches away from out grossing their other war horse “Terminator Salvation,” “The Hangover” recorded a $33.4 million gross, which is a audience loss of only 25%- that’s near-heroic.
The movie was able to best close challenger “Up” again, despite the Pixar toon showing its own solid momentum. The Disney blockbuster pulled in $30.5 million, a loss of a little over 30%, and is at $187 million, days away from surpassing “Monsters Vs. Aliens” and, our guess, two and a half weeks from becoming the year’s highest grossing film. Debuting softly at #3 was “The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3,” which did a modest $25 million- it’s a serious film targeted at adults, so there’s a chance it could have legs, but industry experts had the gross pegged at $30 mil or so. R-rated movies that aren’t comedy or high-octane actioners tend to struggle during the summer season, but this had the benefit of box office studs, so if a 50%-or-greater fall occurs next week, Sony will be dining on humble pie.
“Night At The Museum: Battle At The Smithsonian” and “Land of the Lost” rounded out the top five, with “Lost” running up a two week tally of $35 million- if Universal can get it to $60, they can breathe easily, with the hopes that DVD can put a respectable face on what can only now be considered a huge miscalculation. Debuting at #6 was the Eddie Murphy kiddie romp “Imagine That” with $5.7 million, slightly higher than last year’s “Meet Dave”- we’re guessing Murphy’s done wading into the kiddie pool (“Beverly Hills Cop IV” greenlight?), though it probably wasn’t his fault this time- Nickelodeon wasted millions and made a kids’ movie about an executive who gets stock tips from his daughter. Guess we’re not in a recession after all.
At #7, “Star Trek” again experienced a 30%-ish dip in audiences, as Paramount tries to milk their breakout hit as much as possible- it’s currently at $232 million and counting. “Terminator Salvation” is slowly shedding screens as it closes the weekend with $114 million in sales and “The Hangover” breathing down its back, while “Angels And Demons,” at $123 million, is looking to have grossed nearly $100 million less than its predecessor.
The week’s biggest indie was “Away We Go,” which expanded to 45 screens, but it only finished at $554k, an average of $12k per screen, which isn’t what Focus Features was counting on with a genial Dave Eggers-penned comedy directed by an Oscar winner. “Easy Virtue” crossed the $1 million mark, and “The Brothers Bloom” is at $2.5, while the biggest indie debut goes to “Moon.” With only eight theaters, the Sam Rockwell-starrer brought in $145k, a decent-but-not-spectacular showing, one that can undoubtedly be improved upon if further expansion is greeted with a heavier advertising presence, though Sony Pictures Classics isn’t known for that sort of largesse. The highest per-screen average this week was “Food Inc.,” the doc that generated $63k in three theaters, an average of $21k per screen. Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tetro,” meanwhile, collected $31k on only two screens, heavily outperforming Coppola’s last self-distributed feature “Youth Without Youth” in per-screen average.
1. Reckless Drinking Is Ok, Kids!- $34 million ($105 mil)
2. Danny Deckchair Sucks It- $30.5 million ($187 mil)
3. Humble Bald Man Vs. Fu Manchu White Guy- $25 million
4. Night At The Musezzzzzzzzzzzzz- $9.6 million ($143 mil)
5. Land Of The Lost Profits- $9.1 million ($35 mil)
6. Imagine That People Wanted To See This- $5.7 million
7. Star Trek: The Eleventh Movie- $5.6 million ($232 mil)
8. Terminator Dinner Theater- $4.7 million ($114 mil)
9. Angels And Lamberto Bava’s Demons- $4.2 million ($123 mil)
10. Drag Me To Hell- $3.9 million ($35 mil)