The Jerry Bruckheimer brand sure knows hits. Dipping his toes into the kiddie world, he achieved another number one hit with “G-Force.” The 3D guinea pig action picture netted $32.2 million over the weekend, outpacing last weekend’s champ “Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.” The boy wizard fell off a sharp 61% (gee, it must be Twitter’s/MySpace’s/Skype’s fault) but was still close behind with $30 million, bringing its two week total to $222 million domestic, with undoubtedly more overseas.
With the kids staking their claim to the top two movies, the R-rated “The Ugly Truth” was able to come in at #3 with a still-strong $27 million. The rom-com experienced a series of delays and schedule changes, but Sony felt they had a strong performer and let it loose in the competitive summer marketplace. For Katherine Heigl, it’s not as muscular as the $30 million bow for “Knocked Up,” but it outdistanced her last opening, the $23 million-performing “27 Dresses.” She’s likely got a full career of being the destitute man’s Julia Roberts, while Gerard Butler continues to pointlessly counterprogram/sabotage his career. Is Butler a star? Despite “300” making him a man of action, he’s done a few rom-coms, but no one knows yet what the Butler name brings to a movie. He’s a name, we suppose, but not exactly someone you’ll hang your box office appeal on directly- “Gamer,” coming in September, will try to do just that, but word is the budget wasn’t too hefty, so it might be a zero-sum gain for Butler’s career. Director Robert Luketic (“21,” “Monster In Law”), meanwhile, can continue sucking shit.
Scary tot picture “Orphan” opened to $12.7 million, scaring up a #4 position, but the picture’s looked like a straight-on dump the entire time. “Ice Age” and “Transformers,” meanwhile, continue to jockey for position, at $8.2 mil and $8 mil respectively. The animated sequel probably lost some IMAX screens to “G-Force,” and could top out at $190 domestic, while “Transformers” is at $379 with an eye for $400. Will it make it there? The only thing at stake there is pride, since failing to double an opening weekend, even a monster five day one, is pretty embarassing in Hollywood. That’s like buying Boardwalk and Park Place but running out of money before putting up houses.
“The Hangover” continues to play, play, play, and at $6.5 million this weekend, it could be poised to lap “Transformers” next weekend, an unbelievable prospect. The comedy is at $247 million total, and could easily finish its run at $260-$270. Maybe the next one should be in 3D. “The Proposal” is at $140 million with $160 a likely finishing point, while “Public Enemies” crawled its way to $88- will Universal keep it in theaters to nudge it to $100 much like Dreamworks did with “Collateral”? They might use some of the “Bruno” screens, as the film is seriously dropping out of sight after three weekends, falling to #10 with a cume of $57 million after a $30 million opening. We take back what we said in proposing “Bruno” will CLEARLY be the lowest grossing film to open over $30 by far- its $57 million puts it in spitting distance of “Friday the 13th”‘s $65 million total. “Friday” opened bigger, and “Bruno” isn’t getting to $65, so, not so clear. Hey, it’s something.
“500 Days Of Summer” expanded, taking in $1.6 million in 85 theaters, and could potentially enter the top ten next week. The indie comedy has collected $3 million in two weeks, and has shown strong crossover potential- the next step is television marketing, getting some non-arthouse eyes to see what kind of juice the movie’s got. The biggest per-screen average of the weekend belonged to “In The Loop,” which averaged a hefty $25k per screen for a $200k opening in only eight theaters. In its fifth week, “The Hurt Locker” added screens and did $1.5 million worth of business- when’s this thing gonna go wide?- while small star vehicles “Shrink” (Kevin Spacey) and “The Answer Man” (Jeff Daniels) did $17k (two theaters) and $13k (six theaters- ouch) respectively.
1. We3 Ripoff- $32.2 million
2. Harry Potter And The ‘Under The Cherry Tree’-Era Prince- $30 million ($222 mil)
3. The Ugly Truth- $27 million
4. The Ugly Child- $12.8 million
5. Ice Age: Last Of The Mohicans- $8.2 million ($171 mil)
6. Transformers 2: Autobot Boogaloo- $8 million ($379 mil)
7. The Hangover- $6.5 million ($247 mil)
8. Sandra Bullock Looks Like A Thundercat- $6.4 million ($140 mil)
9. Public Enemies- $4.2 million ($88 mil)
10. Bruno- $2.7 million ($57 mil)
