Bad weather or sub-par fare from top movie stars? You make the call. Warner Brothers’ “Yes Man,” starring Jim Carrey, came in at number one over the weekend with $18.2 million on over 3,400 screens, besting Will Smith’s downer “Seven Pounds” which came in at $16 million. This is the lowest debut of a Smith vehicle since “Ali” in 2001.
Poor reviews for both films (more famously for “Pounds”) are a likely culprit for an overall weekend box office down 44% from last year. Boston’s box office dropped 81% from Friday last year, as an extreme example of the past weekend’s downturn.
Despite a lackluster debut from “Yes Man,” Warner Brother’s is still set to hold the record for most money grossed by a single studio in one year: $1.68 billion as Friday. Thank you, ‘Dark Knight’!) Fox Searchlight is also doing well as “Slumdog Millionaire” placed 8th with just over $3 million and opened “The Wrestler” to a wider release this weekend.
Coming in third last weekend at $10.5 million was “The Tale of Desperaux,” which stars Matthew Broderick as a CGI-ed, swashbuckling mouse with big ears. The kids have to have something to watch during Oscar season, right? “Desperaux” will have Adam Sandler’s “Bedtime Stories” from Disney, as well as “Marley and Me” to contend with this coming Thursday.
While WB & Columbia (which put out “Seven Pounds”) are hoping for continued success with their debuts from last week, expect the aforementioned family fare and ‘Benjamin Button’ to help dash some of those hopes. Oh yeah, “Valkyrie” and “The Spirit” are coming out this week too, if you’re looking for a nice quiet hiding place.
Here’s the rundown:
1. “Yes Man” $18.16 Million
2. “Seven Pounds” $16 Million
3. “The Tale of Desperaux” $10.5 Million
4. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” $10.15 Million
5. “Four Christmases” $7.745 Million
6. “Twilight” $5.2 Million
7. “Bolt” $4.25 Million
8. “Slumdog Millionaire” $3.15 Million
9. “Australia” $2.325 Million
10. “Quantum of Solace” $2.15 Million
11. “Milk” $1.6 Million
12. “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” $1.5 Million
[via Variety & Yahoo!]