Weekend Box Office Totals
1. "Get Smart," $39.2 million.
2. "Kung Fu Panda," $21.7 million.
3. "The Incredible Hulk," $21.6 million.
4. "The Love Guru," $14 million.
5. "The Happening," $10 million.
6. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," $8.4 million.
7. "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," $7.2 million.
8. "Sex and the City," $6.5 million.
9. "Iron Man," $4 million.
10. "The Strangers," $1.9 million.
Get Smart outwitted a fighting fat panda, a not-so-jolly green giant, a horrible, utterly unbearable new Mike Myers character, and the latest kinda-thriller from M. Night Shyamalan to take the No. 1 spot in its opening weekend, with $39.2 million domestic. I just got back from the movie, and while corny as hell, the whole thing is a big guilty pleasure for all Steve Carrell fans. Anne Hathaway was surprisingly convincing as a...woman, shedding the doe-eyed innocent little mouse persona she seems to have gotten by on until now. It suits her well, and clearly put asses in seats this weekend.
It is with great relief and cruel giddiness that I tell you that Mike Myers' new character comedy The Love Guru tanked in its opening. The stereotype-stroking Indian character with a caricature Apu accent that Myers has put together is not only cheap schtick but ill-timed as well, in a national climate where we can't decide to make fun of terrorism or treat everything from Turkey to Bangladesh as a minefield of politically-correct sensitivity.
A release date has been set for Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen's eagerly-anticipated next film, centering on Bruno, the gay fashionista character from Cohen's "Da Ali G Show" on HBO. The film, which arrives May 15, 2009, is specifically titled: Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt. Nope, not kidding. And we can't wait.
Yay, another remake. In the land where everybody's got a script they're just dying to show anybody with eyes and a checkbook, Hollywood just keeps churning out lesser versions of old movies that weren't even that good to begin with. Case in point with the new Escape From New York film, starring.... Josh Brolin? The movie was originally set to star 300's Gerard Butler, which kinda sounds awesome. But with Brolin rockin' the patch, the pile in the $5 movie bin at Wal-Mart just got that much bigger.
Quentin Tarantino's long-marinating next epic Inglorious Bastards will actually be two films. The story centers on hardened criminals during World War II, trying to make it to Switzerland after their military transport gets ambushed by Nazis. Everyone from Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzennegger, Uma Thurman and your mom have been rumored to be in the cast.
Gamers, pinch yourselves. Underworld's Len Wiseman has signed on to direct the big-screen adaptation of the massively popular Gears of War video game for New Line Cinema. The film is scheduled to be released sometime in 2009.
A sequel to the 2004 parkour-frenzy action film District B13 is in development. Written by B13 star Luc Besson and directed by Patrick Alessandrin, the sequel will be titled District B14. Points for creativity. I don't care what they call it, count me in. The first one was jaw-droppingly awesome. Would you like some proof?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zK9nkUr-8U&eurl=http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/16/district-b14/
One half of Marvel's summer cash-cow, Iron Man, crossed the $300 million mark on Wednseday, it's 48th day in theaters. It's the first film this year to pass such a milestone, although Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull appears on pace to surpass the mark by next weekend, having already pulled in an impressive $279 million.
Tagged:
