The other big release this weekend, the Johnny Depp / Angelina Jolie romantic crime thriller The Tourist, came in second with $17 million. While that's slightly less distressing than the numbers for Narnia, somehow, some way, The Tourist still cost $100 million to make. $100 million! For what? The 8 mile-per-hour boat chases? The roof tiles Johnny Depp cracked as he gingerly jogged across Venetian roofs? Angelina Jolie's lip injections?
So while it was kind of bummertown all around for the big studio releases, things were all rainbows and sunshine in indie land, especially when it came to Black Swan, which expanded to 90 theaters this weekend, and still raked in a crazy $37,000 per-screen average. That was good enough for a $3.3 million take, and 6th place on this week's list. The King's Speech, which continues to sit on less than 20 screens despite being entirely awesome (saw it this weekend--loved it), did a little less than that, with $592,000, and a $31,000 per-screen average. 127 Hours continued to hover around the number 13 mark with just under a million, as it has the past couple of weeks.
While it didn't make the list this weekend, The Fighter opened in limited release on four screens, and took in $320,000, which is an absurd $80,000 per-screen average. That's kind of nuts for a movie that, at least on paper, looks like a pretty standard boxing movie. But when you've got a cast that good, and a ton of good buzz, I guess that'll get butts in seats. Also opening in limited release this weekend was Julie "Spider-Man Would Make a Great Broadway Musical" Taymor's adaptation of The Tempest. Reviews have been middling, which, for a Shakespeare adaptation, can be a bit of a killer, since the people who would go see something like that are the people who actually read movie reviews--translation: snobs. In this case, the movie did a mediocre $45,000 on five screens.
Travel through the wardrobe, or whatever the shit it was those kids traveled through in this latest movie, and check out the full list below.
Box Office Results: 12/10 - 12/12
 | 1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader $24.5 million / NEW |
 | 2. The Tourist $17 million / NEW |
 | 3. Tangled $14.6 million / $115.6 million |
 | 4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I $8.5 million / $257.7 million |
 | 5. Unstoppable $3.8 million / $74.3 million |
 | 6. Black Swan $3.3 million / $5.6 million |
 | 7. Burlesque $3.2 million / $32.6 million |
 | 8. Love and Other Drugs $3 million / $27.6 million |
 | 9. Due Date $2.6 million / $94.9 million |
 | 10. Megamind $2.5 million / $140.2 million |
Dropped Out: Faster, The Next Three Days, The Warrior's Way
Source: Box Office Mojo
I hope this is the last one in the series so they can put it to rest and move on.
It's also interesting and kind of troubling that so many people think that the movies would do better if the actors in it were more physically attractive.
Ultimately, I think this fell intro the trap of the studio looking for the next fantasy epic to turn into a series of movies to go along with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Unfortunately, despite C.S. Lewis being a better writer than Rowling or Tolkien, his works were never as popular.
Still, it would cool to see a film adaptation of his Space Trilogy.
It worked for Harry Potter.
Hermione is pretty hot, buddy.
'twas a joke, sweetie. I enjoy me a good Shakespeare adaptation as much as the next. I'm also a bit of a snob.
Consider me an abashed and penitent old fool. Except that I'm not old. Well, you get to point I'm sure.
Armageddon/Deep Impact
The Prestige/The Illusionist
Smokey and the Bandit/Star Wars
It's happened a lot of times, really!
Good point, I was thinking of Ron Weasley, and also Emma Watson is French and too young for me. Now Tilda Swinton on the other hand.... is too old. Damn it