I think it's safe to say that Nic Cage has had better weeks.
Here is a thing that I did not expect to happen: the
Nic Cage grindhouse action flick
Drive Angry completely, and utterly bombing. Here is another thing that I did not expect: Both
Drive Angry and the Farrelly Brothers comedy,
Hall Pass, AKA the only new releases of the weekend, getting trounced by the three-week-old animated family comedy
Gnomeo and Juliet. Suffice it to say, this weekend was anything but predictable.
Indeed,
Gnomeo and Juliet took the weekend with an estimated $14.2 million for the weekend. That was about a million more than
Hall Pass, which debuted at number two, well behind the debuts of other recent relationship comedies like
Just Go With It and
The Dilemma. Considering there are no other animated films in major circulation right now, and weekend days are often the arena for box office success for such movies, I guess it's not altogether surprising that
Gnomeo has held on as well as it has. However, still. WOW.
Far more tragic than anything
Hall Pass related, however, is
Drive Angry, which tanked in a fairly severe way. The movie opened ninth on the list, with $5.1 million in ticket sales. For comparison, that's half as much as Cage's last disappointment,
Season of the Witch did upon opening, and roughly four times less than the middling debut of last year's
Kick Ass. Want more? It's also half as much as 3D grindhouse contemporary
Piranha 3D, and four times less than director
Patrick Lussier's last movie,
My Bloody Valentine 3D, opened at. On the plus side? It made a million dollars more on its opening weekend as
Macgruber. So, uh, that's a thing? I guess?
The rest of the weekend was pretty dull across the board, though one amusing side note is the limited release debut of
The Grace Card, a movie starring
Louis Gossett Jr. targeted at the Christian market. On 350 screens, it made over a million dollars, good for 16th place. With delicious word play like that, plus the star of
Iron Eagle,
Enemy Mine and
Jaws 3D at the head of it, how could it be anything but a box office success? Also, you know.
Jesus. Let's escape Hell together, and check out the full list, eh?
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Gnomeo and Juliet
$14.2 million / $75.1 million
Hell of a thing, seeing this take number one in its third week. The real intrigue will come next weekend, when Rango comes around. That movie isn't 3D, and it's arguably more adult than Gnomeo, but still seems like a worthy challenger. Also, it doesn't have a god awful pun for a name, which makes me like it more. And yes, I know that's totally hypocritical, coming from me. Shut up.
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Hall Pass
$13.4 million / NEW
Not sure why this struggled compared to other, similar comedies released recently, but I can only assume it had something to do with its total lack of Adam Sandler, Vince Vaughn, and Paul Blart. If this same movie had Sandler and Blart in the leads, it would have made like a bajilliondy dollars.
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Unknown
$12.4 million / $42.8 million
Liam Neeson continues to punch the living hell out of the competition. Did anyone see this latter day action hero twist to his career back during his Schindler's List days? I sure didn't.
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Just Go With It
$11.1 million / $79.4 million
Considering the way Jennifer Aniston's career has gone of late, it's safe to assume she will only be starring Adam Sandler vehicles from here on out. It's really the only smart move.
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I Am Number Four
$11 million / $37.7 million
Goddammit, even in your second week you can't give me the "I Am Number Four is actually number four!" joke? Really? REALLY?!? I frigging hate this movie so hard.
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Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
$9.2 million / $62.8 million
I forget, did that director's cut hit theaters yet? Curious to see if that will have any effect on this movie's intake, or if 12-year-old Bieber fans have already Biebered themselves (and, likely, their parents) all the way out. Bieber.
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The King's Speech
$7.6 million / $114.5 million
It's a good thing this movie won all those Oscars and is getting a PG-13 cut, otherwise there was a good chance it would have failed financially. Ba-dum-bum.
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Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
$7.5 million / $28.6 million
Here's the real tragedy that no one seems willing to discuss, but I'm going to put out there in the open, on account of my bravery in tacking tough issues. What am I talking about? That there are three Big Momma movies, and only one White Chicks. What the shit, Hollywood?
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Drive Angry
$5.1 million / NEW
Just a reminder, this movie cost $50 million to make. Five. Oh. Million. Said in my best Jerry Seinfeld voice: "That's a shame."
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The Roommate
$2.1 million / $35.9 million
WHO IS STILL SEEING THIS MOVIE? HONESTLY!
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Dropped Out: The Eagle,
No Strings Attached Source: Box Office Mojo
NOT! I find it hard to believe that people like Nicholas Cage. It must be one of those "I like something thats clearly awful" things.
It's gotta be.
It would have also probably been a 1 star film if Sandler had had anything to do with it.
For some reason I expect that both Hall Pass and Drive Angry to have some legs, and stay on the list a while. And I also expect them both do well in Europe. Europe loves Nic Cage.
Really? I did not know that this was his market.
I didn't expect Drive Angry to tank this hard, but I kinda suspected it would make a loss. I wonder where this leaves Cage. Will he make even shittier movies? He still have to work right? Has his stock gone down? Was it already all the way down?
Nicolas Cage, I will remember you for Wild at Heart... Maybe the Rock. And Face/Off for its ridiculousness.
I'm surprised Drive Angry did soooo bad. I kinda wanna see it, but in a rental sense.
Yeah, especially when I'm still waiting for Soul Man 2: Back in Black(face)!
Whelp, that's me. Not only have I seen both Nicolas Cage movies this year, but I revel in watching awful, awful movies. I paid good money to see all the Twilight films, The Last Airbender, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li and just about anything that looks remotely entertaining in a bad way.
(Also Drive Angry is totally alright if you're looking for a fun shoot 'em up movie. it's intentionally awful.)
Wow I am number Four drop from third to fifth. What it is is definitely not number four
Well, maybe love is a too strong word for it, but even Season of the Witch and Sorcerer's Apprentice turned profit in the end when counting worldwide box office. Though I guess that's not counting whatever they poured into marketing, but I don't recall seeing much marketing on either of those.
So it seems that Nic Cage still has some pull.
And I personally will see every Cage movie when they arrive in my little town. :p