Considering the wide swath of new options at the theaters this past weekend, it's no surprise that the audience ended up splitting up in all directions, thus allowing Rise of the Planet of the Apes to take the top slot for the second week in a row, with $27.5 million in gross ticket sales. That's a less than 50% drop from last weekend, and put the film up over the $100 million mark. With any luck, this will help director Rupert Wyatt's vision for a sequel of "Full Metal Jacket with apes" come to fruition. Really looking forward to the scene where the monkey Vietnamese prostitute accosts the monkey soldiers.
As for the newcomers this weekend, the overwhelming power of white guilt once again proved too great an enticement for any old people who just wanted to see "a nice story about how we helped the colored folk get over that whole segregation thing," as The Help took the number two spot at $25.5 million. That movie actually opened on Wednesday for whatever reason, and over the course of its five day run, managed $35.4 million in ticket sales.
Immediately behind The Help was Final Destination 5, which managed $18.4 million. That's the first time a Final Destination sequel has opened lower than one of its predecessors, leading literally every box office reporter to prognosticate that "death is stalking the series," because seriously, it's the easiest joke you can imagine. Below that even was 30 Minutes or Less, the Jesse Eisenberg/Aziz Ansari action comedy with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot that the studio could not have wanted to pretend harder it didn't rip-from-the-headlines. It debuted a paltry fifth overall, with $13 million.
Most surprising of all, however, was the out-and-out tanking of Glee: The 3D Concert Movie. While it only opened on 2,000 screens (relative to Final Destination 5's 3100, mind you), the movie's 11th place finish ($5.7 million) can't exactly be encouraging to any Fox executives who were hoping to milk this Glee thing for the next decade or so.
Now let's go to the decidedly Glee-free top 10 list, and bask in what terror The Smurfs hath wrought once again.
 | 1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes $27.5 million / $104.9 million |
 | 2. The Help $25.5 million / $35.4 million / NEW |
 | 3. Final Destination 5 $18.4 million / NEW |
 | 4. The Smurfs $13.5 million / $101.5 million |
 | 5. 30 Minutes or Less $13 million / NEW |
 | 6. Cowboys and Aliens $7.6 million / $81.5 million |
 | 7. Captain America: The First Avenger $7.1 million / $156.9 million |
 | 8. Crazy, Stupid, Love. $6.9 million / $55.4 million |
 | 9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II $6.8 million / $357 million |
 | 10. The Change-Up $6.2 million / $25.7 million |
Dropped Out: Horrible Bosses; Friends with Benefits; Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Source: Box Office Mojo
I wonder how early (if at all) in the production process the studio execs know they're making a bad movie. Do they know and just put the movie out anyways in the hopes of making some money back or are they blissfully unaware?
I'm just trying to figure out how The Change-Up got released to theaters where people are charged money to see that piece of crap.
No noteworthy releases or news from the indie circuit ? I wonder how Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy did.
went to watch ROTPOTA on Saturday and the theater was still packed.
Wanted to see FD5 this weekend, ended up seeing Planet of the Apes instead. I really dug that movie, even though there was a lot less action than the trailers made it look like.
@pat4327 said:
They have to know pretty early on that the movie is bad. I'm sure when they get enough dailies or a rough cut they can judge its quality. They have to still put it out though because they presumably spent millions making it. They have to make whatever they can off of it.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is the second in a series of "____, _____, Love" movies that will change the way movies are made. Crossing my fingers for Zombies, Guns, Love.
@Seraphim84: I'd watch "Explosions, Tits, Love"
Went to see Attack the Block this weekend. Wish this had a wider release, such a fun movie!
oh and this
@Joe said:
This, pretty much.
I have a feeling that it will make a pretty good haul internationally and easily make its budget back.
I know I will go and watch it when it opens over here (Finland) early next month.
Exactly. About 3 weeks ago, you couldn't drag me to go see Rise, but after hearing about the great reviews & seeing the updated trailer, I got excited to see it. Took my mom (who grew up with the original film) and we both enjoyed it a ton. Great film. Deserving of its success.