Box Office Update: "Bosses" Rise Against "Moon"

Forgive me if things have been too silent for your liking lately. Balancing my work online and an actual job is a bit of a chore, and some things rightly take a back seat. I promise that things will pick up considerably after the summer, but you can expect things to be slow around this time of year. Obviously the box office is not one of such things, so that's something I'll always comment on. As for this particular weekend, nothing is truly changed or different. Transformers: Dark of the Moon remains the one to beat for the year, though that could certainly change very soon.

Michael Bay's trilogy capper fell a heavy 52% from its giant debut, and it raises a question of how much higher than $300 million it will reach domestically. Still, the film is performing quite admirably given the constant assault of critical backlash. I realize I never did weigh in on the film, so I'll take just a moment to give my thoughts. It's perhaps the worst film of the entire series, but it's also the most enjoyable, stupidly hilarious, and just plain fun films I've seen in a long time. I enjoyed Revenge of the Fallen more than Transformers, and I enjoyed Dark of the Moon even more. Call me insane, but that's my standing on the matter.

In the meantime, comedic films tried to add an inch of levity to the summer, and somewhat successfully if you look at the money charts. Horrible Bosses, which I hear has received a handful of good reviews, would've reigned champion this weekend if it weren't for Bay's machines. Zookeeper, was the weaker of the two, but give it credit for inching just above the $20 million mark this weekend. Cars 2 is taking smaller drops now, but I'd expect it to end below even Ratatouille, one of Pixar's toughest sells. Rounding out the top five is Bad Teacher, which I saw and was somewhat appalled by on Thursday. Still, it's been holding on well, and could make it to $100 million if all continues as it is. Sure, the weekend was down from last year when Despicable Me placed first, but expect an uptick in good time.

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Second Weekend; $47 million)

2. Horrible Bosses (First Weekend; $28.1 million)

3. Zookeeper (First Weekend; $21 million)

4. Cars 2 (Third Weekend; $15.2 million)

5. Bad Teacher (Third Weekend; $9 million)

6. Larry Crowne (Second Weekend; $6.3 million)

7. Super 8 (Fifth Weekend; $4.8 million)

8. Monte Carlo (Second Weekend; $3.8 million)

9. Green Lantern (Fourth Weekend; $3.1 million)

10. Mr. Popper's Penguins (Fourth Weekend; $2.9 million)

Box Office Update: Under Light of "Moon"

It seems like the box office is thriving, with another major hit having taken a huge chunk of the earnings this weekend, be it one that we expected. To be honest, I would have expected bigger numbers from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but I guess the weak(er) start had to do with the general anger towards the second film. As most know, I quite enjoyed the second film, and I quite enjoyed the third film for the same basic reasons. It's big, loud, stupid, hilarious, honest, and quite obviously beautiful. Every artist has a certain style, and Bay's is with the degenerate and flashy. You can't simply watch this film and lump it in with the crowd of failing blockbusters.

Cars 2 took a massive drop from last weekend, by far the largest drop of any Pixar film, but there's no surprise there. Larry Crowne failed on impact, not making a huge dent with the opposite demographic of Transformers. Monte Carlo also didn't make a big impact, but it did well for what was expected of it. That's the main thing you can say about it, is that it did exactly what it was expected to do, and that's fine. In the scheme of total grosses, Bridesmaids passed the $150 million point, which I'm quite happy about. Pirates 4 passed $1 billion worldwide, which I'm not at all happy about. It certainly puts Alice in Wonderland in perspective in terms of quality.

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (First Weekend; $116.4 million)

2. Cars 2 (Second Weekend; $32.1 million)

3. Bad Teacher (Second Weekend; $17.6 million)

4. Larry Crowne (First Weekend; $15.7 million)

5. Super 8 (Fourth Weekend; $9.5 million)

6. Monte Carlo (First Wekend; $8.8 million)

7. Green Lantern (Third Weekend; $8 million)

8. Mr. Popper's Penguins (Third Weekend; $6.9 million)

9. Bridesmaids (Eighth Weekend; $4.4 million)

10. Midnight in Paris (Seventh Weekend; $4.3 million)

Box Office Update: "2" Fast. Not Furious.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with this summer? We've gone on so far without anything being truly exceptional, that I'm honestly playing quite the pessimist. I'm honestly kind of excited for Transformers: Dark of the Moon to lift me out of this rut I've been stuck in. That's not to say that films haven't been mildly successful. Green Lantern looks to be the only unmitigated failure of the blockbuster summer thus far. Things have been on a downward slope for Cars 2 all week, and yet it still displays an honorable total for this weekend.

I'm not surprised, as kids were greatly pleased with Hop a few months back, so why on earth would they not be even more pleased with Cars 2? The film beat low expectations to take the top spot with $8 million more than the previous film's opening. It's still to be determined how well the film plays in the long term, but there isn't much to draw away the kid crowd in the next month, so I'd say the film's prospects are strong. Now, the other new releases would usually be a non-factor, but Bad Teacher put up a fantastic opening north of $30 million, which is spectacular for a comedic venture like that.

Aside from that, there's not much to this weekend's box office. Green Lantern took a nosedive of nearly 65%, and looks like it's going to be a total failure. Super 8 is currently en route to doubling its budget of $50 million. Overall, the weekend was up a good 8% from last year, so things might be taking a turn for the better after Green Lantern's failure.

1. Cars 2 (First Weekend; $68 million)

2. Bad Teacher (First Weekend; $31 million)

3. Green Lantern (Second Weekend; $18.4 million)

4. Super 8 (Third Weekend; $12.1 million)

5. Mr. Popper's Penguins (Second Weekend; $10.3 million)

6. X-Men: First Class (Fourth Weekend; $6.6 million)

7. The Hangover: Part II (Fifth Weekend; $5.9 million)

8. Bridesmaids (Seventh Weekend; $5.4 million)

9. Pirates 4 (Sixth Weekend; $4.7 million)

10. Midnight in Paris (Sixth Weekend; $4.5 million)

Box Office Update: Green Means Stop

Sorry there wasn't any "Weekend Report", but from time to time my actual job tends to come in the way of me getting things up on time. On to the actual news, Green Lantern's opening was a mix of the good and the bad, opening modestly to $21.6 million on Friday only to decline greatly with the next two days. I have absolutely no intention of seeing it and adding to its now depressing total. It still managed to hold onto the top spot, but that's no huge feat going up against the second weekend of Super 8. Talking of which, J.J. Abrams' new film slipped only 40% from last weekend, which is pretty spectacular for a film built on a budget of $50 million.

Then there's the bastard second new release that finds its place lower down the list at number 3, this week being Mr. Popper's Penguins. The film fared less favorably than imagined given its kid friendly premise, but it was expected to land somewhere just below $20 million. Don't expect further kindness with Cars 2 coming in next week to snatch the kid crowd, and Bad Teacher picking up the comedic circuit. X-Men: First Class continued on a downward trend, falling another 50% to fourth place. Filling out the top five was The Hangover: Part II, which is finally bottoming out, and should end its run at about $250 million, far more than it deserves. This weekend ultimately was a gargantuan 23.8% down from last year, but that's understandable against the opening of Toy Story 3.

1. Green Lantern (First Weekend; $52.7 million)

2. Super 8 (Second Weekend; $21.3 million)

3. Mr. Popper's Penguins (First Weekend; $18.2 million)

4. X-Men: First Class (Third Weekend; $11.5 million)

5. The Hangover: Part II (Fourth Weekend; $9.6 million)

6. Kung Fu Panda 2 (Fourth Weekend; $8.7 million)

7. Bridesmaids (Sixth Weekend; $7.5 million)

8. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (Fifth Weekend; $6.2 million)

9. Midnight in Paris (Fifth Weekend; $5 million)

10. Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer (Second Weekend; $2.2 million)

For Your Anticipation: Who's Responsible for This?

I'm really tired of using the same reasons why I don't care about Mr. Popper's Penguins. It's got Jim Carrey selling out once again on kid friendly films with no actual reason. It warps a childhood story into something completely stereotypical. It has Agent Coulson from Marvel films half convincing me this is actually part of their setup for The Avengers, which it isn't. There just isn't anything worth seeing about it.

Films to See in 2011: June

I have had a joyfully optimistic entrance into this Summer with May, so it's a rather large disappointment to go from that to the June slate. All of the films that I have been looking forward to in June are coming out in the first two weeks. That leaves a pretty sizable mess of the following two weeks. Jim Carrey is adding yet another pointlessly irritating performance to his repertoire with Mr. Popper's Penguins. Pixar could potentially break their tradition of wonderfully heart filled entertainment with Cars 2. I'm still not sold on Green Lantern, nor do I expect to be so in the following weeks. Luckily, we do have some films waiting to invigorate audiences before this downward slope.

3. Beginners

Directed by Mike Mills

Like most films at this spot, I'm not relentlessly waiting for this film to come out, no pun intended. More can be said of this film than simply saying that it's better than most of what's out there. I'd say that Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, and Christopher Plummer are signs of something great, but everybody has their respective pitfalls. What has me so interested in this film is the witty personal nature of the piece. It's not a broad comedy by any definition, and it focuses on very real and interesting emotions. When you take on a subject such as this, and one that's really never been touched upon, you raise several interesting questions. If director Mike Mills does a good job answering them, he's got something great here.

Dread Locks: June 2011

Another piece that went up in glorious flames during the "Blogger Maintenance Massacre of 2011", as I will call it, I had already gone on about the expected upsets of this coming month. There's always a promise of some sort of substantial failings, either expected or unexpected. And yet, I found myself so strictly confined while figuring out what films to have people vote for this month. The Art of Getting By looks like the most horrible indie flick I've ever heard of, but there's little chance anyone's ever heard of it. At the time, I was halfway committed to slapping Cars 2 in there, and I didn't because of the long-term respect I have for Pixar. After seeing the latest semi-redeeming trailer, I'm glad I made that call.

The most difficult film not to throw in there was Green Lantern, because every scrap of marketing for that film hits me like a brick to the head. There has been such banal optimism towards the film that it makes me sick, because whatever hope there is towards it is reminiscent of Avatar. I'd be a little more faithful if the film looked as good as Avatar and not Fantastic Four. I have every reason to lump this one in the poll, but I know that if I did then absolutely everyone would vote for it. Then it becomes a popularity contest, and I have pretty much secured my place in the theater for a film I really don't want to see.