Box Office Update: In the Depths of Hell

As grim as the outlook may be for the next month, take solace in the fact that it could never be as underwhelming as January 2011 was. We have some heavy catching up to do for the rest of the year. I know that many perceive the weekend of Season of the Witch to be the lowest our year has ever sunk, but I beg to differ, offering this weekend as a substitute. I'm just so underwhelmed by the box office performances that we've endured. Obviously the Oscar prevalent contenders are doing as well as always, with Black Swan looking to be the next film to break the $100 million barrier. The new releases of this year could use some improvement.

This week's new releases were The Rite and The Mechanic, but I honestly didn't notice until I had to comment on my expectations for them this weekend. Based on reviews, you'd expect the Jason Statham vehicle to do better in the box office, but that doesn't seem to be the way the world works. Instead, Anthony Hopkins garnered a short opening of $15 million, which should be easily overtaken next weekend. At this point, I still need to see No Strings Attached, but it's been doing fine enough for itself in the paltry competition it's had thus far. The only real question I have is why Yogi Bear is still in the top ten. Is the world really that pathetic?

1. The Rite (First Weekend; $15 million)
2. No Strings Attached (Second Weekend; $13.7 million)
3. The Mechanic (First Weekend; $11.5 million)
4. The Green Hornet (Third Weekend; $11.5 million)
5. The King's Speech (Tenth Weekend; $11.1 million)
6. True Grit (Sixth Weekend; $7.6 million)
7. The Dilemma (Third Weekend; $5.5 million)
8. Black Swan (Ninth Weekend; $5.1 million)
9. The Fighter (Eighth Weekend; $4.1 million)
10. Yogi Bear (Seventh Weekend; $3.2 million)

Box Office Update: Where's Our "Way Back"?

I didn't end up seeing No Strings Attached this weekend, much to my dismay and disappointment. It still managed to do well enough this weekend, raking in reasonable total for a film sporting a man who I hate. The foursome of major Oscar contenders, The King's Speech, Black Swan, True Grit, and The Fighter, brought in a grand total of $28 million altogether, and that shouldn't drop much after the Oscar nominations are announced on Tuesday, which I'm very excited about. I have no idea how and Little Fockers, and Yogi Bear are still raking in money, but I know they should stop right now. The box office was down about 26.6% from the same weekend last year, so we've got a lot of improvement to make. Does it eeem like anything's missing? If not, I don't necessarily blame you, because The Way Back opened on quiet buzz, and it has nobody to blame but itself for the poor box office results it took in.

1. No Strings Attached (First Weekend; $20.3 million)
2. The Green Hornet (Second Weekend; $18.1 million)
3. The Dilemma (Second Weekend; $9.7 million)
4. The King's Speech (Ninth Weekend; $9.2 million)
5. True Grit (Fifth Weekend; $8 million)
6. Black Swan (Eighth Weekend; $6.2 million)
7. The Fighter (Seventh Weekend; $4.5 million)
8. Little Fockers (Fifth Weekend; $4.4 million)
9. Yogi Bear (Sixth Weekend; $4 million)
10. TRON Legacy (Sixth Weekend; $3.7 million)

Box Office Update: A Sickly Green Dilemma

The industry box-office gurus would like you to believe that this weekend was great success, with two new features doing moderately well. In actuality it was the worst Martin Luther King Day weekend in more than three years. I wish I could say that you could never expect the same results as Avatar gave last year in January, but several films have been drastically under-performing. The Green Hornet opened to a merely modest $40 million, and The Dilemma proved the worst wide opening for Ron Howard since The Missing. While it's true that the Oscar performers like True Grit, The King's Speech, and Black Swan have been holding on spectacularly, we just don't have enough of last year's blockbusters trickling into this year. Next weekend isn't too promising either, but try not to give up hope. Another Natalie Portman film in the market can never hurt.

1. The Green Hornet (First Weekend; $40 million)
2. The Dilemma (First Weekend; $20.7 million)
3. True Grit (Fourth Weekend; $13.1 million)
4. The King's Speech (Eighth Weekend; $11.2 million)
5. Black Swan (Seventh Weekend; $10.4 million)
6. Little Fockers (Fourth Weekend; $8.4 million)
7. TRON Legacy (Fifth Weekend; $7.4 million)
8. Yogi Bear (Fifth Weekend; $6.8 million)
9. The Fighter (Sixth Weekend; $6.2 million)
10. Tangled (Eighth Weekend; $5.5 million)

Box Office Update: The Season of Suck

This shouldn't be such a surprise, but these first few weeks of 2011 will never earn as much as the first few weekends of last year. That's mostly because Avatar made so much more money than it deserved to. On the other hand, True Grit is proving to be kind of the Avatar of this year. That's a weird comparison to make between an epic sci-fi adventure and a smoothly paced western journey, but I feel it's a bit true. Of course, True Grit is far greater than Avatar, but both have appealed to mainstream audiences, made five times their opening weekends, and held onto audiences pretty well in subsequent weeks. True Grit is a film that shouldn't be this entertaining based on rather low-on-action beats of the plot, but Joel & Ethan Coen have quite obviously turned it into a roaring success.

Meanwhile, the new releases were obviously destined to fail, and Season of the Witch is already the frontrunner for next year's Razzie Awards. Besides negative critical reception, the film took in just over $10 million, which doesn't bode too well for the next few weeks. I'm not holding my breath. Country Strong did relatively well, but I expect a sizable drop in the coming weeks due to negative word of mouth. What really killed it this weekend were the heavy Oscar contenders this year. Black Swan, The King's Speech, and The Fighter all held on pretty well, and I wouldn't be surprised if they all clawed their ways towards the $100 million mark in the coming weeks. It's a longer walk for The King's Speech, but it could really turn the Oscar race around if it does well enough in the box office.

1. True Grit (Third Weekend; $15 million)
2. Little Fockers (Third Weekend; $13.8 million)
3. Season of the Witch (First Weekend; $10.7 million)
4. TRON Legacy (Fourth Weekend; $9.8 million)
5. Black Swan (Sixth Weekend; $8.4 million)
6. Country Strong (Third Weekend; $7.3 million)
7. The Fighter (Fifth Weekend; $7 million)
8. The King's Speech (Seventh Weekend; $6.8 million)
9. Yogi Bear (Fourth Weekend; $6.8 million)
10. Tangled (Seventh Weekend; $5.2 million)

Box Office Update: Not With A Fizzle, But With A Bang

Just a reminder, our countdown of the top ten films of 2010 is still going on until 8 p.m. tonight, so don't you forget about it. Alright, now let's face the facts. This year was a pretty big year at the box office, but still an overall disappointment. It seems like a bit of paradox, but with the drastic boost in ticket prices, I can't say it's surprising. On top of that, there wasn't really too much incentive to go out to the theaters this year, with more than our deserved helping of disappointment. However, I say confidently that this year went out much better than I expected it to. Little Fockers took the largest drop of the weekend. True Grit almost took the top spot. Six out of the ten biggest films at the box office were genuinely enjoyable experiences. Consider me contented, and I hope this next year provides an improvement.

1. Little Fockers (Second Weekend; $26.3 million)
2. True Grit (Second Weekend; $24.5 million)
3. TRON Legacy (Third Weekend; $18. 3 million)
4. Yogi Bear (Third Weekend; $13 million)
5. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fourth Weekend; $10.5 million)
6. Tangled (Sixth Weekend; $10 million)
7. The Fighter (Fourth Weekend; $10 million)
8. Gulliver's Travels (Second Weekend; $9.1 million)
9. Black Swan (Fifth Weekend; $8.5 million)
10. The King's Speech (Fifth Weekend; $7.6 million)

Box-Office Update: You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

I don't get how people can continuously make extremely stupid decisions, but once in a while do something that makes logical sense. That's what I've been thinking across this weekend's box office results, because audiences obviously go with the typical decision of going to see Little Fockers. Anyone could've guessed that, because people are stupid with their choices. One the other hand, True Grit was the surprise hit of this weekend, not taking the top spot, but certainly outperforming any expectations it had. Gulliver's Travels was practically canceled out by Little Fockers, so it hitting the seventh slot isn't all the confusing or surprising.

Adding on to the typical confusion is Yogi Bear, which is doing far better than it should be doing. The animated whatever took a drop of 46.4% this weekend, while TRON: Legacy took a heftier drop of 54.3%. I knew that it wouldn't do well with repeat viewings, but I never thought once in hell that Yogi Bear would keep more audiences. We'll have to wait to see how it fully pans out, but it's understandable how this wasn't as truly magnificent a weekend at the movies as last year. Christmas Eve landed on a Friday, which is usually the top day for people to head out to the theaters, but most were instead stuck at church. At the same time, last year had Avatar and Sherlock Holmes, so the fact that this weekend was 50% down from that one makes complete sense.

1. Little Fockers (First Weekend; $34 million)
2. True Grit (First Weekend; $25.6 million)
3. TRON: Legacy (Second Weekend; $20.1 million)
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Third Weekend; $10.8 million)
5. Yogi Bear (Second Weekend; $8.8 million)
6. The Fighter (Third Weekend; $8.5 million)
7. Gulliver's Travels (First Weekend; $7.2 million)
8. Black Swan (Fourth Weekend; $6.6 million)
9. Tangled (Fifth Weekend; $6.5 million)
10. The Tourist (Third Weekend; $5.7 million)

Box Office Update: Spread the Joy

This weekend had very little real chances of conquering Avatar's opening weekend last year, and I'm still sure that this Christmas weekend will garner far fewer earnings than last year. Nevertheless, this weekend was a pretty successful one, because it managed to spread the wealth around to several different feature. TRON: Legacy came out on top, but didn't fare as spectacularly as anticipated. If it were a better film, I'd be a little less hesitant to say that it could make most of it's profits from repeat business. As it is, I'm surely not going to pay for a ticket to see the film again, but consider a pretty great experience.

Yogi Bear came in second, because people apparently bought tickets for the film, then went into see The Fighter or Black Swan. Talking of which, The Fighter managed a pretty good total this weekend on 2200 screens. Black Swan came in seventh, edging out the opening weekend of How Do You Know. Dawn Treader and The Tourist took less than 50% drops each. Ultimately, this weekend managed to be only a small fraction below the box office of the same weekend last year.

1. TRON: Legacy (First Weekend; $43.6 million)
2. Yogi Bear (First Weekend; $16.7 million)
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Second Weekend; $12.4 million)
4. The Fighter (Second Weekend; $12.2 million)
5. The Tourist (Second Weekend; $8.7 million)
6. Tangled (Fourth Weekend; $8.6 million)
7. Black Swan (Third Weekend; $8.3 million)
8. How Do You Know (First Weekend; $7.6 million)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Fifth Weekend; $4.8 million)
10. Unstoppable (Sixth Weekend; $1.8 million)

The Weekend Report: Off the Grid

The final rundown to the end of the year begins right now, and though I'm excited by the progress and the income that this year has afforded the film industry despite having few real event films, I feel this weekend will be a letdown from last year. It seems unreasonable at first, seeing as this weekend ushers in the release of a highly anticipated science-fiction feature, a live-action/CGI kids pic, and a fun rom-com. On the other hand, last year gave us Avatar, and we all know how that fared in the box office. There isn't a single new release this weekend that has been positively reviewed, but when has that mattered to people?

Starting at the top, TRON: Legacy is the main release of the weekend, and I should have my review for the film up by the end of the day. What concerns me is how audiences will react to it. Audiences will probably go out in droves at first, mostly because of the flashy visuals and legitimate 3D. After that, I feel like people will taper off and income will drop dramatically, because the film has a mild problem with ensnaring people to see it a second time. This weekend will have a huge income for the film, but don't expect it to last like James Cameron's epic did last year.

As for the other two films, they're rather throwaway works of mediocrity. The most obvious one in that sense is, regrettably, Yogi Bear. This film was overwhelmingly hated months before its release. If I actually had the bravery to see it, it would top my Worst of 2010 list. I honestly don't believe there's a soul on earth with the heart enough to honestly go into it and enjoy it. If you do, I worry for your soul. Then there's James L. Brooks' latest romantic-comedy, How Do You Know, which has been resting on the outside of the Oscar race, because we weren't really sure if it was going to be good or not. Buzz isn't ecstatic enough to warrant a campaign, so I wouldn't put it up in your predictions any time.

It all seems rather dim, but if you don't have any TRON: Legacy or any of the other new releases this weekend, there is an intellectual alternative. The Fighter is expanding to wide release this weekend, and I'll probably end up devoting a few hours of my time to that title. I'm definitely ready for the film to surprise me, which I sure hope it does. Also, Black Swan has already started on its expansion this weekend with just under 1000 screens nationwide. I'm probably going to wait a few days, but it's still on the top of my list of films that I still need to see.

For Your Anticipation: The Assassination of Yogi Bear by the Coward Boo Boo

Alright, I never actually had the courage to go out and find a clip from Yogi Bear to show you this week. Luckily, at the very last moment, I found something so much better. Let me assure you, Yogi Bear isn't a film that you should ever see. The only reason I've been able to endure the trailers is that I'm a regular observer of Fringe, and am therefore used to seeing horrific things. Still, there is a line that the Fringe writers dare not cross, and that's where Yogi Bear falters. So enjoy this segment parodying The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Yogi Bear Trailer and Poster Debut!

At this point in my life, I have absolutely nothing to do besides comment about the most meaningless of events. I am ofcourse talking about the new poster for the Warner Bros. epic, Yogi Bear. Right now I am crying the way I cried when I saw what Scooby Doo would look like in a live-action movie. It's a creepy image that you can try to get out of your mind, but it will haunt you in your darkest dreams. Good luck getting through what I'm about to show you. It's right down there. I apologize for showing you this filth.


Are you alright? Did you like what you saw? Can you believe that it gets even worse? They now have a trailer up for the film. It is all kinds of sad and depressing awful that I can't describe it. If you were as misfortunately intrigued as I was, then take a look at the trailer. If you have the common sense to avoid it, then you're smarter than I am.