Box Office Update: "Cowboys" Gets "Smurf"ed

I'm sorry Damon Lindelof, but you really shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. While some will gripe that both films opened about equally, Cowboys and Aliens had more potential and expectation going into this weekend, so the adequate opening weekend gross just doesn't match up. The Smurfs, on the other hand, played higher than it was expected or deserved to, so it's kind of the champion of this weekend, regardless of what Monday's numbers say. In other news, completely unrelated to the colossal debuts this weekend, Captain America dove 61% from last weekend, showing that it doesn't have quite the same staying power as Thor did in May.

Deathly Hallows: Part 2 continues to do really well despite the expected massive drop in its second weekend. Sadly, you can tell my disposition about the film from how I only refer to it as Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and not Harry Potter. Crazy, Stupid, Love is faring as you'd expect a standard rom-com to nowadays. The superior Friends with Benefits dipped precisely 50%, and should hopefully hold up better than the former. So expect the box office to hit a massive slump after this weekend, much like it did last year.

1. The Smurfs (First Weekend; $36.2 million)

2. Cowboys and Aliens (First Weekend; $36.2 million)

3. Captain America: The First Avenger (Second Weekend; $24.9 million)

4. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Third Weekend; $21.9 million)

5. Crazy, Stupid, Love (First Weekend; $19.3 million)

6. Friends with Benefits (Second Weekend; $9.3 million)

7. Horrible Bosses (Fourth Weekend; $7.1 million)

8. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Fifth Weekend; $6 million)

9. Zookeeper (Fourth Weekend; $4.2 million)

10. Cars 2 (Sixth Weekend; $2.3 million)

Box Office Update: Victory for "America"

I'm still getting a weird sense of polarization after giving Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 a pan last weekend, and I almost gave Captain America: The First Avenger a decent review this weekend. Then I thought, "Did I really enjoy it more than Harry Potter?" Thank heavens I didn't, because this weekend is lining things up rather agreeably for most films. Captain America came in first, which was a tad surprising, but it's income was exactly as expected. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was the one that took a pretty big tumble. It fell all the way down to $48 million from it's highest opening weekend ever.

So it looks like The Dark Knight is still moderately safe, and I'd attribute Potter's massive success to opening day madness. The films in that franchise always were a bit front-loaded in terms of income, but still pretty successful. Other than that, I'm not quite sure what else is big about this weekend. Friends with Benefits opened to third place, just below $20 million. That is a tad lower than its counterpart No Strings Attached, but that released during the most depressing time of the year in box office terms. People were looking for something mildly good, and it was only that.

1. Captain America (First Weekend; $65.8 million)

2. Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (Second Weekend; $48 million)

3. Friends with Benefits (First Weekend; $18.5 million)

4. Transformers 3 (Fourth Weekend; $12 million)

5. Horrible Bosses (Third Weekend; $11.7 million)

6. Zookeeper (Third Weekend; $8.7 million)

7. Cars 2 (Fifth Weekend; $5.7 million)

8. Winnie the Pooh (Second Weekend; $5.1 million)

9. Bad Teacher (Fifth Weekend; $2.6 million)

10. Midnight in Paris (Tenth Weekend; $1.9 million)

Box Office Update: "Hallows" Kills It

Well you can't say that the highest grossing motion picture franchise in history wasn't going to go out without making a huge dent in our wallets. This was inevitable since Friday, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has broken The Dark Knight's opening weekend record by a clear $13 million. The film did earn most of that from the gargantuan Friday debut, but despite the fall from Friday to Saturday, it held on rather respectfully from Saturday to Sunday. It's to be seen how off that estimate is when the final numbers hit on Monday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a couple million up or down.

It's a massive accomplishment, but there were other milestones to be had this weekend. For starters, Transformers: Dark of the Moon became the first film of 2011 to bust past that pesky $300 million mark. I'll admit to playing a slight hand in that, as I saw the film a second time last evening. Both Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper held on honestly, as no threatening new comedies entered the market. That'll change when Friends with Benefits swings around the corner next weekend.

The most shocking failure of this weekend was poor Winnie the Pooh, which landed in sixth place with only $8 million. People complaining that their childhood was over after Potter debuted were clearly looking in the wrong place. My favorite success of the weekend, however, was Midnight in Paris, reentering the top ten this week just in time to blow past Hannah and Her Sisters to become the highest grossing Woody Allen film to date. So obviously this weekend at the box office was an improvement (a 46.4% improvement at that) upon last year, when Inception opened to the top spot.

1. Harry Potter...Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (First Weekend; $168.5 million)

2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Third Weekend; $21.2 million)

3. Horrible Bosses (Second Weekend; $17.6 million)

4. Zookeeper (Second Weekend; $12.3 million)

5. Cars 2 (Fourth Weekend; $8.3 million)

6. Winnie the Pooh (First weekend; $8 million)

7. Bad Teacher (Fourth Weekend; $5.2 million)

8. Larry Crowne (Third Weekend; $2.5 million)

9. Super 8 (Sixth Weekend; $1.9 million)

10. Midnight in Paris (Ninth Weekend; $1.8 million)

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)

For Your Anticipation: Look Like A Hero

This is exactly the sort of film that's made when people are running out of ideas. They revert back to stupidity and talking animals. I am so glad that nobody voted for me to see this film, because then I would be so completely depressed. Every time I see a trailer for it, it strikes me as the Grown Ups of this year, and that disgusts me. It makes Horrible Bosses look glorified, which should just not happen. Don't see Zookeeper.

Dread Locks: July 2011

It's usually at this point that I get a substantial amount of dread for just how many horrible films are on their way in the coming month. I had a tough time narrowing it down to three films for July, because there are many that are likely to disappoint, and others that truly have no hope for the slightest quality. I ended up settling upon the current three based on just how juvenile they are, and therefore how much mass appeal they're likely to have. Monte Carlo barely missed the cut, but don't take that as anything close to a recommendation.

First up is Larry Crowne, which is sadly enough Tom Hanks' directorial debut, placing him amongst the ranks of Ron Howard. I know there's only a few ways you can go with this sort of material, but Hanks could have picked something more ambitious than a dumb comedy like this. I'm sick of people defending it, because there isn't a single bad joke that you've heard better somewhere else. I won't even talk about the good jokes, because there aren't really any. Then, a week later, there's Zookeeper, which I have a high level of disdain for. It exceeds being simply disappointing, and is genuinely painful just to sit through a piece of marketing for it. Talking animals have never looked more self-indulgently stupid.

Finally, capping off the month of July is The Smurfs, which I kind of wish I wasn't even slightly interested in seeing. It has Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother and Jayma Mays from Glee, so you automatically get the idea of a purely comedic venture. Don't look for any heart, because you won't really find it. The sort of thing that Disney did with Underdog and its ilk is exactly what is happening to The Smurfs. If the writers have no real ideas, they send their characters to New York, because what's not funny about that? Any of these three films seems potentially harmful to my sanity, so vote in the sidebar for which one I should see next month. There's no clear frontrunner yet, so it's really anyone's game.

Teaser Trailer: Zookeeper

Seriously? Paul Blart Zoo Cop? That's seriously what I'm getting from this trailer, besides the obvious Night at the Museum vibe to it. If we haven't seen Zookeeper already, we haven't been to the theaters at all. Check out the trailer, and rant about anything you want. Feel free.