New at Theaters: “Dragonball Evolution”, “Hannah Montana The Movie”, “Observe and Report”

New on DVD: “Bedtime Stories”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)”, “Donkey Punch”, “Doubt”, “Not Easily Broken”, “The Tale of Despereaux”, “Yes Man”

BEST BETs: This is one of those weeks where for many moviegoers, the options on DVD are better than the theater. 

So lets start with the DVDs led by ”Doubt” that received 5 Oscar nominations including Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress… there’s the well-reviewed Jim Carrey comedy “Yes Man”… and the fun family comedy “Bedtime Stories” and the animated adventure “The Tale of Despereaux”.  “The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)” should be at the bottom of your rental list this week, because its okay, but not that great.

“Observe and Report” is the second Mall Cop Comedy this year after “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”, but this one is rated “R” and not family friendly… “Hannah Montana The Movie” will be big for tweens and teens who are growing up as Miley Crus fans… “Dragonball Evolution” is a movie adaptation that may be a few years too late of the cartoons and card games that were popular several years ago.

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Next Week at Theaters: “17 Again”, “Crank: High Voltage”, “State of Play”

Next Week on DVD: “The Reader”, “The Spirit”, “Dark Matter”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY: 

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“Marley & Me” holds on to number one, “Doubt” moves into 8th place, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” moves down one spot to 9th place, and one of my favorite movies of the year: “Slumdog Millionaire” moves into to the top 10 for the first time.  

“The Spirit” followed up its poor opening weekend by dropping to 13th (losing 49% of its audience) during a weekend with no wide releases (that’s a red flag movie go-ers !!!).

There were 27% fewer people ($130 million) at the movies over the New Year’s weekend compared to the big Christmas weekend ($179 million).

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated): 
1. “Marley & Me” – $24.05 million
(2nd week at #1, lost 34% of audience from last week)

2. “Bedtime Stories” – $20.32 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 26% of audience from last week)

3. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - $18.40 million
(2nd week, was #3 last week, lost 32% of audience from last week)

4. “Valkyrie” – $14.04 million
(2nd week, was #4 last week, lost 33% of audience from last week)

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4 new movies top the box office… but “The Spirit” was almost invisible in its opening weekend.

The life story of a dog “Marley & Me” and the life story of a man who ages backwards “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” take first and third place, while Adam Sandler’s family movie was second and Tom Cruise’s nazi-era drama was fourth.

TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 
1. “Marley & Me” – $37.00 million  (1st week)

2. “Bedtime Stories” – $28.07 million  (1st week)

3. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” - $27.00 million  (1st week)

4. “Valkyrie” – $21.53 million  (1st week)

5. “Yes Man” – $16.45 million  
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 10% of audience from last week)

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Well, Merry Christmas… there are a sleigh load of options at theaters this week and one very good option out on DVD…. but if you’re like me and the weather has you behind the times, then there are a ton of options out there!!! 

If you can’t get to the theaters during this week, there’s always next week, so with no new movies in wide release, we can all try to catch up…

New on DVD: “Burn After Reading” (Sunday), “Savage Grace”, “Pulse 3″, “Beethoven’s Big Break”

MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW ON DVD: There’s only one movie to recommend here, UNLESS your rental audience includes kids, then “Burn After Reading” - one of my favorite comedies of the year – is NOT for you, otherwise, I highly recommend this quirky Comedy/Drama from the Coen Brothers with a great cast of characters.

There are nearly a dozen movies out new in theaters this week, including 3 with possible Academy Award chances for Best Picture, so be sure to read the releases for both Thursday (12/25) and Friday (12/26)…

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CORRECTIONS: Golden Globe nominated Milk makes its Grand Rapids opening this weekend.   The wide release date for Doubt is now 12/25, so Doubt may be more limited than originally planned this weekend.

Its a blockbuster week for movies both on DVD (The Dark Knight) and in theaters (The Day the Earth Stood Still)…

In Theaters (Friday): “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, “Nothing Like the Holidays”, “Delgo”, “Milk” (Grand Rapids expanded release), “Doubt” (limited)

MY TAKE ON WHAT’S NEW IN THEATERS: Keanu Reeves in a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, a family holiday comedy Nothing Like the Holidays, a family animated adventure Delgo and starting in limited release – the relgious drama Doubt with award contenders Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams.  I have yet to see any of these… I’ll blog after I do, for now your best bets are either Golden Globe nominated Milk or the blockbuster remake The Day the Earth Stood Still… or see one of the movies already playing (see my reviews below)… or ….

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