“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” beats everyone at the weekend box office

There wasn’t really any doubt which movie would be number one during the weekend… it was just a matter of by how much… “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” pulled in $112 million for the weekend and $201 million since its Wednesday opening. “Transformers 2″ set a new high for a June weekend, its also the highest-grossing non-holiday, highest grossing non-Friday opening weekend and becomes the seventh opening weekend overall.   “The Dark Knight” is still the biggest 5-day opening all time ($203.8 million).

“Transformers 2″ boosted the entire box office 35% more than last weekend and at $194.97 million, it marks the biggest weekend of the year.  “Up” has passed “Star Trek” as the biggest movie of 2009 with $250 million so far.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” - $112.00 million ($201 million total) (1st week)

2. “The Proposal”  – $18.47 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 45% from last week)

3. “The Hangover” - $17.22 million
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 36% of audience from last week)

4. “Up” – $13.05 million  ($250 million total)
(5th week, was #3 last week, lost 45% from last week)

5. “My Sister’s Keeper” – $12.03 million (1st week)

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“The Proposal” beats Hangover” and ”Up” at the weekend box office

Audiences said yes to Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds’ “The Proposal”… the romantic comedy easily beat “The Hangover” and “Up”… “Year One” opened in 4th place, but is likely to start dropping quickly.

“Star Trek” is still the best holdover movie, losing the least of its audience (13.8%) and adding to its overall total, now at $239 millon.   The weekend’s offerings actually propped up the box office – up almost 7% from last week, making $140.6 million, a total that will easily be surpassed next weekend as “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” opens on Wednesday.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “The Proposal”  – $34.11 million (1st week)

2. “The Hangover” - $26.86 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 18% of audience from last week)

3. “Up” – $21.34 million  ($224.11 million total)
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 31% from last week)

4. “Year One” - $20.20 million (1st week)

5. “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ - $11.30 million
(2nd week, was #3 last week, lost 52% from last week)

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“Hangover” and ”Up” still tops at the weekend box office

The word of mouth and solid reviews (read mine) for “The Hangover” is keeping the buzz going for the R-rated comedy, with “Up” close behind, new movies “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ and “Imagine That” were 3rd and 6th respectively.

“Star Trek” dropped just two spots with the weekend’s two new movies, still losing just 33% of its audience and adding to its overall total, now at $231 millon.   But the weekend box office was down 17% from last week, making $131.97 million, the 2nd lowest total in the 7 weeks of the summer season so far.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “The Hangover” - $32.79 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 27% of audience from last week)

2. “Up” – $30.76 million  ($187.43 million total)
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 30% from last week)

3. “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ - $23.37 million (1st week)

4. “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” – $9.62 million  ($143.46 million total)
(4th week, was #4 last week, lost 34% from last week)

5. “Land of the Lost” – $8.99 million
(2nd week, as #3 last week, lost 52% from last week)

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New at Theaters (Friday): “Imagine That”, “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″, “The Brothers Bloom” (limited release at Celebration! North and Celebration! Cinema Crossroads in Grand Rapids and Cinema Carousel in Muskegon)

Best Bet(s): “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3″ (read my review) is an intense action thriller, Deznel Washington and John Travolta are very good!!  “Imagine That” (read my review) is a charming family comedy, but you might want to wait to rent it.  ”The Brothers Bloom” finally comes to Grand Rapids market after months of release date changes before it opened in limited release May 22nd.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Crossing Over”, “Fired Up”, “Gran Torino”, “The International”, “Spinning Into Butter”

Best Bet(s): If you’re like me and embarrased to say you haven’t yet scene the post-incentives filmed in Michigan movie with the most attention (”Gran Torino”)… now is your time to see Clint Eastwood and the Detroit area locales.  I actually haven’t seen any of the other movies eother, but “The International” looks like a good action thriller and while Harrison Ford’s U.S.-Mexican border drama “Crossing Over” looks good, it got some mixed reviews.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

Next Week at Theaters: “The Proposal”, “Year One”, “Away We Go” (limited release), “Moon” (limited release)

Next Week on DVD: “Friday the 13th” (2009), “Morning Light”, “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail”, “The Cell 2″

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

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Remember Eddie Murphy in “48 Hours” (1982) and “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)?   This movie is not like those movies.

Remember Eddie Murphy in “Meet Dave” (2008) and “Pluto Nash” (2002)?  Luckily, this movie is better than those movies.

In “Imagine That”, Murphy dials it down a little bit and shines in a funny father role Bill Cosby would be proud of… a touch that makes this one of his best movies in years.   I know that’s not saying much, but while Murphy had busts like “Vampire in Brookyln” (1995), “Meet Dave” (2008) and “Pluto Nash” (2002)… Cosby had bummers like ”The Meteor Man” (1993) and “Leonard Part 6″ (1987)…. but The Cos’ career is also stronger with several very succesful TV shows (”The Cosby Show”, “Fat Albert”, “I Spy”).

Eddie is still Eddie here, but just not as much of the caricature he was becoming of himself in those recent movies that neither did well at the box office or with movie fans.  Murphy is convincing and believable as the busy working dad who doesn’t have the time or patience for his young daughter.

His 7-year-old co-star, Yara Shahidi is a treat!   She grabs the scene and doesn’t let go at daughter Olivia.. she has the presence and delivery of someone twice her age… this is one of the best child perfomances of the year so far.

This movie works through a lot of parallels from beginning to end with the security blanket and the child-parent dynamics, but I’m not going to spoil it fo you, so I’ll leave it at that.

The story is good, but slightly predictable, and but the supporting cast really help develop the movie’s colorful cast of unique characters.   Thomas Haden Church (one of my favorite character actors dating back to “Wings” 1990-95 and “Tombstone” (1993)) as Murphy’s rival and Martin Sheen (too many great roles to name) as Murphy’s career idol.   The supporting child actors are also great, despite their one scene: Bobb’e J. Thompson ( “Role Models” (2008)) as a kid at the playland and Daniel Polo as the son of Thomas Haden Church.

As you might expect there’s some family-friendly language and eloquent use of the word “poop”, like this soon-to-be classic line: “poopoo doodoo stinky caca”.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

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