One summer blockbuster and one hyped up summer comedy…

New this Week on DVD: “Bruno”, “Franklyn”, “How To Be”, “Is Anybody There?”, “My Sister’s Keeper”, “The Open Road”, “Star Trek”, “Thirst”, “Wild Child”

Best Bets: “Star Trek” was one of my pleasant surprises of the summer and was one of the better reviewed/received movies of the summer… put it at the top of your rental list !!! 
“Bruno” got good reviews, but didn’t do as well at the box office.   “Is Anybody There?” and “My Sister’s Keeper” were more serious fare dramas that got some good marks for acting performances.  You’re on your own with the other offerings this week.

Next Week on DVD: “Angels & Demons”, “Four Christmases”, “Funny People”, “Janky Promoters”, “The Maiden Heist”, “Santa Buddies”, “Shorts”

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

A great weekend to head to the movies… or to the Grand Rapids Film Festival or the Michigan Film Festival…

New at Theaters (Friday): “The Final Destination”, “Halloween 2″

Limited Released in Grand Rapids market: ”Adam” (Celebration North), “The Answer Man” (UICA 8/28 – 9/3), “Taking Woodstock” (Celebration North, RiverTown, Celebration South, Carousel Muskegon, Celebration Crossroads, Celebration Benton Harbor), “Spread” (RiverTown)

Moving to Woodland Mall this week ($4.00 shows): “Funny People”, “Aliens in the Attic”, “My Sister’s Keeper”

Best Bet(s): The wide releases are horror movies, but if that’s not your style, “The Answer Man” opens today at UICA with a limited one week run (also on Comcast OnDemand), there’s romantic drama “Adam” also in limited release, the Woodstock tribute “Taking Woodstock”, and Ashton Kutcher’s drama “Spread” – but that subject matter may be offensive to some.

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Adventureland”, “American Son”, “Duplicity”, “Fighting”, “The Informers”, “Rudo y Cursi”, “Sunshine Cleaning”

Best Bet(s): “Sunshine Cleaning” got the best reviews of this bunch and did well in its limited run at theaters, “Adventureland” and “Duplicity” had mixed reviews, “Rudo y Cursi” had good reviews out of Sundance Film Festival, while “Fighting” and “Informers” had mostly bad reviews. 

Next Week at Theaters: “All About Steve”, “Gamer”, “Extract”, “Carriers”, “Weather Girl” (limited, short run)

Next Week on DVD: “earth”, “Sin Nombre”, “State of Play”, “Sugar”

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

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“District 9″ pushes “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” out of the top spot at the box office, four other new movies try to compete

“District 9″ was number one, but only 4 movies made more than $10 million and one new movie didn’t even make the top ten.  “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” lost nearly 60% of its audience, but the other 4 new movies of the weekend couldn’t beat it.   “The Time Traveler’s Wife” had a decent 3rd place debut, “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard” was 6th, “Ponyo” was 9th, and “Bandslam” was a distant 13th, barely ahead of the “The Hangover” in its 11th week.

The diluted weekend led to the 2nd lowest total at the box office this summer with the top 12 movies pulling in $125.37 million (down 5% from last weekend).

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “District 9″ - $37.00 million (1st week)

2. “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” – $22.50 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 59% from last week)

3. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” – $19.21 million (1st week)

4. “Julie & Julia” – $12.40 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 38% from last week)

5. ”G-Force” – $6.91 million
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 30% from last week)

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“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” wins the weekend, but its only half the battle … will it be able to sustain success?

“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” dominates the weekend, but has about $120 million to go to match its $175 million budget… “Julie & Julia” cooks up a strong opening weekend in 2nd pace… the weekend’s other new movie “A Perfect Getaway” opened in a disappointing 7th place.   Last week’s #1: “Funny People” fell to 5th place, losing 65% of its audience.

Overall the weekend box office did recover from last weekend’s low, but still ranks as the summer’s 4th lowest weekend… with the top 12 movies pulling in $133.47 million.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” – $56.20 million (1st week)

2. “Julie & Julia” – $20.10 million (1st week)

3. “G-Force” – $9.80 million
(3rd week, was #3 last week, lost 44% from last week)

4. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – $8.88 million ($273.8 million total)
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 50% from last week) 

5. “Funny People” – $7.87 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 65% from last week)

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“Funny People” with a more serious movie tone beat ”G-Force” for tops at weekend box office

Not a huge surprise that Adam Sandler’s non-traditional comedy “Funny People” won the weekend box office… the also new “Aliens in the Attic” had to compete with other recent family-friendly flicks (last week’s #1 “G-Force” and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”)… and the horror movie “The Collector” opened in fewer screens than a traditional wide release and debuted at #11 with a decent $3.6 million.

Overall this was the weakest weekend of the summer movie season with the top 12 movies making just barely $112 million – down 20% from last weekend and the lowest figure since April 24-26… the box office is being helped by the comedies “The Hangover” and “The Proposal”. 

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Funny People” – $23.44 million (1st week)

2. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – $17.70 million ($255.5 million total)
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 40% from last week) 

3. “G-Force” – $17.06 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 46% from last week)

4. “The Ugly Truth” – $13.00 million
(2nd week, was #3 last week, lost 53% from last week)

5. “Aliens in the Attic” – $7.80 million (1st week)

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Guinea Pigs of “G-Force” beat wizards of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” for weekend box office

Wow america… apparently my illness spilled over the theaters… Disney’s “G-Force” beat ”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in the wizard’s 2nd weekend… I have to say, I didn’t see that coming.  But, considering how much money “Potter” made in opening week, there was nobody left to see it over the weekend.   New movies “The Ugly Truth” and “Orphan” were 3rd and 4th respectively.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “G-Force” – $32.15 million (1st week)

2. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – $30.00 million ($221.8 million total)
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 61% from last week)

3. “The Ugly Truth” – $27.00 million (1st week)

4. “Orphan” – $12.77 million (1st week)

5. “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” – $8.20 million
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 53% from last week)

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“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” wins weekend

No surprise at all… except maybe how much it made… “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” beat last week’s number one “Bruno” and previous #1’s “Ice Age 3″ and  “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”.

“Half-Blood Prince”, the 6th Potter movie becomes the franchise’s highest grossing movie in its first 5 days with more than $159 million thanks in part to the huge $58 million dollar opening day boost.  Overall, the entire box office was up 15% and ranks as the 7th biggest weekend so far this year.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – $79.48 million  (1st week)

2. “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” – $17.70 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 36% from last week)

3. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” - $13.75 million ($363.87 million total)
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 43% from last week)

4. “Bruno” – $8.37 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 73% from last week)

5. “The Hangover” - $8.32 million ($235.88 million total)
(7th week, was #6 last week, lost 16% from last week)

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“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” stays just ahead of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”

“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” beat “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” on its opening day last Wednesday, but for the weekend it came up a little short of upsetting last week’s number one. The holiday weekend’s other new movie “Public Enemies” was a strong 3rd.

“Transformers 2″ is quickly closing in on $300 million in just 12 days.  Overall, the entire box office was down 20% from last weekend, but its hard tocompare to the opening weekend of a blockbuster and a holiday weekend that keeps many people out of theaters.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” - $42.32 million ($293.35 million total)
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 61% from last week)

2. “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” – $41.69 million (1st week)

3. “Public Enemies” – $25.27 million (1st week)

4. “The Proposal”  – $12.86 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 31% from last week)

5. “The Hangover” - $11.27 million ($205.04 million total)
(5th week, was #3 last week, lost 34% of audience from last week)

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“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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New at Theaters (Friday): “Away We Go”, “My Sister’s Keeper”, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”  (Wednesday)

Best Bet(s): 3 very different movie ths weekend: the sci-fi action blockbuster “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, the romantic comedy “Away We Go”, and the heartbreaking drama “My Siser’s Keeper”… so depending on what your in the mood for… this weekend is wide-open.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Confessions of A Shopaholic”, “Inkheart”, “Pink Panther 2″, “Waltz With Bashir”

Best Bet(s): “Waltz With Bashir” was an Oscar nominated foreign animated drama, the other three had mixed success and reviews

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

Next Week at Theaters: “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (Wednesday), “Public Enemies” (Wednesday), “Whatever Works” (might play in Grand Rapids & Lansing)

Next Week on DVD: “12 Rounds”, “The Betrayed”, “The Education of Charlie Banks”, “The Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Experience”, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”, “Two Lovers”

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

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