“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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“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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UPDATED!!!  Final numbers show “Hangover” beating “Up” at the weekend box office

R-rated comedy “The Hangover” ($44.98 million) burst the balloons of ”Up” ($44.14 million) to win the weekend, “The Hangover” was estimated to lose by less than a million behind last weekend’s number one movie.  But when the final results came in, “The Hangover” was the winner by $800,000.

Will Ferrell’s “Land of the Lost” ($19.5 million) was a distant and disappointing third… by more than $23 million.  “My Life in Ruins” barely made the top 10 in its debut weekend with $3.2 million.  “Star Trek” held onto to the 5th spot despite three new movies… as its slower descent keeps it near the top, adding more to its overall total (now $222 millon).

Overall, the weekend pulled in an estimated $160.14 million, down just a half-percent from last weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “The Hangover” - $44.98 million (1st week)

2. “Up” – $44.14 million  ($137.31 million total)
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 35% of audience from last week)

3. “Land of the Lost” – $19.52 million (1st week)

4. “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” – $14.65 million  ($127.34 million total)
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 40% from last week)

5. “Star Trek” – $8.40 million  ($222.80 million total)
(5th week, was #5 last week, lost 33% from last week)

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“Up” floats high above the weekend box office competition

“Up” beat other newcomer “Drag Me To Hell” easily, but its estimated $68.20 million also beat last week’s number one “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” ($16.63 million) by more than 2-to-1.  “Star Trek” is still slowing its descent, losing the least of its audience and falling slower than the rest of the top 10 movies… a trend not as strong, but reminiscent of “Iron Man” last summer.  We’ll have to see if “Star Trek” can hold on another 16 weeks and/or earn another $118 million to match “Iron Man”… or if this summer’s blockbusters are just too much to keep it around long enough.

Overall, the weekend pulled in an estimated $162.99 million, that would make it the 3rd best weekend so far, but down 4% from the memorial day weekend that stands as the biggest weekend of 2009 (actual $169.81 million).

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Up” – $68.20 million (1st week)

2. “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” – $25.50 million  ($105.29 million total)
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 53% of audience from last week)

3. “Drag Me To Hell” – $16.63 million (1st week)

4. “Terminator Salvation” – $16.14 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 62% from last week)

5. “Star Trek” – $12.80 million  ($209.50 million total)
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 44% from last week)

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“Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” has a longer title and made more money than “Terminator Salvation” at Memorial weekend box office

“Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” clobbered “Terminator Salvation”… by more than $10 million during the 4-day holiday weekend (Friday-Monday), “Night at the Museum 2″ pulled in a estimated $70.0 million while “Terminator 4″ made an estimated $53.8 million.

Last week’s number one “Angels & Demons” dropped to 4th with $27.7 million… while “Star Trek” shows its staying power, actually moving up one spot to 3rd at $29.4 million.  The worst movie of the year, “Dance Flick” opened in 5th with $13 million.

Friday-Sunday of Memorial weekend was the biggest weekend of 2009 so far, with the top 12 movies pulling in $169.44 million… a 29% increase over last weekend and nearly $5 million more than the previous best of $164.76 million during the 3rd weekend of January (that included “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”).

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (4-day estimated results):
1. “Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian” – $70.00 million (1st week)

2. “Terminator Salvation” – $53.83 million (1st week)

3. “Star Trek” – $29.40 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 32% of audience from last week)

4. “Angels & Demons” - $27.70 million
(2nd week, was #1 last wek, lost 40% from last week)

5. “Dance Flick” - $13.10 million (1st week)

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New at Theaters (Friday): “Dance Flick”, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”, “Terminator Salvation” (Thursday)

Best Bet(s): Two good options this holiday weekend: the 4th entry in the sci-fi action Terminator franchise “Terminator Salvation” and the family friendly “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”.  DO NOT see “Dance Flick” (read my review), it would be a waste of your time and money!!!  And there are still several good offerings that aren’t new: “Star Trek” (read my review), “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, and “Angels & Demons” (read my review).

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Fanboys”, “My Bloody Valentine”, “Outlander”, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”, “Valkyrie”

Best Bet(s): While the theaters aren’t offering good choices for comedies, you can now rent or buy two of this year’s best comedies “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” (read my review) and  “Fanboys” (read my review). “My Bloody Valentine”, “Outlander”, “Valkyrie”

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

Next Week at Theaters: “Drag Me To Hell”, “Up”

Next Week on DVD: “Killshot”, “New in Town”, “Powder Blue”

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

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Christian Bale, Director McG, and Terry Crews on the set of "Terminator Salvation" photo courtesy Warner Bros.

Terminator Salvation has two Michigan natives in credits

 Bronco on the “Terminator” Battlefield

You may remember Crews from is days on WMU’s football team as an All-Conference defensive end and was a bi part of the 1988 MAC champion WMU Broncos.  Crews played six years in the NFL with stints on the L.A. Rams, San Diego Chargers , Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles. His film credits include supporting roles in “Get Smart” (2008), “Balls of Fury” (2007), “Idiocracy” (2006), and his first movie “The 6th Day” (2000).

 Kalamazoo native at the helm of “Terminator Salvation”

McG’s credits include Directing “We Are Marshall” (2006), “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” (2003), “Charlie’s Angels” (2000), music videos for Sublime and Korn and as Executive Producer for “Chuck” (2007-2009) and “The O.C.” (2003-2007).

 Terminator sequels in Michigan?

Several movie websites are reporting that McG is (more…)