The new options at theaters (3 movies with Academy Award nominations) are clearly better than the options of movies coming out on DVD this week!   “The Dark Knight” is back in IMAX this Friday!!
You’ve also been warned: “Repo! The Genetic Opera” is considered by many to be the worst movie of the year – so don’t rent it!  

New this week at Theaters (Friday): “Revolutionary Road” (wide release), ”The Wrestler” (wide release), “Inkheart”, “Possession”, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”, “The Dark Knight” (IMAX re-issue)

New this week on DVD (Tuesday): “City of Ember”, “The Express”, “Henry Poole is Here”, “Igor”, “Max Payne”, “Repo! The Genetic Opera”, “Saw V”, “Amusement”

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

(more…)

.

The nominees have been announced for The Academy Awards, and the movies nominated for best picture are: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Frost/Nixon”, “Milk”, “The Reader”, and “Slumdog Millionaire”.

The movies with the most overall nominations are “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (13), “Slumdog Millionaire” (10), “Milk” (8), and “The Dark Knight” (8).

I’ll update later with my picks in each category.

Here’s the complete list of nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards on February 22, 2009…. (more…)

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 ….

(more…)

“Max Payne” tops weekend box office… knocking off “Chihuahua”, but overall box office still down again

New movies last Friday: “Max Payne”, “W.”, “The Secret Life of Bees”, “Sex Drive”

The total box office of $84.76 million is down 2% from last weekend… marking two weeks of decline, but it is $6 million more than this time last year ($78.48 million) !!!

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “Max Payne” - $17.64 million (1st week)

2. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $11.42 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 35% of its audience from last week)

3. “The Secret Life of Bees” - $10.53 million (1st week)

4. “W.” - $10.51 million (1st week) (more…)

Maggie Gyllenhaal talks to Laff at the Movies about ”The Dark Knight” and more

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

Maggie Gyllenhaal talks to Laff at the Movies about hosting an eco-friendly Fashion Show called “Fashionably Natural”… how some movies try to be environmentally friendly…. about her role in this summer’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight”… gives a surprising answer to the Academy Award buzz about Heath Ledger… talks briefly about the 2006 movie “Stranger than Fiction” with Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson… two of her upcoming films (2009 releases)… and about making movies in Michigan.

Maggie’s Next Projects:

“Crazy Heart” – set for 2009 release

“This Must Be The Place” – 2009 release

(clips from ”The Dark Knight” courtesy Warner Bros., clip from “Stranger than Fiction” courtesy Columbia Pictures)

enjoy

CHECK OUT my interview with Ed Harris (”Appaloosa”)

CHECK OUT my interview with Joe Pantoliano (”Risky Business”, ”The Matrix”, “Bad Boys”)

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/aaronlafferty

“Beverly Hills Chihuahua” number one again at weekend box office

New movies last Friday: “Body of Lies”, “City of Ember”, “Quarantine”, “The Duchess” (wider release)

“Quarantine” was 2nd – more than making up its entire $12 million budget in one weekend… which is good because it was disappointing to a lot of viewers, so its numbers ARE GOING TO DROP NEXT WEEKEND… 
“Body of Lies” (15 to see this Fall/Holiday Season) should have opened stronger given the cast of Crowe and DiCaprio, but the subject matter may have kept some away…
“The Express” was 6th – perhaps because the general public didn’t realize it was about more than just college football… 
“City of Ember” made about what I thought it would when I first saw the trailer, but I thought last week’s success of another family movie (”Chihuahua”) would have helped it to higher than 11th place…. 
“The Duchess” move into wide release moved it up from #20 to #9.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $17.50 million
(2nd week, 2nd week at #1, lost 40% of its audience from last week)

2. “Quarantine” - $14.21 million (1st week)

3. “Body of Lies” - $12.88 million (1st week)

4. “Eagle Eye” - $10.91 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 38% of its audience from last week) (more…)

“Beverly Hills Chihuahua” number one at weekend box office

New movies last Friday: “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”, “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”, “Appaloosa” (limited), “An American Carol” (limited), ”Flash of Genius” (limited), “Blindness” (limited)

I didn’t make a prediction going into last weekend, but if I did, I can honestly say that I didn’t think “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” would be your number one movie this week… c’mon people… I know its a fun family movie from the folks over at Disney… and the other good looking movies were in limited release…. but it was #1 by more than $11 million dollars… yikes… at least I know it will get bumped by “Body of Lies” or “City of Ember” this coming weekend.

So make that back to back weeks with a surprise, last week’s surprise #4 – the Christian themed “Fireproof” starring Kirk Cameron was #8 this week… I was hoping for better numbers for 2 of my 15 to see this Fall/Holiday Season:“Appaloosa” and “Blindness” BUT THEY are not in wide release *yet*.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $29.30 million (1st week)

2. “Eagle Eye” - $29.20 million

(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 39% of its audience from last week)

3. “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” - $11.31 million (1st week)

4. “Nights in Rodanthe” - $7.37 million

(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 45% of its audience from last week)

5. “Appaloosa” - $5.05 million (1st week - wider, but limited release) (more…)

“Eagle Eye” leads weekend, “Fireproof” makes a surprising showing

The political/conspiracy thriller “Eagle Eye” did not disappoint, but the other new movies this weekend didn’t do as well as I expected: “Nights in Rodanthe” was 2nd, but about $2 million less than my prediction.

I’m really surprised that “Miracle at St. Anna” was #9 and earned only $3.50 million considering the huge marketing push and Academy Award buzz around the movie… but sometimes war movies just don’t do well at the box office. 

The surprise of the week is “Fireproof”… a small budget/independent movie in limited release this week, starring Kirk Cameron, but it had the 2nd highest per screen average, second only to “Eagle Eye”.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (studio estimates):

1. “Eagle Eye” - $29.20 million (1st week)

2. “Nights in Rodanthe” - $13.57 million (1st week)

3. “Lakeview Terrace” - $7.00 million (more…)

“Eagle Eye” leads weekend, “Fireproof” makes a surprising showing

The political/conspiracy thriller “Eagle Eye” did not disappoint, but the other new movies this weekend didn’t do as well as I expected: “Nights in Rodanthe” was 2nd, but about $2 million less than my prediction.

I’m really surprised that “Miracle at St. Anna” was #9 and earned only $3.50 million considering the huge marketing push and Academy Award buzz around the movie… but sometimes war movies just don’t do well at the box office. 

The surprise of the week is “Fireproof”… a small budget/independent movie in limited release this week, starring Kirk Cameron, but it had the 2nd highest per screen average, second only to “Eagle Eye”.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (studio estimates):

1. “Eagle Eye” - $29.20 million (1st week)

2. “Nights in Rodanthe” - $13.57 million (1st week)

3. “Lakeview Terrace” - $7.00 million (more…)

Okay, I haven’t done this for several weeks… its been a very busy time, but…. here ya go…

My predictions of the winners and losers at the box office this weekend:

This week, 3 new movies hit theaters in Wide Release on Friday: “Eagle Eye”, “Miracle at St. Anna”, “Nights in Rodanthe”…

…while one of the movies: “Miracle at St. Anna” is likely to get the most Academy Award attention, and “Nights in Rodanthe” is the big date-movie this weekend, the action/thriller “Eagle Eye” will stack ‘em up at the box office this weekend!!!

I also think this is the weekend when “The Dark Knight” could get knocked out of the top 10…

My predictions:

1. “Eagle Eye” – $22 million

2. “Nights in Rodanthe” – $16 million

3. “Miracle at St. Anna” – $12 million

4. ”Burn After Reading” – $10.5 million

5. “Lakeview Terrace” – $10 million (more…)