New at Theaters (Friday): “Coraline”, “He’s Just Not That Into You”, “Pink Panther 2″, “Push”

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BEST BET: Depends on what kind of movie you’re looking for.  If its a date movie, see “He’s Just Not That Into You” – or wait until next week for Valentine’s Day.  If its an action movie, “Push” may or may not be what you’re looking for, and if its a family movie, the jury’s out on “Coraline” vs. “Pink Panther 2″.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”, “The Secret Life of Bees”, “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist”, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, “Bottle Shock”, “Space Buddies”

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BEST BETs: Another week of solid DVD releases, “The Secret Life of Bees” is the most critically acclaimed of the five, but “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” got pretty good reviews, and ”Bottle Shock” was compared to the popular “Sideways” (2004)… and for families “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” was very well received at the box office.

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

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(UPDATED WITH final numbers)
Well, if I was picking winners of the weekend football games, I would be 5 out of 10 in MY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTION: – with 1st, 4th, 7th, 9th, and 10th place right….

The #1 movie – “Madagascar 2″ wasn’t just #1, it was a smash hit with $63 million – that’s a bigger opening than these other family movies: “High School Musical 3″ ($42 million)… more than “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” ($29 million)… “Horton Hears a Who!” ($45 million)… …only “WALL-E” ($63 million) and “Kung Fu Panda” ($60 million) had opening weekends as big !!!!   Its actually the 5th biggest opening of the year!

The weekend’s #2 movie “Role Models” cruised in with a solid showing of nearly $20 million… as the alternative choice to “Madagascar 2″.

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (ACTUAL results):

1. “Madagascar 2: Ecsape to Africa” – $63.11 million (1st week)

2. “Role Models” – $19.17 million (1st week)

3. “High School Musical 3” - $9.16 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 40% of its audience from last week)

4. “Changeling” - $7.25 million
(3rd week, was #4 last week, lost 22% of its audience from last week)

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(RE-POSTING FROM 11/3)

TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (actual results):

1. “High School Musical 3” - $15.31 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 64% of its audience from last week)

2. “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” - $10.07 million (1st week)

3. “Saw V” - $9.74 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 68% of its audience from last week)

4. “Changeling” - $9.35 million (1st week of wide release)
(2nd week, was #20 last week, gained 1800% of its audience from last week)

5. “The Haunting of Molly Hartley” - $5.42 million (1st week) (more…)

No surprise to me: “High School Musical 3″ was #1, “Saw V” was #2, all other movies fighting for #3 at the weekend box office

New movies last Friday: “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”, “Saw V”, ”Pride and Glory”

This was a REALLY GOOD WEEKEND for theaters and studios, the total grosses were up 40% from last weekend…. the top 12 grossed more than $100 million ($119.84 million) for the first time since the weekend of August 15-17 (opening weekend for “Tropic Thunder”/5th week for “Dark Knight”)… its also about 40% higher than this time last year !!!

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“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…)

The 3rd highest grossing movie of the year hits DVD, plus a bio pic, an action, a drama, and a teen sex comedy arrive in theaters this week…

In Theaters (Friday): “W.”,  “Max Payne”,  “The Secret Life of Bees”, “Sex Drive”, “Frozen River” (limited)
On DVD (Tuesday): “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, “Mongol”, “War, Inc.”, “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days”, “Stuck”

My Take on What’s New in Theaters: A wide variety of options at the theater this weekend including the Oliver Stone biopic “W.” about George W. Bush, the video game-turned movie “Max Payne” starring Mark Wahlberg, the drama with Academy Award potential “The Secret Life of Bees”, the teen sex comedy “Sex Drive” about a guy who goes across statelines to hook-up with a girl he met online, and the immigration drama “Frozen River” (limited release).

Although I haven’t seen any of these movies yet – the best bet for the serious is “The Secret Life of Bees” and for the action oriented its “Max Payne”.   “W.” and “Sex Drive” have more narrow appeal.

Box Office Predicitions:
1. “Max Payne” – $18 million
2. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” - $13 million (down from #1)
3. “W.” – $9 million
4. “Body of Lies” - $8 million (down from #3)
5. “The Secret Life of Bees” – $7 million
6. “Eagle Eye” - $6 million (down from #4)
7. “Quarantine” - $5 million (down from #2)
8. “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” - $4 million (down from #5)
9. “The Duchess” - $3 million
10. “Sex Drive” - $2 million

My Take on What’s New on DVD: For those who followed my advice this summer to wait and rent “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” - now is the time to see it – but you could still be disappointed, the foreign language drama “Mongol” about the life of Genghis Khan got fairly good reviews, “War, Inc.” looks interesting, “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days” is a heavy issue movie about black market abortion, and “Stuck” is reportedly “a darkly humorous pschological thriller” about a nursing assistant that hits a homeless man with her car and he gets stuck in the windshield.

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Next Week at Theaters: “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”, “Saw V”, ”The Passengers“, ”Pride and Glory”

Next Week on DVD: “The Incredible Hulk”, “The Strangers”, “A Threevening with Kevin Smith”