“Zombieland” tops weekend box office

The horror/comedy “Zombieland” feasted on the weekend box office, bumping “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” out of the number one spot it held for 2 weeks.   The “Toy Story”/”Toy Story 2″ 3D double feature was 3rd, while other new movies “The Invention of Lying”, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, and “Whip It” were #4, #6, and #7.

Overall, the weekend offerings helped the box office rebound – up nearly 14% from last weekend and with $94.52  million, the highest grossing weekend of the fall.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Zombieland” – $25.00 million (1st week)

2. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” – $16.70 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 33% of audience from last week)

3. “Toy Story”/”Toy Story 2″ – $12.50 million (1st week)

4. “The Invention of Lying” – $7.35 million (1st week)

5. “Surrogates” – $7.34 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 51% from last week)

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For second week, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” tops the box office, new movies struggle

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” overshadowed the weekend, with nearly $10 million more than new movie “Surrogates” in 2nd place, “Fame” was 3rd, and “Pandorum” was a distant 6th.

Overall, the weekend was down 5% from last weekend and with $82.77 million, it ranks as the 2nd lowest total revenue of 2009 (September 4-6 was $81.12 million).

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” – $24.60 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 19% of audience from last week)

2. “Surrogates” – $15.00 million (1st week)

3. “Fame” (2009) – $10.03 million (1st week)

4. “The Informant!” – $6.92 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 34% from last week)

5. “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” – $4.75 million
(3rd week, was #3 last week, lost 52% of audience from last week)

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“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” wins box office, makes overall weekend sunny for studios and theater owners

The very good family 3D movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” soared above the box office this weekend, winning with nearly 3x the revenue of 2nd place’s “The Informant!”, but the Matt Damon movie’s box office gross was a good showing, considering it nearly returned half of its $22 million budget.

“I Can Do Bad All By Myself” lost nearly 60% of its audience and slipped to 3rd place.   Other newbies “Love Happens” and “Jennifer’s Body” at least made the top 5… perhaps a surprise to some: “Love Happens” had the 3rd highest per screen average of the weekend, so it was pretty strong, but played in fewer theaters (only “The Final Destination” played in fewer theaters of the top 10).

Overall, the weekend was up about 15% from last weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” – $30.10 million (1st week)

2. “The Informant!” – $10.55 million (1st week)

3. “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” – $10.06 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 57% of audience from last week)

4. “Love Happens” – $8.46 million (1st week)

5. “Jennifer’s Body” – $6.80 million (1st week)

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Fall season opens with two bangs and two blips at box office

“Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” continues the success of all movies with the Director/Actor’s name in the title, earning at least $10 million on opening weekend.   The highly promoted animated action movie “9″ gained $15 million… not a ton considering that includes its Wednesday opening and Thursday box office returns.

Last weekend’s top 3 (“The Final Destination”, “Inglourious Basterds”, “All About Steve”) changed spots but out grossed newcomers “Soroity Row” and “Whiteout”.   Overall, the first weekend of fall was down just 4% from the last weekend of the summer season.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” – $24.03 million (1st week)

2. “9″ – $10.86 million (1st week)

3. “Inglourious Basterds” – $6.55 million
(4th week, was #3 last week, lost 44% of audience from last week)

4. “All About Steve” - $5.80 million
(2nd week, was #4 last week, lost 48% from last week)

5. “The Final Destination” – $5.50 million
(3rd week, was #1 last week, lost 56% from last week)

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A highly touted animated action movie, Tyler Perry’s latest, Kate Beckinsale’s artic thriller, and the latest slasher horror movie….

New at Theaters (Wednesday): “9″
New at Theaters (Friday): “Sorority Row”, “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself”, “Whiteout”

Limited Release in Grand Rapids market: 
“The Answer Man” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon one week only 9/4 – 9/10),
“Weather Girl” (Celebration! North, for one week only 9/4 – 9/10),
“Adam” (Celebration! RiverTown),
“Departures” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 9/4 – 9/10),
“Paper Heart” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 9/11 – 9/17),
“Humpday” (at UICA opens 9/11),
Rob Zombie’s “El Superbeasto” (Saturday 9/12 only at Celebration! Carousel, Benton Harbor, Lansing, RiverTown, Crossroads)

Moving to Woodland Mall this week ($4.00 shows): “Adam”, “Bandslam”, “The Ugly Truth”

Best Bet(s): I haven’t seen any of these offerings yet.  “9″ has received pretty good reviews, “Whiteout”and “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” have had decent reviews, and then there’s the Horror flick “Sorority Row”.
Check out my interview with Taraji P. Henson of “I Can Do Bad All By Myself”, she talks about being the top billing of the movie and her role in “Benjamin Button”.

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New on DVD (Tuesday): “Crank 2: High Voltage”, “Dance Flick”, “Local Color”

Best Bet(s): “Local Color” has won awards at several film festivals, “Crank 2: High Voltage” is a high octane action movie that did better at the box office than it did with critics. 
I warned you when it was in theaters, and I’ll warn you again: “Dance Flick” is a waste of your time and money!!!

Next Week at Theaters: “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, “The Informant!”,  ”Jennifer’s Body”, “Love Happens”

Next Week on DVD: “Camille”, “Easy Virtue”, “Next Day Air”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Clone Commandos”

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