At least two good offerings at theaters this week and one big summer blockbuster released on DVD earlier this week….

New at Theaters (Friday): “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, “The Informant!”,  ”Jennifer’s Body”, “Love Happens”

Limited Release in Grand Rapids market: 
“Soul Power” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon one week only 9/18 – 9/23),
“Tony Manero” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon one week only 9/18 – 9/23),
“Humpday” (UICA in Grand Rapids until 9/24),
“Afghan Star” (UICA in Grand Rapids until 9/24)

On cable: “Weather Girl” (on Lifetime network one day only Wednesday 9/23 at 9:00pm)

Moving to Woodland Mall this week ($4.00 shows): “G-Force”, “The Proposal”, “Taking Woodstock”, “Blood Creek”

Best Bet(s): I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, I’ve heard good things about Matt Damon’s “The Informant”, the new horror/thriller “Jennifer’s Body” is getting mostly poor reviews, and “Love Happens” is getting mixed reviews.  I’ll be seeing “Love Happens” and “The Informant” over the next few days… so check back for those reviews!

 CLICK HERE TO FIND A MOVIE SHOWTIME

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Easy Virtue”, “Next Day Air”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Clone Commandos”

Best Bet(s): I had mixed reactions to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, but if you like this genre and didn’t see it in theaters – you should rent it now.   I haven’t seen the others, but I can tell you that “Easy Virtue” got mixed reviews and “Next Day Air” got mostly poor reviews.

Next Week at Theaters: “Fame”, “Surrogates”, “Pandorum”, “In The Loop” (UICA in Grand Rapids 9/25), “Paper Heart” (The Harbor Theater in Muskegon 9/24), “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell” (Lansing only)

Next Week on DVD: “Battle for Terra”, “Clive Barker’s Book of Blood”, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”, “Lymelife”, “Observe and Report”

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

“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)

(more…)

“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)

(more…)

“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)

(more…)

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)

(more…)

“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)

(more…)

“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)

(more…)

“Angels & Demons” barely beats “Star Trek” to top the weekend box office

“Angels & Demons” was number one with $48.00 million, but the second Dan Brown novel-turned-movie made almost $30 million less than “The DaVinci Code” (2006), which opened with $77.07 million.

It didn’t take long for “Star Trek” to crack the $100 million mark… with $147.61 million, its now the biggest earner ever for the franchise… passing the $109.71 million mark held by “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986).

“Monsters vs. Aliens” is still holding strong in its 8th week of release, actually moving up one spot from 8th to 7th as the rest of the field mostly moved down one spot.    Overall, the weekend earnings ($132 million) were down for a second straight weekend… 7% lower… but next weekends’ big openings of action franchiser ”Terminator Salvation” and the family friendly ”Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” should turn that trend around.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Angels & Demons” - $48.00 million (1st week)

2. “Star Trek” – $43.00 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 43%of audience from last week)

3. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” – $14.80 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 44% of audience from last week)

4. “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” – $6.86 million
(3rd week, was #3 last week, lost 33% of audience from last week)

5. “Obsessed”  – $4.55 million
(4th week, was #4 last week, lost 31% of audience from last week)

(more…)

“Star Trek” becomes the biggest opening for a Star Trek movie and is on its way to being the 2nd to crack $100 million

(Updated 5/12/09) With $72.50 million “Star Trek” becomes the biggest opening weekend ever for the franchise and if you add in the $4 million on Thursday, its already the 5th highest grossing movie in the franchise, and easily on track to be just the 2nd to crack the $100 million mark. (See more on the Star Trek franchise at the box office below)

The comedy “Next Day Air” opened in 6th with just $4 million at the box office.

Returns for “The Chaos Experiment”, were limited at just two Grand Rapids area theaters over the weekend with just 225 tickets sold for the R-rated thriller.

Overall, the weekend offerings were actually down 6% at the box office from last weekend’s huge $150 million weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Star Trek” – $76.50 million (includes $4.0 million Thursday) (1st week)

2. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” – $27.00 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 68% of audience from last week)

3. “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” – $10.45 million
(2nd week, was #2 last week, lost 32% of audience from last week)

4. “Obsessed”  – $6.60 million
(3rd week, was #3 last week, lost 45% of audience from last week)

5. “17 Again” – $4.41 million
(4th week, was #4 last week, lost 30% from last week)

(more…)

UPDATE: Henney in a large part of the movie, antagonist to Wolverine

He shoots, he’s quick and agile, he shoots some more.

Carson City (Montcalm County) native Daniel Henney is a loyal company man working for Col. William Stryker and the Weapon X program in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” … and that means he grapples and trades verbal jabs with title character Wolverine.

Not bad for his first U.S. movie.   Henney does a great job immersing himself in the character as Agent Zero, the marksman with deadly accuracy.   Although he isn’t given a lot of lines or screen time, he does make the most of it… I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him in the future.

Carson City native Daniel Henney shoots it up in first U.S. movie

Montcalm County native Daniel Henney may not be in the poster, but he is in the trailer, and presumably in several scenes of the latest X-Men movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” that opens on Friday.

Henney graduated from Carson City-Crystal High School in 1998, where he was a standout basketball player.

For the last few years, he has been acting in South Korea.

Now the 29 year old will share the screen with one of the most popular characters in the comic book/superhero world: Wolverine.

Henney plays “Agent Zero”, a member of the “Weapon X Program”, the group that gives Wolverine his adamantium skeleton and claws.

Okay, Fanboy alert.. (more…)