Looking at this week's top 10 is sorta depressing. It always gets this way in the summer. Not that I have any beef with Harry Potter. I love the film franchise and respect the storytelling technique, not to mention I love the way each film gets darker as they go along. But there is so much else out there that it's depressing to see pretty much the exact same movies as last week here in the chart, with only one exception. That makes for a dull column for me to write, and a severe indictment of the American filmgoer, who would rather see Transformers a 3rd time than go see something brilliant like 500 Days of Summer or The Hurt Locker. Just something I was thinking about while I'm listening to Glen Beck scream like a little girl for some lady to get off the phone. That guy is a loon.
1. Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince- $79.5M/$160M
As far as the series goes, the sixth film in the Harry Potter franchise fell a bit short of the lofty expectations I had for it, but what do I know? The fact remains The Half Blood Prince charmed it's way to the highest opening for a Potter film, raking in $160M in only 5 days and a gargantuan $397M worldwide. Holy crap. Although it should be said that this pales in comparison to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's opening last month, the fact that any franchise can be this consistent six movies deep is phenomenal.
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs- $17.7M/$152M
With that Potter kid hoggin' all the cash, that left precious little loot left for anybody else. However, Ice Age still managed it's smallest drop in the third week by comparison to it's predecessors. Also, Ice Age has now surpassed Transformers in the foreign market at $429M.
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen- $13.8M/$364M
Is there anything left to say about this other than that it's now the 13th highest grossing film ever? Whether it's good or bad ceases to matter when we start getting into those kinds of numbers.
4. Brüno- $8.37M/$49.6M
Bruno really took one in the sh*tter in it's second week, and not in the way he typically enjoys. Collapsing a devastating 73% from last week, Bruno proves that basing a comedy on shock value alone is good for initial business but word of mouth will sink ya in the long run. Unlike Borat, Bruno had little beyond what was immediately apparent through it's many trailers and TV spots. It was Borat, minus the social relevance. Oh, and it wasn't as funny. If anybody remembers, it was in the 2nd week that Borat really took off. Bruno is headed in the dead opposite direction.
5. The Hangover- $8.31M/$236M
It won't go away. Nor should it. A friend of mine just went to see this for the first time this past weekend. The fact that it only dropped 16% just goes to show that people can't get enough of this off-the-wall comedy featuring a cast of virtual unknowns.
6. The Proposal- $8.29M/$128M
I'm actually curious to see what the release of The Ugly Truth starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler does to this movie's business. They look like the same damn movie.
7. Public Enemies- $7.59M/$79.5M
Not to belabor the point, but Michael Mann needs to take a cue from Kathryn Bigelow on how to use a digital camera. Just sayin'. How sad is it that this film, which was expected to be one of the biggest hits of the summer, has dipped below two films that have been out since the season's beginning?
8. Up- $3.15M/$280M
9. My Sister's Keeper- $2.83M/$41.5M
10. I Love You, Beth Cooper- $2.67M/$10.3M
I'm not gonna lie, that's better than I expected it would do in it's second week.
Stuff to Keep An Eye On...
500 Days of Summer debuted to the largest opening for indie releases, raking in approximately $838,000 in only 27 sites and finishing at #12 for the week. The quirky romantic comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Zoe Deschanel, goes wide release next week and I'm going to predict that it will surpass Sunshine Cleaning as the top grossing indie of the summer season.
Few films have garnered the critical praise that The Hurt Locker has received, and it looks like that positive buzz is having an effect. The Iraq War film about an EOD unit on it's final days of rotation blew up this week(pun intended), pulling in $764,000 for a total of $2.2M.
