1. Couples Retreat- $34.3M
It's opening falls about $5M short of 2006's The Break Up, another Vince Vaughn film that relied more on the off screen shenanigans of it's two stars to drive it's success. Couples Retreat succeeded thanks to a gorgeously crafted campaign featuring lush locales, and a cavalcade of likeable and bankable stars. Once again, poor reviews couldn't stop the audiences from showing up. In fact, Retreat now holds the record for highest grosser over a Columbus Day weekend. Not too shabby...for a movie that ain't all that good frankly. I'll review it soon, but one word immediately comes to mind; "irritating".
2. Zombieland- $14.8M/$47.6M
In it's 2nd full week of release, Zombieland only dropped about 40%, abnormal for a zombie picture and even more unusual for a comedy. Thank the uniqueness of the premise, and a general lack of zany comedies to choose from. No, Couples Retreat does not fit that mold, people. Zombieland might end up being the highest grossing zombie film of all time at this rate, and while I hate to see two of my faves go down for the count(Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later) it couldn't happen to a better movie.
3. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- $11.5M/$95.8M
I'm still holding out on seeing this. I'm raising my bar now. If it surpasses $150M I'll go check it out. That seems fair. Considering it's only dropping around 25% a week, it might actually hit that number.
4. Paranormal Activity- $7.9M/$9.11M
So let's break this down a bit. Paranormal Activity has been showing, mostly at midnight, since the last week of September. Since then, the film has gained a phenomenal amount of buzz and hype. Now expanded to 160 sites(still not that much), it cranks out nearly $8M, indicating a near sell out at virtually all showings. In fact, we're looking at a per site average of nearly $50,000. That alone more than triples the production budget of this insta-phenomena. Typically, these movies have a short life span. They collapse under the weight of their own hype, and eventually the critical backlash along with the backlash from those who hate supposedly media-inspired fads like this, catches up to them. It happened with The Blair Witch Project as well. It will happen here, too. But for now, Paranormal Activity is a complete and utter success. And if I do say so myself, worth every one of you going out to see atleast once. Bring a date.
5. Toy Story/Toy Story 2- $7.77M/$22.8M
Pixar's laughing itself to the bank. You know what they should do? Pixar should team up with George Lucas to re-release the original Star Wars movies totally redone through computer animation. Then we could all pay to see the same crap again and again in a totally different way, and jack us for more loot by doing absolutely nothing until the end of time.
6. Surrogates- $4.27M/$32.7M
Frankly I'm still surprised this is even here. One of those movies that was forgettable the moment the opening credits rolled.
7. The Invention of Lying- $3.34M/$12.3M
The greatest second week for any movie ever!!!!
8. Whip It- $2.83M/$8.79M
Happy to still be able to write about this movie, but disheartened at it's meager performance. It's by far the most bubbly, vibrant film out right now, and the cast is superb. Go see it while there's still time.
9. Capitalism: A Love Story- $2.63M/$9.03M
Funny how a movie about capitalism is getting ravaged by it's fierce competition. There was little chance that this would be as lucrative as Sicko or Fahrenheit 9/11, mainly due to what I think is basically a sort of "bailout fatigue" that stretches to even movies and shows dealing with the subject. Sorry, but I can flip on MSNBC if I wanna see Chris Dodd's ugly mug. I don't need to pay for it.
10. Fame- $2.54M/$20M
Remember that guy on Showtime at the Apollo who'd come out with the big broom and sweep horrible acts right off the stage? He'd be a welcome sight right now.
Also...
Chris Rock's weave-tastic documentary, Good Hair, got off to a strong start, combing in $1,043,732 at only 186 theatres this weekend. The film, which shows the comedian exploring the often ghoulish culture of African-American female hair in this country, is due to expand this week.
