1. Zombieland- $25M
I have to admit I was a little shocked to see Zombieland take the top spot. Typically, horror comedy lands with a thud, because it doesn't truly appeal to fans of either genre. But Zombieland is a different breed altogether. It's firmly a comedy, with zombies thrown in for decoration basically. It's basically a violent road trip comedy, with a small but appealing and recognizable cast of characters. I'm not sure about the long turn viability of the film, but for now it's looking like a success.
2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs- $16.7M/$82.4M
What the hell? So I guess I really do need to just cave in and see this thing, right? I assumed the Toy Story double feature would sap into this bad boy's strength, but apparently I was mistaken. Cloudy doesn't have much of a chance of surpassing either of the two biggest animated features of the year(Up!, Monsters vs. Aliens) but considering it's less of known commodity this is pretty impressive. It just won't falter.
3. Toy Story/Toy Story 2- $12.5M
Pixar robbed America blind of over $12M this past weekend. That's all I have to say about that, although as someone who has paid multiple times to see the same Star Wars movies presented in different ways, I probably shouldn't throw stones.
4. The Invention of Lying- $7.35M
This is probably the best start a movie like this could hope for, with a very broad premise and an unproven star(atleast in America) at the forefront. But what I think is the biggest problem facing this film was the marketing, which bore a striking resmemblance to a lame romantic comedy, and nobody wants to see a rom-com between Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner. Sorry. To be honest, the movie devolves into a rom-com about halfway through, but I'll save my criticisms for my review. I think the fact that 53% of the audience was female only supports my point.
5. Surrogates- $7.34M/$26.4M
The Bruce Willis snorer continued to tank for a second week. I bet if they could invent a Pixar surrogate, they would totally sign up for one.
6. Whip It- $4.85M
What? A coming of age flick wrapped in girl power gear had an audience that was 70% female? Surely you jest. There was no way this was ever going to generate big dollars, but I expected better than this, especially with such a weak crop of films to compete against. Drew Barrymore's debut feature, with Ellen Page in tow, had plenty of marketing push but you aren't going to get people to see a movie about roller derby. Too many of us still have the stench of Rollerball stuck in our nostrils. It's a shame too, because Whip It actually ain't all that bad.
7. Capitalism: A Love Story- $4.85M/$5.25M
As I expected, Michael Moore's next expose didn't hit the mark the way his previous two films did. This can be attributed to the fact that the subject matter is a bit more innocuous, and frankly a little dated. I think at this point most of us have had our fill of talking about budgets and bail outs, and even though I'm sure Moore makes it entertaining I don't expect there to be a lot of desire to sit through 2hrs of talk about hedge funds.
8. Fame- $4.75M/$16.6M
Not only is it not gonna live forever, it's probably not gonna live two more weeks on this chart. Exit stage left even.
9. The Informant!- $3.8M/$26.6M
10. Love Happens- $2.78M/$18.9M
Get this turkey outta here.
Paranormal Acitivity, the buzzworthy horror film that has sorta taken the internet by storm, cashed in big time in it's 2nd week of release. The film, which cost approximately $15,000 to produce, reeled in $535,000 in only 33 theatres averaging roughly $16,000 per. I think they've seen something of a return on their investment.
The Coen Brothers' latest, A Serious Man, has the highest per site average of the week, grossing $252,000 in only 6 sites for an average of over $40,000! The film expands nationwide beginning next week, but I'm expecting it to do something short of what Burn After Reading took in.
