Box Office Boffo: Bah Humbug!!!

Well it's Sunday, and you know what that means! Time for another Edition of "Box Office Boffo"!!!

We had Four movies in wide release this weekend, and judging by the marketing of the three, the placing of each was more or less to be expected, so really, there are not too many surprises at all in store for this week!








The new releases this weekend, I would not consider them to be as "low end" as the week previous, but this is still a time of year that is not traditionally known as a huge moviegoing season. But this week's box office takes show an increase from the week previous, if you were to compare the top 10 movies last week to this week you'll see a reasonable jump in overall ticket sales, which is a good thing for Hollywood, at least.


The #1 movie of the week comes as no surprise. "Disney's: A Christmas Carol", featuring the talents of Jim Carrey blew away the competition this weekend pulling in a total of $31 million dollars. I do see this as an overall disappointment, though. Judging by the approximate amount of money that it took to make the movie, and the amount of advertising that Disney put behind the movie, I don't see this as a huge success, even though about $17 million separates #1 from #2. I imagine that this movie would have done better, had it been released closer to Christmas.





Speaking of #2, "This Is It" maintained a high spot on the charts, pulling in another $14 million, bringing its tally thus far to $57.9 million in just its second week at theaters. Not too bad, I suppose, considering that it's a documentary. Let's just hope that some of the money being made off of Michael Jackson's legacy gets put to good use. (It never really does)

Coming in third, "The Men Who Stare At Goats" (Forch Rating: 9/10) with a total of $13.3 million. This total for me should be seen as a victory for this film, as there was not a lot of marketing behind it, and movies like this one generally get by on word of mouth, so this movie (Which I highly recommend) did well with a third place finish. The key to this film's success will determine on whether or not it generates positive buzz from the people who have seen it.

In Fourth Place, ironically enough, "The Fourth Kind". The creepy paranormal/alien abduction film took in $12.5 million, a respectable take. Another film that can do good things, depending on the Buzz that it generates.

Fifth place sees "Paranormal Activity" still holding strong, and taking in another $8.6 million. Now nearing the $100 million mark, it just goes to show how much that word of mouth can spell a lot of the success of a film. It has been so successful, that it has out-placed a movie that was debuting this very week.

And that film: "The Box" debuted in Sixth place with a paltry $7.86 million in ticket sales. As I mentioned last week in Box Office Boffo, I had said that this movie could have been the dark horse of the releases, and it debuted very poorly, but then again, I did say that it could do really bad, or really good.

Seventh place gives "Couples Retreat" more money (Not much more) than last week's tally. $6.43 million was brought in this week (Compared to $6.1 last week), bringing a 5-week total of $96 million. A respectable amount for an alright movie (Forch rating: 5/10).

In Eighth, "Law Abiding Citizen" with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, brought in another $6.17 million dollars, bringing $60.9 million in just 4 weeks. This, I see as a good total overall, since the movie had no major studio backing it, and it did not have a lot of promotion behind it. (Forch Rating: 6/10)

"Where The Wild Things Are" drops from sixth place last week, down to ninth, bringing in $4.22 million ($69.3 million in 4 weeks). I can only imagine that the studio (Warner Bros.) sees this as a massive disappointment, due to the fact that the film cost $80 million to make. I would imagine that WB is hoping that it does well on Home Video.

And rounding up the Top Ten is "Astro Boy". This MASSIVE disaster managed another $2.59 million in ticket sales, now tallying a 3-week total of a whopping $15.1 million dollars. I imagine that among the films of 2009, this has to be one of the biggest flops, considering that Astro Boy cost about $40 million to make, and it's pulled in about 1/3 of that... Yeah. Flop...

So that's the Top 10 for this week, no real surprises at all, really... Here's a look at Next week's releases:

Expect the biggest of the releases next week to be "2012". The "Disaster of all Disaster" movies, starring John Cusack, and directed by One-Dimensional Director: Roland Emmerich (I say that, because he seems to only be interested in destroying the earth). The film is a special-effects junkie's wet dream, by the looks of it. Look for it to either be a Huge hit, or a Huge Flop. I don't see another of next week's films beating it out.


The only other wide-release next week is "Pirate Radio". This is actually a film that has come out already in Europe, but it was entitled "The Boat that Rocked". The movie has a great ensemble cast, featuring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans and Nick Frost. It's about a band of DJ's in england who board a ship and broadcast from the water, so that Rock and Roll can be played in England, where it had been banned. The trailer looks awesome, and I will be reviewing it for sure, next week when it is released!

Until Next Time! The Basement is closed... :P







By Forch F. Fortier (Who reminds you that in a world.... Filled with fear.... One Man.... Had the courage to fight back.... His name... Was Forch.... Sorry. I was just thinking that my life was turning into a movie trailer....)