TheChez.net

by ssjrem

Yep, so District 9 opened on top this week. Though, obviously that was to be expected. I was going around on forums last week looking at people’s predictions and I was kind of off put. A lot people were predicting it to open in the high teens or lower 20s. A few people even thought that the Time Traveler’s Wife would beat it out. Well, thankfully, they were way off.

District 9

I saw District 9 this past weekend and let me tell you, it was one damn fine movie. Well, actually I saw it twice. I saw it with a few friends on Friday night, then went again on Sunday with several of my fellow Chez writers. I wouldn’t say if it was good enough that I’d suggest seeing twice within a 48 hour period, but I very much enjoyed both times. Anyway, District 9 beat expectations by a solid margin, opening to 37.4 million. This is a very impressive debut for a movie no one had heard a few months ago. Furthermore, it stars absolutely no one famous and the only recognizable name attached to the movie, Peter Jackson, was heavily emphasized. I was very pleased with the movie and I hope to see it too well. It had a very impressive 88% at RT, which is especially good for a science fiction movie. Critics and the general public often react very differently to movies, though. I do hope that this continues to do well in the weeks to come. Unless it crashes and burns from this point, it should definitely reach 100 million. It’d need mighty good legs to hit 200 million, though, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

G.I. Joe

 You know, all things considered, G.I. Joe’s fall this week really isn’t that bad. It dipped 59% to 22.3 million this weekend and what with the terrible reviews and the very nature of the box office these days, any drop under 60% would be considered a success for this. The total now stands  98.6 million. It’s running pretty much at exactly the pace as the first Fantastic Four movie, so if continues to do so, it should be able to get its way up to about 150 or so. Not half bad.

Opening at number three, we have The Time Traveler’s Wife. I have no idea what this movie is about and I have no desire to see it at all. It only had a 36% at RT, so critics haven’t been too kind. Despite this, it opened to a pretty solid 18.6 million. I don’t expect good legs from this, though, but it’s too early to have an idea of where it will end up.

Julie and Julia drops a bit, falling 40% to 12 million. Considering the competition from The Time Traveler’s Wife, the drop isn’t that bad. That total’s up to 43 million, so hitting 100 is out of the question. I’m guessing about a 70 million total.

G-Force, in fifth place this weekend, actually has a good hold for the first time, dropping just 30% 6.9 million for a sum of 99 million. Hmmm, I wonder if it will get to 100…… It’s a stretch, but I think it will get there.

I hadn’t even heard of The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard until like last Thursday. Anyway, it doesn’t do well at all, opening to just 5.6 million. I don’t expect much to come from this.

Another 5.1 million brings Harry Potter up to 283 million. At the same point, OOTP had grossed 272 million, so Half-Blood Prince is holding on to its lead. If it continues along at the same pace, I think it’ll crawl just over 300 million, becoming the second movie in  the series to crack the milestone after the first film way back 2001.

The Ugly Truth makes 4.5 million for a 77.5 total. That’s all I got to say.

Before I discuss the next film, let me just say this. Hayao Miyazaki is a GOD. He is a very celebrated Japanese film-maker who’s films rake in the dough and smash records in Japan. However, he’s never garned the same kind of success state-side. He has a small but very loyal following here, myself being in that group. I’ve seen most of his films and one of them, Princess Mononoke, is one of my top five favorite films of all time. Most of his films have gone into limited release in the states, but Buena Vista took a bit of a chance and opened Miyazaki’s lastest film, Ponyo, wide on its opening weekend. The result? A resounding “eh.” It made just 3.6 million. Admittedly, it was only in 927 theatres compared to 4007 for, say, G.I. Joe, but still, it’s pretty disappointing. I highly doubt I’ll end up seeing Ponyo in theatres because absolutely no one would go with me. I really need a girlfriend who’s into anime. Sigh.

On that note, we round out the top ten with Funny People, which continues to get clobbered. People really, really fucking hate this movie. It dropped another huge 62% and made another 3 million to bring its sum up to just 48 million, which is a massive disappointment. Well, this sort of thing happens every now and then. I guess no movies are really fool-proof successes.

Yep, so I guess that’s it. Next weekend, we have Inglorious Basterds, which I will almost undoubtedly see, some stupid movie staring the chick from Gilmore Girls and some stupid movie about a wishing rock or something. Until we meet again.