TheChez.net

by ssjrem

You know, I gotta say that I did not see this coming. The Saw movies are some of the most reliable in history in terms of box office success. However, the upstart known as Paranormal Activity (I’m just going to start calling that PA from now because that title is such a pain in the ass to write out) has now taken down the once might franchise.

Paranormal Activity

PA continues its unsual (but successful) box office behavior this weekend by inching up 12% and jumping from number three to number one. It pulled in another 22 million to bring the total to 62.5 million. This is just extraordinary. To increase like this is very unusual. Granted, the theatre count was more than doubled, but even still, it’s very impressive. Even with all the new theatres, PA is still by far in the fewest number of theatres in the top ten. Despite that, it claims number one. This is definitely going to surpass 100 million now. Considering next weekend is Halloween weekend and it’ll probably get a few hundred more theatres, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this get around 20 million for the third straight weekend. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it stay at number one because it’s only competition is that retarded Michael Jackson movie. I’ve been scouring forums online and there are a shitload of people badmouthing this movie and saying it wasn’t scaring at all, but the hype machine is in full effect now, so I don’t think there’s any stopping Paranormal Activity.

Saw VI

Wow, this really, really sucks. The second through fifth entries in this series all opened to right around 30 million or so. The first one made about 18 million. Now, Saw VI gets fucking clobbered as it appears (finally) people are getting sick of these movies. It only made 15 million, around half of the last four flicks. And considering the terrible legs of these, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this finish with only around 30 million when all is said and done. For so many years now, Saw has ruled Halloween, but it has now at last been supplanted. Despite this, I’m 90% sure that we’ll end up seeing Saw VII next year anyway. Sigh…..

Where the Wild Things Are takes a huge drop for a kid flick, plummeting 56% to 14.4 million. That is just plain not good. Kids’ movies do not behave like this. I guess people must really not like this. Fuck, I thought it looked awesome. Anyway, with a total now of about 54 million, I really don’t think this has even a slim chance of hitting 100 million anymore. That’s disappointing. I still want to see this, though, and perhaps I will sometime soon.

As if it’s bigger than expected opening weekend wasn’t surprising enough, Law Abiding Citizen now has a decent hold, slipping about 40% to 12.7 million. I don’t really understand. I thought it would make about that much last weekend. It continues to surprise me. With a total now of about 40 million, I could see LAC reaching a height of around 60 million or so. Way more than expected.

Couples Retreat rebounds a bit, falling 36% to 11.1 million. The total is now up to 78 million, not half bad. This should finish somewhere in the 90 million range and has an outside shot at reaching 100 million. Haven’t seen this either. I wanted to until it got like a 13% at RT. That is absurdly low. Critics can be wrong sometimes, but 13%? Can’t really argue with that.

Just like I thought, anime adaptations will never, ever do will at the box office. If Speed Racer, Dragonball: Evolution, and now Astro Boy have taught us anything, it’s to stop fucking making anime series into feature films. It just does not work. Astro Boy made an abysmal 7 million this weekend, which just plain sucks. This should fall apart and make a quick trip to DVD.

I don’t understand The Stepfather. First of all, it made decent numbers last weekend. And now it has a decent hold. Why? I hate humans so much. Falling 44% to 6.5 million for a total of 20.3 million, The Stepfather has done half decently. Like I said, I hate humans.

Sucking even more than Astro Boy is Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant. This made only 6.3 million. Wow, that just plain blows.

Next we have Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which earns 5.6 million to lift the total to 115 million. I never really had any desire to see this, but it’s fantastic rating at Rotten Tomatoes made me kind of curious. Perhaps someday down the road.

Rounding out the top ten is Zombieland, now in its fourth weekend. 4.3 million more brings Zombieland to 67.3 million. It has now expanded its lead as highest grossing zombie movie, which I find so infuriating. I did like this movie. I thought it was funny. It wasn’t great or hilarious. But it was funny. But highest grossing zombie movie? Really? A comedy? I know I said all this last weekend, but it still annoys me. Oh well.

So, something finally takes down the Saw franchise and I think it was about time too. Next weekend, the only release is that retarded fucking Michael Jackson movie. As much as I would love to see it fail, I foresee pretty big numbers for it. First of all, MJ’s dead. That can often help box office performance (The Dark Knight) or it can do little (Soul Men). Secondly, if Hannah Montana is anything to go by, concert films can actually open pretty damn big. I could really see anything from like 12 million all the way up to 50. It’s a wildcard but it’s the type of thing that makes the box office interesting to track. Until we meet again.