Jul 20 2009 Your Weekend Box Office Top Five
Use these weekend box office figures to determine if you, a studio executive, can afford that new boat:
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - The only way a Harry Potter movie wouldn't open at #1 is if people's heads started exploding when watching the Quidditch scenes. But that didn't happen, so it made $79.5 million
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - $17.7 million. Time to move on beyond the Ice Age and use CGI and Ray Romano to make a representation of EVERY age, so that we can finally throw away our history books and replace them all with charming family films.
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $13.8 million, easily besting last week's winner, Bruno, even though, if you pay attention, this film actually has far more exposed penises.
4. Bruno - $8.3 million, taking a massive, 73% drop. I guess the old Irish guy's admonition worked in scaring everyone off.
5. The Hangover - $8.3 million. I had no idea this would remain in the top 5 for so long. There's absolutely nothing else to comment about it. You win, The Hangover.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Jul 6 2009 'Transformers 2' Still America's Favorite Thing to Pay to View
So close, Ice Age. So close. The weekend box office:
1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $42.3 million. Continuing our nation's great tradition of celebrating our independence by watching explosions. And robots that turn into construction vehicles.
2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - $41.7 million--unusually high numbers for a historical-fiction piece.
3. Public Enemies - $25.3 million. I suspect it could have done better if the advertising did a better job pointing out that, in this version of the story, Dillinger uses riddles to antagonize Purvis, who is Batman.
4. The Proposal - $12.9 million. If your girlfriend dragged you to this, don't necessarily assume she's hinting that she wants you to propose; she may just have very dull taste in movies.
5. The Hangover - $11.3 million, probably paid largely by people with actual Fourth of July hangovers.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Jun 29 2009 'Transformatons 2' Easily Beats 'My Sister, the Reluctant Organ Donor' and Everything Else
Somehow the smashing, clanging robots sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen beat the weekend's other wide release, the sister-dying-of-cancer melodrama My Sister's Keeper. Go figure:
1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $112 million, giving the film a five-day domestic total of $201 million and a worldwide total of $387.3 million. And that's all in Bay Bucks, the new, Michael Bay-printed international currently that we're using now.
2. The Proposal - $18.5 million--pretty respectable against such explosion-filled competition. Just goes to show that faking-a-relationship-for-a-green-card comedy works better as a movie than it does as a part of the TGIF sister lineup, I Love Saturday Night.
3. The Hangover - $17.2 million. Can we give Zach Galifianakis another televised talk show yet?
4. Up - $13 million, still scoring ticket sales from all those kids whose parents thought robots smashing each other would be too violent. Come on, moms; lighten up.
5. My Sister's Keeper - $12 million. And that's the last time you'll hear of this movie until ten years from now when it's coming on TV and you watch 45 minutes waiting to see Juliette Lewis play retarded, because you're confusing it with The Other Sister.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Jun 15 2009 'The Hangover', Like Actual Hangovers, Not Affected by John Travolta
For your copybooks, the weekend top five:
1. The Hangover - $33.4 million, another victory for insobriety repercussion comedy!
2. Up - $30.5 million. Thankfully, few tickets were sold to the elderly, saving the group from getting a false, fleeting sense of hope, whimsy, and adventure.
3. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - Only $25 million. I knew they shouldn't have included the poorly-received twist ending where you find out John Travolta is both the villain and the Denzel Washington.
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - $9.6 million. Now can we stop all this senseless warring over historical exhibit territory?
5. Land of the Lost - $9.2 million, damning Imagine That to 6th place and an afterlife with Meet Dave in an Eddie Murphy Bundle Pack.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Jun 8 2009 'Up' Maintains Dominance in Face of Drunks, Dinosaurs
The top movies in the United States last weekend were:
1. Up - $44.2 million, a startlingly large number considering that what appears to be the DVD is coming out soon enough.
2. The Hangover - $43.3 million. Sounds like this is one Hangover you can look forward to! (I'm trying to get quoted in the newspaper ads.) In the case of this Hangover, laughter is the best medicine!
3. Land of the Lost - $19.5 million. This does not bode well for Jack Black is H.R. Pufnstuf.
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - $14.7 million. Do the Tenement Museum next!
5. Star Trek - $8.4 million. I miss the days when this kind of success would warrant a Kirk & Friends Saturday morning cartoon spin-off.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
UPDATE: It turns out The Hangover probably made more?
Jun 4 2009 Movies You Can Take Mom to This Weekend
Here are your options:
The Hangover
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, a baby, Mike Tyson, a tiger.
Good if you want to see: post-debauchery comedy; a fat, bearded man in his underwear; a baby; Mike Tyson; a tiger.
Land of the Lost
Director: Brad Silberling
Starring: Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel
Good if you want to see: dinosaurs; nightmarish, dead-eyed lizard men; a campy children's television series from the '70s remade as an insanely expensive film for some reason.
My Life in Ruins
Director: Donald Petrie
Starring: Nia Vadalos, Rachel Dratch, Richard Dreyfuss
Good if you want to see: that those previews you keep noticing for My Big Fat Greek Wedding are actually for an entirely different movie.
Away We Go (limited)
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph.
Good if you want to see: how hard it is to be a directionless 30-something, you know?
May 27 2009 'Between Two Ferns': 'The Hangover' Edition
Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper promote The Hangover in the best way possible to promote anything: with another edition of Galifianakis's antagonistic, borderline surreal talk show, Between Two Ferns. Special appearance by one of our best comedians. You'll love it:
Continue Reading " 'Between Two Ferns': 'The Hangover' Edition "
May 26 2009 'The Hangover' Now Has Posters For Everything
Making individual posters for each of the main characters in an ensemble movie has become something of a standard, but the people marketing The Hangover have decided to take it a step further: posters for everything in the movie. Trailer Addict has posted not only the above, Don Corleone-esque Mike Tyson poster, but also posters for Heather Graham (who is evidently in this), the Asian guy who's in all these recent comedies, the film's missing guy, a baby, a chicken, and a tiger. Only missing are posters for Ed Helms' missing tooth, the Phil Collins song "In the Air Tonight," and the concept of wacky buddy comedies.
May 8 2009 'Hangover' Trailer with Dirty Words
Enjoy the new, oddly dark trailer for The Hangover--rated R for two "fucks" and a hand gesture evocative of a masturbation finish. The ridiculous Mike Tyson re-enacting a Cadbury viral video soundtrack should not be enough to distract you from how good the last line is:
Apr 24 2009 'Hangover' Poster Has Done Years Worth of Meth
I admire that, while they could have made Bradley Cooper the handsome leading man counterpoint to Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis (to bring in those ladies), they decided, no, let's make all three of them look like they live under an overpass. With a baby. Kudos. (Also, for any studio executives reading this, "three men living under an overpass with a baby" is my pitch for another movie.)
Apr 6 2009 Second 'Hangover' Coming Before You Can Recover from the First
Warner Bros. is hoping you're up for further man-child post-debauchery adventures before even you've seen the original man-child post-debauchery adventures: the studio has already started moving forward with a sequel to The Hangover:
In a multimillion-dollar commitment, Warner Bros. has set “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips to write a sequel with Scot Armstrong.The dealmaking comes two months before the first “Hangover” goes out through WB on June 5.
In the comedy, groomsmen take the betrothed for a last fling in Las Vegas, then become so caught up in the revelry that they lose the groom.
While studios often wait to see box office results before committing to a sequel, “The Hangover” has tested strongly, and a trailer brought down the house at ShoWest.
Seeing that Three Men and a Baby was deemed fit to birth Three Men and a Little Lady, I can find no reason to complain that this far more promising comedy about three irresponsible guys caring for an infant is being prematurely handed a sequel. Carry on, everyone.
Apr 2 2009 You'll Want to Feel This 'The Hangover'! Because It's a Movie with That Title, Not Actual Post-Drunken Sickness!
I never thought a sort of Vegas After Hours for aging frat boys would be a description I'd use favorably, but dammit, Todd Phillips, director of Old School, you've again set up a film with such a powerful comedy trinity (Zach Galianakis, Ed Helms, and Bradley Cooper) that I cannot deny being entertained.
The second trailer for The Hangover:
Dec 15 2008 'The Hangover' Photos Will Not Make Bright Light Hurt Your Brain
Thanks to Kevin for pointing out Ropes of Silicon has a couple shots from The Hangover, the Todd Phillips comedy in which "Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms play best buddies at a wild Las Vegas bachelor party who lose the groom just hours before his wedding." The combination of casual baby-wearing, defeated stare, and punched-in-the-mouth is enough to make me think this might be pretty good. Sometimes that's all it takes.
Sep 17 2008 Zach Galifianakis Doin' Some Things
Despite a series of absurdist vodka ads and intentionally awkward interviews, I never get enough of comedian Zach Galifianakis. I'm still waiting to see him land that big role that's going to throw me over its shoulder, toss me in the back of a truck, and drive me somewhere without asking my approval first.
Hey, maybe one of these two lead roles will be "the one"! From THR:
Comedian Zach Galifianakis has snagged lead roles in Todd Phillips' comedy "The Hangover" for Warner Bros. and the HBO pilot "Bored to Death."In "Hangover," Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms play best buddies at a wild Las Vegas bachelor party who lose the groom just hours before his wedding. Legendary Pictures is producing with Warners, and filming is set to begin this weekend.
In "Death," Galifianakis plays Ray, a struggling comic book artist and best friend to Jonathan (Jason Schwartzman), an alcoholic writer who pretends to be a private detective. Ted Danson also stars in the project from writer Jonathan Ames and director Alan Taylor.
I've got some high hopes for this HBO pilot. This is it!
