Hellboy II: The Golden Army won the war at the box office, debuting at #1 with $36 mil and managing to impress critics who have recently been inundated by countless superheroes. Brendan Fraser's comeback vehicle Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D peaked enough interest to garner the #3 spot with $21 mil. Let's hope the 3Dness wasn't the only reason moviegoers took a journey to theaters for his next film's sake. Unfortunately, Eddie Murphy didn't have as much luck. Meet Dave was met with a #7 spot and a meager $5 mil. That does not bode well for his upcoming five projects, one of which is titled The Incredible Shrinking Man. No Eddie. Just. Say. No.
As for the indies, the charmingly funny Harold--to which I could not find a theater for--grossed $10,300 at three (truly mysterious) locations. Sadly, critics were not amused, finding it to be "one-note" humor. DVD it is. August, on one hand, was not well received critically, but on another managed to gross $6,500 in one theater and have critics nearly unanimous on the idea that Josh Hartnett is becoming a pretty damn good actor. The Houdini romance flick Death Defying Acts, however, was thoroughly butchered by both critics and a lack of proceeds, grossing merely $3,400 from two theaters.
The rest of the top 10 included: Hancock, which I loved for the hero's interesting backstory alone, came in at #2 with $165 mil; Wall-E is still killing with cuteness, coming in at #4 with $163 mil; Wanted is still collecting newfound Timur Bekmambetov fans at #5 with $112 mil; Get Smart drops to #6 with $111.5 mil after a month; Kung Fu Panda's been kicked to the curb, plummeting to #8 with a decent $202 mil; Kit Kittredge manages to stick around at #9 with $11 mil; and Indiana Jones finally teeters on the edge at #10 with $310 mil.
Three major films officially retired from the box office. The Incredible Hulk lasted five weeks before topping out at $225 mil worldwide with a $75 mil profit, which is actually much less than the first Hulk grossed. But at least this time, people didn't hate it with a passion. Sex and the City exited with a hefty $347 mil, putting Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess with the Zohan to shame as it departed with an unfunny $120 mil worldwide.
This weekend, it need not be said...but I shall: The Dark Knight hits theaters. Batman and the Joker will make Iron Man look like a little boy playing in a tin can. I've already pre-purchased my tickets. Shhh. And I'll be chasing the sure-to-be awesome adventure with the little ABBA musical Mamma Mia that'll probably shoot Amanda Seyfried into official stardom--as well as whoever airbrushes Meryl Streep's wrinkles. The real duel, however, will be between Wall-E, the space surfing trash compactor, and the peculiar astronauts known as Space Chimps. Is there even a real contest here? We'll find out.
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