Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Glorious Box Office Basterds

There wasn't much question as to whether Quentin Tarantino's INGLORIOUS BASTERDS would debut atop the box office this weekend. It's stiffest competition going in was DISTRICT 9, leftover from last weekend. No, the question was how well it would do and it has done very well. With a well-deserved R-rating, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS nailed down a per screen average of nearly $12K for a grand total of over $37 million. This is Tarantino's highest opening weekend ever, easily besting the former record holder, KILL BILL VOLUME 2, with $25 million. Depending on how it performs in the weeks to come, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS could easily surpass PULP FICTION ($107.9 million) as Tarantino most success film of his career. It was definite redemption for the filmmaker, whose last film, the DEATHPROOF portion of the GRINDHOUSE double bill opened to a miserable $11.6 million. The second film in the GRINDHOUSE set was directed by Robert Rodriguez, whose SHORTS, posted disappointing results this week, landing in 6th place. I thought the kid friendly pic would do well with little competition in sight but it must be time for kids to think about going back to school instead of crazy wishing stones. The only other Top 10 debut went to the Alexis Bliedl vehicle, POST GRAD, which, coming in tenth place, barely passed the final exam. Female driven pics continue to hold well, from THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, THE UGLY TRUTH and JULIE & JULIA, all posting declines under 30%. The near 60% decline is probably a little disappointing to the DISTRICT 9 people considering the phenomenal word of mouth it has generated. It won't stop the two greenlit sequels though. Outside the Top 10, ADAM saw a 22% jump after adding 29 screens but the big success story belongs to Renee Zellwegger whose period comedy, MY ONE AND ONLY, opened to the best per screen average of any film this week, with a $15K average.


NEXT WEEK: Ang Lee gets the jump on everyone else, opening his lovefest, TAKING WOODSTOCK on two screens on Wednesday before bumping to over 1000 screens on Friday. Outside of that I hope you like horror because your only new options are Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN 2 (3000 screens) and THE FINAL DESTINATION (3000 screens), the supposed last in the series and the first in 3D.

Source: BOX OFFICE MOJO

THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE

Written by Bruce Joel Rubin
Directed by Robert Schwentke
Starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams and Ron Livingston


Time travel is certainly not an easy concept to buy. There are a number of theories that can make some plausible sense if explained and backed up thoroughly but it is, for now, a romanticized notion designed by the human mind to free ourselves from having to commit to anything. Oddly enough, over-romanticizing time travel does nothing to further its argument, at least not on screen. I’ve not read it but I feel THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE would have done time travel itself a little more justice as a novel than it does in Robert Schwentke’s film. On the page, one can use their imagination; in fact, one must. On screen, all the imagining is done for you and in this case, it is not a pretty picture.


Eric Bana plays Henry, the time traveler and Rachel McAdams plays Clare, the wife. When he is in his forties, Henry travels back in time and meets Clare as a young girl in a field. She grows up knowing all the while that her destiny is predetermined and with him. When Henry meets her in the present, he hasn’t gone back to the past yet so he must love without the certainty she has that it will all work out. While this is ripe with possibly new perspectives on love and what it would mean if we knew it was all worth it, it amounts to very little more than a lot of explanation and a bunch of sappy looks exchanged between Bana and McAdams.


As facile as this sounds, I wish I could travel back in time so that I could stop myself from seeing this movie. At least Bana is constantly naked throughout because he can’t bring his clothes with him when he travels. I guess that makes it not a total waste of time.

Black Sheep @ The Box Office: Alien Invasion

My apologies, Black Sheep readers. I am under the weather and therefore, will not be doing a full box office report this week. In fact, I have an eye infection and it won't go away. I've been taking drops all week for it and yet I still look like the dude from DISTRICT 9. When people ask me in public what's wrong with my eye, I simply tell them I'm a really big fan of the movie. Anyway, my support seems to have paid off as DISTRICT 9 has surpassed expectations and debuted atop the top of the box office, taking G.I. JOE down to second place with a somewhat reasonable 58% drop. JULIE AND JULIA held up well in its second week, which is even more impressive when you think about all the ladies who rushed off to see Eric Bana romance Rachel McAdams in THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE. The film, which will get the Black Sheep treatment later this week, pulled in a respectable start but will now depend on word of mouth. (500) DAYS OF SUMMER squeaked out another week it the Top 10 while Summit hopeful, BANDSLAM couldn't cut it, pulling $2.25 million for a 13th place finish. I guess those NEW MOON teasers before the screenings were not enough to lure in the kids. THE GOODS did not deliver in sixth place and PONYO, from Academy Award winning Japanese director, Hayao Miyazaki, which I saw and loved this afternoon, debuted to mediocre numbers in ninth place despite rave reviews. Look for reviews this week for, as mentioned previously, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, ADAM and later in the week, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. Oh, and happy birthday to James Cameron and Madonna!

Source: Box Office Mojo