Thoughts on the Box Office for February 17, 2009

Hey all…

This weekend’s box office just pushed me over the edge…

In 1st for the weekend was Friday the 13th, which I get. In its opening weekend, it made $42.2 million and will continue to fuel the remake mania currently in Hollywood.

In 2nd, you have He’s Just Not That Into You, which made another $19.6 million in its second week, bringing it to $55.1 million so far. This has also received pretty positive reviews (not great, but positive), so it’s good to see this continue.

In 3rd, you have Taken, which I saw and loved at the box office, pulling in another $19.3 million in its third week, bringing its total to nearly $78 million.

So in the top three spots, you have a horror, a romantic comedy, and a thriller. Good so far.

In 4th you have Confessions of  Shopaholic, which only made $15.4 million in its first weekend. In a film market where Sex and the City burned up the big screen and made $400 million before it went to DVD (where it’s made another $73 million so far)… you’d think a wacky woman going overboard shopping might have done better.

In 5th, you have the children’s movie Coraline, making $15.3 million in its second week and bringing its total to a bit over $35 million. We saw this over the weekend in 3D (review coming soon) and I have to say we all really enjoyed it. It’s the best 3D movie I’ve ever seen, so I hope it continues to do well.

And then in the bottom 5 you have:

• Paul Blart: Mall Cop, earning an additional $11.7 million and bringing its total to an insane $110 million so far
• The International, which didn’t do well in its first week with a mere $10 million
• The Pink Panther 2, which proves that not all remakes do well in its 2nd week earning a tiny $9 million and bringing its total after two weeks to $22 million
• Slumdog Millionaire, which added another $7.2 million after 14 weeks to bring it to nearly $87 million. All signs point to this being an Oscar favorite on Sunday.
• And in 10th place, you have Push, earning almost $7 million in its second week for a total of $19 million so far. Though I want to see it, it’s definitely a renter.

So what does this tell me? Kevin James as a comedic mall cop trumps everybody else. It’s insane. I saw rumors of a sequel in the works already… But at least it’s original!

Any thoughts on the box office? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

–Fitz

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