what's tasty and new in show business. [beta]
Updated: Variety is now reporting that Sunday numbers were stronger than expected, with Avatar’s final tally being $77.3 million to finish ahead of I Am Legend as the best December opening ever.
Despite heavy snowstorms across the American Northeast, James Cameron’s sci fi epic Avatar hauled in an estimated $73 million over the weekend to take the top spot at the box office. That figure put Avatar into the record books as the highest grossing debut ever for a non-sequel/remake/adaptation, and also made it the second-highest opening in December behind just I Am Legend’s $77.2 million back in 2007.
Heavy snowfall bombarded the East Coast over the weekend, which saw marked declines starting Saturday as the brunt of the storm hit. Still, Avatar managed to get a good number of folks to the theater, with 3D presentations accounting for about $52 million of the gross. IMAX doesn’t report its numbers until Monday, but company reps are already saying the film has broken every major IMAX record. An additional $159.18 million came in through international territories, which brought Avatar’s worldwide debut up to a whopping $232.2 million. With movies traditionally gaining steam through Christmas, Avatar is already well on its way to making back its sky-high budget and becoming another stellar blockbuster hit for Cameron.
The other new wide release, Did You Hear About The Morgans?, made virtually no noise in its opening and managed only $7 million for 4th place. Last weekend’s number 1, The Princess and the Frog, fell to second with a $12.2 million showing and brought its total to a so-so $44.8 million. The Blind Side continued its strong run and came in 3rd with $10 million, while The Twilight Saga: New Moon rounded out the top 5 with $4.4 million (and just barely edged out Invictus‘ 6th place, $4.2 million weekend). Read»
Disney’s The Princess and the Frog took the top spot at the weekend box office, expanding wide to earn an estimated $25 million. While not shattering too many records (though it did set the record for highest grossing start for an animated movie in December), Princess‘ numbers were strong considering how 2D animation has declined in recent years. Also, the family-friendly flicks typically build steam through the Christmas season, where slow and steady tends to win the race.
Invictus, the other new wide opener, was unable to gain a foothold in its debut however. Bowing in 3rd place with $9.1 million, the figures were rather disappointing for the star-studded pedigree of the movie’s cast and crew. Director Clint Eastwood and stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were unable to drum up enough interest in the political/sports hybrid picture, perhaps due to the South African and Rugby setting not clicking with American audiences.
The Blind Side, last week’s reigning champ, fared much better. The football movie held on to 2nd place with only a 23% drop, pulling in $15.5 million in its fourth weekend of release for a $150.2 million total. The Twilight Saga: New Moon continued its steady decline with a 48% drop to $8 million, good enough for 4th place. A Christmas Carol however only dropped off 11.5%, with its holiday theme aligning with the Christmas mood. It finished in 5th place with $6.9 million, bringing its total to $124.5 million. The box office has been particularly strong this year as, in the middle of last week, 2009 officially became the highest grossing year in Hollywood history (though the attendance record in the modern era still belongs to 2002). Read»
A trailer and poster has been released for writer-director Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, a film that has been drawing a lot of comparisons to last year’s The Wrestler lately and has been building some serious Oscar buzz for Jeff Bridges early in this awards season.
Bridges is really one of the most talented actors we have. This isn’t quite the same story as the 2008 Oscar race, where Mickey Rourke revived his once-promising career with the performance of a lifetime; Bridges has been consistently good throughout his career and was Oscar-nominated four times for his efforts, so it’s more him being on his A-game than a resurrection. Still, a statue would be a fitting reward for over two decades of memorable performances, and Bridges looks to have turned in a mighty powerful one here. He pulls double duty by also supplying some vocals for the soundtrack, which country crooner T Bone Burnett contributed some original music to and co-produced.
Catch the trailer after the jump, as well as some more info and the first theatrical poster.
Read»
