what's tasty and new in show business. [beta]
The Twilight Saga: New Moon led the pack in a robust Thanksgiving weekend, pullng in $42.9 million to repeat in the top spot at the box office. It was a steep 70% drop from the record-setting opening last week, but New Moon has already pulled in $230.9 million, well past Twilight’s original $192 million domestic total.
The Blind Side held right on to the number 2 spot, and gave New Moon a run for its money with a solid $40.1 million weekend. That’s actually over a 17% increase from its opening weekend numbers, and accomplishing that without a large addition to its theater count suggests just how well the movie is being received by audiences. 2012 dropped to third place with $17.7 million, while newcomer Old Dogs scraped by in 4th place with a $16.9 million three-day take. A Christmas Carol finished 5th with $15.8 million (also an increase from last weekend’s numbers), while Ninja Assassin debuted outside of the top 5 in 6th place, with a not-disgusting $13.1 million. Read»
Hordes of young teens flooded the theaters this weekend, helping The Twilight Saga: New Moon to set new midnight showing ($26.3 million) and opening day ($72.7 million) records on its way to a staggering $140.7 million three-day total. Easily the best opening weekend of the year, New Moon now sits in the #3 spot behind The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) on the all-time list. Now, if we could only get the youngin’s to show up in those numbers at the polls, today’s youth might actually be a force to be reckoned with.
New Moon more than doubled Twilight’s $69.6 million opening weekend take, and now sits just $50 million shy of the original’s $192.8 million domestic total. However, Twilight plummeted over 62% in its second weekend, and already day-to-day drops point to a similar pattern for New Moon. Eclipse, the third film in the franchise, is slated for a June 30 release in 2010, or just seven months from now.
The Blind Side debuted in a distant second with $34.5 million – not much considering New Moon’s take but considerable in its own right. It’s not only a personal best for Sandra Bullock (narrowly edging out The Proposal), but it’s also the highest bow for a sports drama. Planet 51, the other new wide opener, came in 4th place with a sub-par $12.6 million. 2012 came in 3rd with $26.5 million and A Christmas Carol rounded out the top 5 with a $12.2 million showing. Read»
I think there’s a good movie here. I really do. But these trailers aren’t doing the film any favors.
Another trailer has been released for The Road, and again it seems to be marketing a different movie than what The Road really is. I get it — it’s a bleak story with a very sparse plot. Its strengths are in the characters and that isn’t an easy thing to sell. But these trailers seem befuddled by the footage, unsure of whether they want to sell a post-apocalyptic movie, a thriller, or a soaring story of hope. The Road has bits of all of that, but what made those aspects of the story so powerful were how understated and delicately they were treated. Why not make the trailer the same way? Why try to slap us over the head with these empty cries of DESTRUCTION and DANGER and HOLDING OUT FOR HOPE?
Ugh. If there is a good movie here, I feel terrible for it, because these trailers aren’t going to get anyone who didn’t already like the book interested. It’s got a great cast (although they appear to be over-selling Charlize Theron’s involvement still), and great source material. Now if only it had a great trailer… Watch a bad one after the jump, or in HD at Yahoo!
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A miniaturized version this week. See what made the cut! Read»
A ton of trailers for summer’s biggest movies, plus some interesting sequel news! Read»
