Box Office: Comedy over Cartoons?
Here's the scoop: this weekend is a toss-up. There are arguments on both sides. I've heard them all because people enjoy misinforming the predictor. I took the comedy, because that's what my mom taught me. Or was it to eat my vegetables? Now I forget, more disinformation. Since it's MC Hammer's birthday, let's break it down!
5. Shooter $8.1m
Check out the writing credits for the fella who adapted the Shooter screenplay, Jonathan Lemkin. Ready? Red Planet. Ouch. Lethal Weapon 4. Egh. The Devil's Advocate. Hey, okay, that's a decent flick. We've got a live one. Oh, wait a sec, Tony Gilroy helped him with that. You know what Gilroy wrote? THE CUTTING EDGE!! Now that's a writer -- I'm guessing he finished up Devil's Advocate. I rest my roundabout case: the Shooter guy can't write good movies.
4. 300 $10.9m
This has made "oodles" of money. "Oodles" occurs when you no longer have any space to store the money, when you have to open new accounts to deal with the flood of greenbacks. That's 300. If you went over to 300's apartment right now you could totally skim a couple hundred K without anyone even noticing.
3. TMNT $11.9m
Putting this out one weekend before Meet the Robinsons was foolhardy. I see the dilemma: the summer is jammed with giant titles, so they tried to slip in the back door. As the budget was 18 dollars it worked a little, but this had $100 million written all over it with the right release date.
2. Meet the Robinsons $30.4m
I met them. And I liked them. In my previous life I would have taken Robinsons because I liked it more. No longer. Now I'm a mercenary for hire (you hear that, Onion?) and I take the winning horse. But I still really liked the film, and if the parents make it number one I won't be bitter. That would be winning for losing.
1. Blades of Glory $32.1m
I'm taking this only based on tradition. It's a continued comical slide for big Will, but the opening weekend doesn't have much to do with quality. It has to deal with perception and anticipation. Plus CNN loved it, and you know those guys are serious critics.
Check back with MaryAnn on Monday, she's cooler than the other side of the pillow.
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