Sunday, May 31, 2009

This weekend's box office looking "Up"

Disney/Pixar's latest CGI offering Up floated to the top spot of the movies at the box office, taking in an estimated $68.2 million this weekend. It attained the second-highest opening day for a Disney/Pixar film bringing in $21.4 million Friday, bested only by Wall-E's $23.2 million opening day take last year, although the first days of The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Cars and Monsters, Inc. rated higher in terms of actual attendance.

Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian had a strong second weekend, taking #2 with $25.5 million, earning it $105.2 million over its 10-day run. This weekend's other new release, Drag Me To Hell, fared well, though below indutry expectations. Drag Me To Hell barely beat Terminator: Salvation to grab the #3 spot with an extimated weekend take of $16.6 million, supported by a $6.4 million opening day. On this same weekend last year another horror flick, The Strangers, fared a bit better on opening day with $7.7 million.

Terminator: Salvation grabbed the #4 position with $16.1 million, with its 10-day total reaching $90.6 million. Star Trek continues to remain strong at #5 with $12.8 million, taking it past the $200 million mark in just 4 weeks at the box office.

This weekend's Top Ten (Sunday estimates):
1. Up
2. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
3. Drag Me to Hell
4. Terminator Salvation
5. Star Trek
6. Angels & Demons
7. Dance Flick
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
9. Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past
10. Obsessed

Sunday, May 24, 2009

"Museum: Smithsonian"; "Terminator Salvation" duke it out for #1 at box office

Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian and Terminator Salvation have locked horns to see who will claim the #1 prize at the box office for the coveted 4-day Memorial Day Weekend. Museum: Smithsonian so far is leading by a slim margin for the 4-day weekend with Friday estimates pegging it at a $15.3 million take. This would put it on track to pull in around $66 million for the 4-day weekend, a figure that the first Museum movie took six days to pass.

Terminator Salvation claimed an estimated $14.8 million on Friday putting it slightly behind Museum at #2 but giving it a higher first Friday gross than the previous Terminator movies. However, with it's Thursday release it has taken in more total than Museum with an estimated $28.2 million over 2 days.

The other new release this weekend, spoof vehicle Dance Flick, fell flat grossing a Friday estimated $3.9 million putting it at #5. Its opening was not much higher than the genre related Superhero Movie, and should put Dance Flick on track for a roughly $14 million weekend.

Looking at the holdovers, Angels & Demons comes in at #3 with Friday estimates putting it at around $6 million giving it a $66 million gross over its 8-day run. Clearly not as hot at its predecessor The Da Vinci Code which made $113 million over its initial 8-day run, Angels & Demons is on track to bring in around $25 million over the 4-day weekend.

Star Trek falls to #4 with it losing IMAX screens to Museum taking an estimated $5.7 million on Friday. However, its 8-day total of $167.4 million is very impressive, making it the highest grossing movie of May.

My top ten predictions for this 4-day weekend:

1. Terminator Salvation
2. Night at the Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian
3. Star Trek
4. Angels & Demons
5. Dance Flick
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
7. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
8. Obsessed
9. 17 Again
10. Monsters Vs. Aliens