By Bill Bonfanti on 1/30/2009 2:30 PM

This weekend audiences are offered 3 new choices at the multiplex; an action thriller, the fourth horror thriller in as many weeks and a romantic comedy that hope to counter program the Super Bowl.

Liam Neeson stars in Taken as a former government operative who is forced out of retirement to rescue his abducted daughter. Neeson has had quite a career, but he is usually relegated to supporting roles, so his box office prowess is largely untested. However, Taken should perform fairly well over the weekend as there really is no competition and it has been sometime since there has been a straight up action flick at the box office. Look for Taken to take $20M out of the box office this weekend.

The Uninvited is a horror thriller about two teenage girls that suspect their soon to be step mother played by Elizabeth Banks is really a psychotic killer. Is it me or is Elizabeth Banks the hardest...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/26/2009 2:36 PM

Kevin James enjoyed a second weekend at the top of the box office with his first leading role as Paul Blart: Mall Cop narrowly beating Underworld: Rise of the Lychans. Brendan Fraser’s latest adventure flick, Inkheart, stumbled out of the gates opening in seventh place and this weekend also saw a major surge for award winner Slumdog Millionaire and a minor one for multiple Academy Award nominee The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 

Paul Blart: Mall Cop had a great second weekend dropping a slim 33% to gross $21.5M, right in line with my $19M forecast. This brings its total up to an impressive $64.8M. Mall Cop should end its run in the vicinity of $110M, making James a bankable leading man in this genre and possibly a future as the King of Screens.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/22/2009 2:53 PM

The January box office seems like it should slow down after 3 terrific weekends including the record setting Martin Luther King frame, but it’s not going to. Sure, I don’t believe any movies will gross over $20M, but with 2 new releases and a couple of films expanding into more theatres, amid Oscar nominations, expect it to be a good weekend for studios.

First up is Underworld: Rise of the Lychans, the third movie in the vampire/werewolf franchise. However this one is a prequel and doesn’t feature the star of the previous 2, Kate Beckinsale. Seeing the beautiful Kate kick ass in tight black leather definitely helped the box office on the first 2 movies and the lack of her presence will certainly hurt Rise of the Lychans. Underworld: Evolutions...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/19/2009 12:35 PM

Every now and again, the pattern of the box office changes. Usually January is a waste land at the theatres with studios releasing movies that they don’t have much confidence in. A funny thing is happening this year however. Moviegoers are rushing to theatres to see just about everything. Could it be all the bad weather driving people to theatres? Is it the state of the economy making people look for any escape they can? Is it simply higher quality movies being released this year? I think it is a mixture of the three, but it also seems like each weekend, studios are offering more choices to audiences. This past weekend alone had 5 completely different movies open. There was a silly comedy, a kid’s movie, a horror flick, a bio pic about a slain hip-hop star and a serious drama about the Holocaust. It seems that studios are finally realizing that audiences aren’t made up of only young men and teenage boys. People outside of that demographic will go to the movies if there is something for them to see.   More choices equal more dollars. Every movie in the top 5 this weekend grossed over $17M, making this the biggest January weekend in history. One thing is for sure, this change in box office pattern has made it a ton of fun to predict weekend grosses.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/16/2009 2:03 PM

 

I’m not sure why, but January, usually a terrible month at the box office, has had two big weekends and it looks like the third frame of the month will be no different.   With 4 new releases and one film expanding nationwide, moviegoers have a plethora of choices.

Following on the heels of last weekend’s surprise horror hit, The Unborn, Lionsgate offers a remake of the 1981 cult classic My Bloody Valentine in 3-D. Featuring a largely unknown cast, with the exception of Jensen Ackles, star of the WB’s cult show Supernatural, Valentine looks to take a decent cut out of the box office this weekend. Horror films generally don’t have a long shelf life at the box office, so The Unborn shouldn’t hurt Valentines chances. With a third of theatres playing...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/12/2009 3:35 PM

Is Clint Eastwood unstoppable? After a half a century in Hollywood, Eastwood at the age of 78 just had the best wide opening of his career. Gran Torino exploded into over 2800 theatres this weekend and collected $29M, destroying his previous best of $18.1M for Space Cowboys, 8 years ago. I don’t think there is another filmmaker in history to enjoy this kind of success in the twilight years of their career and it doesn’t look like he is slowing down anytime soon. The man has directed 4 movies since 2006 (Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Changeling and Gran Torino), all of which received major award buzz and great reviews, not to mention decent box office. I hope he never retires and makes movies until he is 100.

Opening in second place, the wedding comedy, Bride...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/8/2009 2:07 PM

This weekend offers 3 new releases for moviegoers to see and also the expansion of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino from limited to wide release. Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway square off in the comedy Bride Wars. Other new releases include the horror film, The Unborn and the marital drama, Not Easily Broken.

Hudson and Hathaway star as 2 best friends who due to a clerical error, have their dream weddings scheduled on the same day, and from there the Bride Wars ensue. Hudson and Hathaway are both highly likable and the trailer offers a quite a few laughs so this movie should be a hit. Bride Wars should collect about $22M this weekend.

Writer/director David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, the Blade trilogy) hopes to frighten audiences this weekend with his latest effort,...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/5/2009 11:14 AM

With no new releases this weekend, the top 10 looked almost the same as it did last week, with the Jennifer Aniston canine drama, Marley & Me staying put at #1. With audiences catching up with all of the Christmas day releases, the average decline for each film was in the neighborhood of 25%.

Marley & Me grossed $24M, dropping 34% from last weekend, passing the $100M mark in just 11 days. This was close to my prediction of $27M. With school back in session, ticket sales for Marley should slow down a bit, and it should reach a final gross in the vicinity of $160M.

Adam Sandler’s family comedy, Bedtime Stories, remained in second place this weekend, grossing $20.3M exactly as I predicted. With no new kid’s movies being released, Bedtime Stories should have...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 1/2/2009 11:51 AM

The first weekend of 2009 brings us not one single new release so expect the top 10 to look very similar to last weekend’s chart, with a couple of minor changes. I would expect Frank Miller’s The Spirit to fall out of the top 10 and for Slumdog Millionaire to bounce back in.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston’s canine drama, Marley & Me, should continue to dominate the holiday box office and be on top of the charts again this weekend. It has continued to play well during the week and shows no signs of slowing down. I would expect Marley & Me to have a slim 25% decline to gross $27M, passing the $100M mark in only 11 days.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button starring Brad Pitt will probably have the smallest decline in the top 10 due to great word of mouth...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 12/29/2008 1:00 PM

It was a busy holiday weekend at the box office as 4 out of 5 new releases had scorching debuts. Family drama Marley & Me, starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston led the way, with a big #1 debut, exceeding all industry expectations.  Adam Sandler’s family comedy, Bedtime Stories, and Brad Pitt’s Oscar contender, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, opened to similar results, although Button, performed better overall due to less theatres and less show times. Tom Cruise cemented his comeback, with World War II drama, Valkyrie, while Frank Miller’s solo directorial debut, The Spirit, bombed big time. 

Marley & Me opened on Christmas day to a huge $14.7M, setting a new record for the holiday. It went on to gross $37M over the weekend for a powerful $51.7M 4 day debut,...

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