THE BOX OFFICE REPORT: SEPTEMBER 02

Sorry that this is a day later than normal, but I’ve included the box office figures from the full four-day holiday weekend as a consolation. Are we cool? Cool.

Here’s a little thing I read on the internet last weekend:

“Also, there’s another crappy looking horror movie called The Possession coming out. It’ll flounder too.”

Hmm…

Guess you can’t get ‘em all right.

1. The Possession – $21.3 (first week)

For some reason, The Possession struck a nerve and crossed the $20 million mark over the four day weekend. Despite the 37% on Rotten Tomatoes and the lack of star-power (Jeffrey Dean Morgan aside), the horror film took the top spot away from Stallone. While I’ll admit the TV spot showing the fingers in the back of the girl’s throat was unnerving, there was little to differentiate this from any of the thousands of awful horror movies that have come out in the past, we’ll say, ten years. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of the genre, there will come a time every now and again when one of them stands out. And I’m sorry, this was just not going to be one of them. Tell me I’m wrong. (Oh, the budget was only $14 million. Damn. Well there you go.)

2. Lawless – $13.0 ($15.1 total)

Shia and Tom Hardy were not enough to push this moonshining flick over the top. It did decent enough business, but for the star power involved (the aforementioned studs and Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman) it can’t be really considered a success. On the other hand, it is a late August release, and that death sentence didn’t completely render it useless, so for that, I guess it’s not so bad.

3. Expendables 2 – $11.2 ($68.6 total)

Still no real shot at $100 million. What a shame. I’m not sure what to say to the naysayers other than.. JUST GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

4.The Bourne Legacy -$9.4 ($98.4 total)

And stop seeing this movie! C’mon people…

5. ParaNorman – $8.9 ($40.3 total)

I feel like it’s going to be hard to remember this one in about a year.

6. The Odd Life of Timothy Green – $8.5 ($38.8 total)

Once school starts, this will take a huge hit. Family counter-programming is only going to go so far once the kids are back studying…

7. The Dark Knight Rises – $7.9 ($433.2 total)

Batman actually pushed more money across the table this weekend than it did the previous weekend, a remarkable turn of events for a film that’s been out for almost two months. And I know that for me, I’m really looking forward to checking it out for a second time (looking like it’s happening tomorrow) and it appears that I am not the only one. Good for Nolan and Co.

UPDATE: It was over the weekend that The Dark Knight Rises crossed the $1 BILLION mark worldwide, becoming only the 11th movie to do so. That’s big stuff right there.

8. 2016 Obama’s America – $7.1 ($20.2 total)

Conservatives, liberals, independents… it seems like everyone is heading out to see what’s going to happen in four years, instead of, you know, just waiting four years.

9.The Campaign – $7.0 ($74.6 total)

It’s creeping up, but still lower than most of Ferrell’s other comedies that crossed the century mark without any trouble.

10. Hope Springs – $6.0 ($53.4 total)

It somehow made the same amount this weekend as it did last weekend. Maybe they put the spray bottle away for a weekend…

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Well, just when you thought things were getting bad (I mean, August isn’t the brightest time of year for movies), the first weekend of September is upon us and good god…

The two main releases this weekend are The Words, a drama starring Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, and Dennis Quaid that, to be honest, I’d never heard of until I saw a poster on the side of a bus two days ago. The other is The Cold Light of Day, a terrible-looking action film starring soon-to-be-Man-of-Steel Henry Cavill and Bruce Willis. Throw out the trailer, which looks really rough, and you can still look at the 9% it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes and realize that this thing is going to tank. I mean, I did say that about The Possession, but I feel a bit better about this prediction…

Until next week!