If you’re under 17 and reading this, we have to ask: What on earth did you do this weekend? The top four movies at the box office were all rated R, with the field paced by The Final Destination; the 3-D horror sequel opened in the top spot with $28.3 million. Also debuting was Rob Read More
Thanks to Quentin Tarantino, business was a-boomin’ at the box office over the weekend. Inglourious Basterds scalped the rest of the field, pulling down a very impressive $37.6 million, good for not only first place, but also the biggest opening of the acclaimed director’s career. For Mr. Tarantino’s brother-in-arms, Robert Rodriguez, the Read More
Being “for humans only” didn’t really hurt District 9 at all. The Peter Jackson–produced film was the “surprise winner” at the box office this weekend—really, though, did anyone expect anything else?—grossing an estimated $37 million to lead a busy frame that saw three other new releases enter the top 10: The Time Traveler’s Wife Read More
Reason No. 68 why the disconnect between film critics and moviegoers is bigger than ever: The elitism of the old guard. Over the course of the past week, well known and nominally intelligent film critics Roger Ebert and A.O. Scott both wrote that the decline of the film industry is in Read More
It turns out that people in the flyover states like movies, too! At least that’ll be the meme running through the blogosphere today as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra exploded into the No. 1 slot this weekend, grossing an estimated $56.2 million to pace the field. Landing in second was Read More
After a week of slightly disappointing returns at the box office, Hollywood braces for a rebound with two major genre releases: One for the 10-year-old inside all of us and one for all of our mothers. Five movies hit theaters today, as August gets started in earnest. As we do every Friday, here’s Read More
The most ingenious part of the marketing campaign for G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra—on which Paramount has spent an ungodly $150 million—ended up costing nothing at all: That would be the decision to not screen the bloated and sure-to-be eviscerated film for critics before its release tomorrow. Naturally this slap in the Read More
If a slightly disappointing opening weekend wasn’t bad enough for Brüno, now it looks like even the controversy about Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest prank is smaller than anticipated. As The Hollywood Reporter noted yesterday, the only lawsuit pending against Mr. Cohen—a ridiculous one involving charity bingo and brain bleeds—has been dropped. And Read More
