The box office crown fell to lower middlebrow interests as the WB supersized romance flick “He’s Just Not That Into You” nailed the top spot at this weekend’s box office, taking in $27.5 million worth of sad housewives, undemanding women, and the men who made them watch the Super Bowl the previous weekend. Consider this a victory for good scheduling- with the top-heavy cast, WB had to know this would open strongly, but it would have fallen considerably had the next weekend not been Valentine’s Day, which should keep the business level for this particular slice of white people love strong and possibly, eventually, get it to $100 million. But with the movie business booming so strongly, maybe it will hold even stronger- last week’s #1 movie “Taken” only lost 18% of its audience to finish at #2 and $20.3 million. Who knew there was an audience for Liam Neeson cappin’ fools? The Luc Besson-produced actioner has tallied nearly $54 million in less than two weeks of release- action fans have spoken, and they want their Eurotrash with a slice of A-List acting talent. Could this pave the way for Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Taken 2: Kidnapping Boogaloo?”
Animated newcomer “Coraline” debuted at #3 with a decent $16.3 million debut, the strongest debut yet for the director of “Monkeybone,” while “The Pink Panther 2” stalled out at #4 with only $12 million, hopefully sending Steve Martin a long overdue message- perhaps this does the same business as last year’s semi-topical thriller “Traitor” (which carried a story-by credit for Martin), signaling a return to more serious stuff, since his comedic facilities appear long gone. Rounding out the top five is “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”- with $11 million in the bank this weekend, it will become the year’s first $100 million grosser by midweek. Thanks, Recession! The highly promoted superpowers drama “Push” also debuted, but Summit Entertainment was dumping this one on a limited number of screens, so they have to be mildly pleased for the film’s $10.2 million take and #6 debut, placing this one in vaguely cult-ish territory- perhaps planned sequels will have to settle for comic book or animated spinoffs.
The smallest percentage drops in the top ten belong to “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Gran Torino.” “Millionaire” added screens and only dropped to #8, bringing it’s total to $77 million and paving the way for a likely $100 million gross. Meanwhile, shit-kickin’ “Gran Torino” is like Teflon- something about this movie has connected with the zeitgeist, as losing less than 10% of your audience from weekend to weekend despite dropping a couple hundred screens suggests a very high demand. “Torino” was neck and neck with “Slumdog” this weekend at $7.4 million, bringing its total to $120 million. While most of the award nominees lie outside of the top ten, “Torino” has loudly outgrossed them all. Well played, Clint.
1. He’s Just Not All That Demanding- $27.5 million
2. Taken- $20.4 million
3. Coraline- $16.3 million
4. The Pink Panther 2- $12 million
5. Hey, Look! A Fat Guy!- $11 million
6. Push- $10.2 million
7. Gran Torino- $7.42 million
8. Slumdog Millionaire- $7.4 million
9. The Uninvited- $6.4 million
10. Hotel For Dogs- $5.8 million