The box office damn near died around this time last year, which is interesting given it took in record numbers in 2007. This year things have fared slightly better as more films have opened consistently even though few have been breakout smashes. "Quarantine" opened at #2 in the box office by making $14.2 million. While the remake of the French horror film "REC" had a respectable showing it failed to topple "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" *groan* from the top spot. The good news is that the film only cost about $12 million to make so it's already made a profit.
"Body Of Lies" opened right behind "Quarantine" during the same weekend (10/10-10/12) by amassing $12.8 million dollars in box office receipts to finish at #3. Those numbers were slightly less than the studios projections and it didn't receive glowing reviews from critics, either. Since the film cost approximately $70 million it has a long climb to break even since it's failed to pass $25 million at the box office after 10 days in theaters.
"RocknRolla" opened at #1 in the UK and has made more than $8 million dollars overseas. Even though it opened at #37 on the money list it was deceiving because "RocknRolla" was only shown in 7 theaters and it ranked #1 in total take per screen for two straight weeks. The following week it expanded to 22 screens and has now made less than $500, ooo in the American box office in about 14 days in theaters. It should do pretty well when it comes out on DVD around March 2009.
This past weekend was a different story altogether as video game adaptation "Max Payne" finally managed to wrestle the top spot away from that damn dog as the Mark Wahlberg vehicle finished with a $17.6 million dollar take. Hopefully it'll be able to stay in or around the Top 5 box office for the next copuple of weeks since the sex comedy "Sex Drive" had a disappointing showing and failed to find an audience due to the "Max Payne" and "Quarantine" crush as "Quarantine" had another good week bringing it's total take to just under $25 million dollars.
The Oliver stone film "W." opened at #4 this past weekend by bringing in $10. 5 million. Since political films rarely fare well at the box office it'll be interesting to see if this film can keep it's legs going into Election Day. As we speed towards Halloween, we have "Saw V", "The Haunting Of Molly Hartley", "Splinter", "House" and the arthouse films "Let The Right One In" and "Fear(s) Of The Dark" coming to theaters in the coming weeks before holiday film season and end of year blockbusters drop. Now onto the recommendations for the rest of the month.Films I recommend in theaters (10.15.08-10.31.08) or to add to your queue early or for rental from either Netflix or Redbox:
W.
Sex Drive
Max Payne
The Secret Life Of Bees
What Just Happened
Changeling
Saw V
Passengers
Pride And Glory
Synecdoche, New York
Let The Right One In
Fear(s) Of The Dark
Zack And Miri Make A Porno
The Incredible Hulk
Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith
Expellled: No Intelligence Allowed
The Go Getter
Hell Ride
Elite Squad
Family Guy Vol. 6
Mystery Science Theater 3000: 2oth Anniversary Edition
Newsradio: The Complete Series
Zoom: Back To The 70's
Gunnin' For That #1 Spot (2 Disc Edition) (sports documentary)
Boston Celtics-2007-2008 NBA Champions Special Edition
Macross-Complete Collection (anime)
Southern Cross & Genesis Climber Mosapeada-Complete Collection (anime)
Dead Space: Downfall (animated)
Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Vol. 3 (anime)
Death Note, Vol. 7 (anime)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Blu-Ray)
Casino Royale (2 Disc Collector's Edition) (Blu-Ray)
George Romero's The Diary Of The Dead (Blu-Ray)
The F Word (documentary) (Blu-Ray)
Baraka (Blu-Ray)
Black Magic (ESPN documentary)
The Mothership Connection Live 1976 (music documentary)
Tower Of Power/What Is Hip: Live At Iowa State University (music documentary)
Billy The Kid (documentary)
Eight Miles High (documentary)
Body Of War: The Story Of An Anti-Hero (documentary)
Annie Liebowitz: Life Through A Lens (documentary)
Crows Zero
Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist
Religulous
Quarantine
Body Of Lies
Rocknrolla
Rachel Getting Married
Flash Of Genius
Ballast
War, Inc.
Paranoid Park
Boy A
The Visitor
Mongol
Standard Operating Procedure
Appaloosa
Blindness
Lakeview Terrace
Miracle At St. Anna
Choke
Eagle Eye
The Hulk
Iron Man
Snow Angels
Taxi To The Dark Side
Chapter 27
The Rebel
The Vanguard
Bangkok Dangerous
Burn After Reading
Righteous Kill
How To Rob A Bank
The Promotion
Henry Poole Is Here
Traitor
Babylon A.D.
Towel Head
Sukiyaki Western Django
Gonzo: The Life & Times Of Hunter S. Thompson
Hamlet 2
Tropic Thunder
Mad Detective (Johnnie To)
Street Kings
Redbelt
Chicago 10
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?
The Killing Of John Lennon
Smart People
The Legend Of The Shadowless Sword
Warlords
Cocaine Cowboys 2-Hustlin' With The Godmother
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Bank Job
Meet Bill
Doomsday
City Of Men
Drillbit Taylor
Stop-Loss
Dragon Squad
Drunken Angel
Adulthood
The Tracey Fragments
Chaos Theory
Wanted
In Bruges
Charlie Bartlett
Persepolis
Cleaner
A Dirty Carnival
I'm Not There
Bomb It
Invisible Target
Street Thief
Dart's Movie Recommendations (I personally cosign all of these joints):
W.
Max Payne
Changeling
Pride And Glory
Zack And Miri Make A Porno
The Incredible Hulk
Elite Squad
Hell Ride
Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith
Gunnin' For That #1 Spot (2 Disc Edition)
Black Magic
Dead Space: Downfall
Crows Zero
Rent/Watch these movies at your own risk:
The Strangers-If three folks wearing masks and holding knives break into a house where an armed man lives and it's longer than 15 minutes....
Funny Games (Blu-Ray)-Sure it's still boring and and underwhelming but now it's in gorgeous Blu-Ray!
Journey To The Center Of The Earth-I'd like to journey to the center of the Earth and chuck this DVD into it's vast molten core.
Zombie Strippers-Fuck everyone involved with the creation of this shit sandwich.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year-Dear Disney, please conclude this franchise so the actors in it can be free to pose half naked in FHM, get pregnant, end up in tabloids doing dumb shit and/or finally come out of the closet.
Coming (relatively) Soon To A Theater (or computer) Near You:
One.
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