Loaded Couch Potatoes

So … did the three dudes with headaches hang over to a third weekend at the top of the box office?

Hah-hah-heh-hah-hah!  Get it?  Hang over?  Ooh-eeh-hooh-hah-hah!  (EDITOR’S NOTE: Ting-tang, walla-walla bang-bang…?)

You know, like the movie The Hangover!  Is big hit!  You like!

(1)  The Proposal ($34.1 million, $11,163 per screen):  No, they did not hang over to a third consecutive #1 performance.  Top of the heap this weekend belongs to Sandra Bullock (having a career-best opening weekend) and Ryan Reynolds (possibly cementing his status as an A-lister).  The writing was on the wall for this one when sneak previews did extremely well last weekend, and while The Hangover – a de facto date movie — might have hurt it in Spock Prime’s universe, in this one it doesn’t seem to have hurt it a bit.  Legs could be long, because they usually are for romantic comedies.

(2)  The Hangover ($26.8 million, $7575 per screen, $152.9 million total):  Down a measly 18% this weekend, this movie is starting to look less like a word-of-mouth hit and more like a word-of-mouth phenomenon.  For stinging red fuck’s sake, Hollywood, please pay attention to this: a movie that isn’t a superhero flick or a remake CAN still be an enormous hit.

(3)  Up ($21.3 million, $5568 per screen, $224.1 million):  Speaking of which … please take notice of Up.  Actually, don’t.  Unless you actually are Pixar, you ain’t Pixar, and I’d truly hate to see what Hollywood aping Pixar would look like.  It’s down 31% this weekend, and will likely take some abuse from both Transformers and Ice Age over the next couple of weeks, but its status as a classic and as a big old fat hit is already in the bank; everything from this point on is gravy.  And there may yet be a lot of gravy.

(4)  Year One ($20.2 million, $6684 per screen):  Not nearly as bad an opening as it might have had, when you consider how bad the reviews were, and how well the considerable competition (specifically, from The Proposal and The Hangover) did this weekend.  Where will the movie go from here?  My inclination is to say straight to the $5 bin at Wal-Mart, but I didn’t think it would open this well, so maybe I’m not the best judge of Year One‘s appeal.

(5)  The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ($11.3 million, $3672 per screen, $43.3 million total):  Yikes.  Down 52% this weekend; not good for an adult-centric movie.  Unless this thing levels out quickly, it’s not going to make even $75 million.  And if that gets Tony Scott to stop making movies, then I’m all for it.  People: go see The Hangover or Up instead!

(6)  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($7.3 million, $2465 per screen, $155.9 million total):  With summer in full swing, parents are getting desperate to get their children out of the house … so desperate, in fact, that they’ll stoop so low as to take them to see this movie.  It’s down only 24% this weekend, which is really quite good.  Fox is doing extremely well with this movie in its later weeks, and while it’s still not going to get close to the performance of its ancestor, it’s doing okay.

(7)  Star Trek ($4.7 million, $2037 per screen, $239.4 million total):  Ah, yes, Star Trek.  This movie is doing extremely well at this point in its run.  This weekend, it dropped a best-in-the-top-ten 14%(!), and managed to sneak past Star Trek: The Motion Picture to become (arguably) the most successful Trek movie of all time.  Until somebody does a better job, J.J. Abrams has set the bar for how to properly do a remake, or a reboot, or a reimagining, or whatever you want to call this.  I can’t wait to see where it goes from here (not just for the franchise, but for the director and his new superstars).  Here’s hoping Chris Pine can avoid Shatner’s mistakes, and that Zachary Quinto’s agent can get him out of that Heroes contract, stat.

(8)  Land of the Lost ($3.9 million, $1350 per screen, $43.6 million total):  Fading fast, the Will Ferrell-led sci-fi comedy is going to go down in history as a grave misstep for all involved, except for composer Michael Giacchino, who’s got Star Trek and Up to keep him warm at night.

(9)  Imagine That ($3.1 million, $1030 per screen, $11.3 million total):  Somehow, this movie managed to add three screens this weekend.  Seriously…?  Who looked at its performance last weekend and said, “Yep, better get me some o’ that”?  Regardless, it’s a huge dud for Murphy and Paramount, and will be long gone two weeks from now.

(10)  Terminator Salvation ($3 million, $1599 per screen, $119.5 million total):  Continuing to slink off in disgrace, McG’s magnum opus spends one final week in the top ten in America.  No word yet on how it did overseas this weekend; it’s been doing admirably outside the states, though, so maybe all is not yet lost for the franchise.

(17)  Whatever Works:  Opening on nine screens and averaging $31,222 per, Woody Allen’s latest comedy got mostly good reviews and did standard opening-weekend Woody business.  It likely won’t go much further from there, but hey, you never know.

Next week — Tuesday around midnight, in fact — brings us the much-anticipated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.  Yawn, says I.  “Sure, we’ll be thrilled to part with our $175 million,” says America by the time Monday has arrived.

Also opening, for some unknown reason, is My Sister’s Keeper, a Cameron Diaz/Abigail Breslin movie.  It hits on Friday, and I’ll be surprised if it cracks the top ten.