Loaded Couch Potatoes

July the 4th fell on a Saturday this year, so rib bones and corn-on-the-cobb put a bit of a dent in the box-office.  Or did it?

(1)  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($42.3 million, $9995 per screen, $293.3 million total):  Well, I’m not claiming it was a bad weekend for the ghettobots, but the big-ticket sequel did slide by 61% this weekend.  It’s tempting to chalk that up to the holiday, but I’m not convinced punching England in the eye was actually to blame, at least not fully.  Likely, that combined with bad reviews, the opening of Ice Age, and the monster opening week to limit the number of people buying tickets this weekend.  It’s still going to make a serious run at $400 million, but for a movie that opened only a hair less impressively than The Dark Knight, which ended up making well over $500 million total … well, all of a sudden, Revenge of the Fallen starts looking a little weaker.  Only a little, but hey, I’ll take what I can get, ’cause that movie sucks three-day nutsack.

(2)  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($41.6 million, $10,171 per screen, $66.7 million total):  I’m gonna classify this one as a mild disappointment.  It managed to make only about as much in its first five days as the previous film in the series, and that’s despite the summer release date and the premium 3D ticket prices.  Sure, the holiday hurt, and the Transformers hurt more.  So what?  I think Fox ought to have been able to get more out of this movie.

(3)  Public Enemies ($25.2 million, $7580 per screen, $40.1 million total):  $40 mil in five days is pretty decent for a gangster movie, but I don’t think it’s much more than decent, and you can thank Johnny Depp for that number.  Whatever he made on this movie, it was probably worth it.  Nobody seems to be raving about the movie, though, so I’m guessing legs aren’t going to be as good as might normally be the case for an older-skewing movie like this one.

(4)  The Proposal ($12.8 million, $4149 per screen, $94.3 million total):  Down only 31% despite the holiday, The Propsal has turned into a significant hit, and as far as date movies go, it’s got a few more weeks before any real competition shows up.  A major success for Disney this summer.

(5)  The Hangover ($11.2 million, $3670 per screen, $205 million total):  Speaking of major successes, this one might be able to make it to $250 million before it’s all said and done.  It might get hurt by Bruno this weekend, though.

(6)  Up ($6.5 million, $2455 per screen, $264.8 million total):  Dropping 50% this weekend, that’s its worst decline so far, but not too shabby considering that Ice Age opened.  It became Pixar’s second-highest-grossing movie, which is awesome (news that is tempered somewhat when you realize that if inflation is considered, it ranks only seventh on the list … although really, that’s still pretty frickin’ good).

(7)  My Sister’s Keeper ($5.7 million, $2221 per screen, $26.5 million total):  Crumbling 53%, that’s not a result conducive to many more weeks in cinemas.

(8)  The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ($2.5 million, $1328 per screen, $58.5 million total):  For a movie that cost $100 million, this is a fairly pathetic performance.  Can we get Tony Scott to stop making movies now?  Who am I kidding; he’ll probably direct the inevitable Voltron movie and make something even worse than Transformers.

(9)  Year One ($2.3 million, $1037 per screen, $38.3 million total):  Continuing its unimpressive run, I’m pleased that this will be the final week in which I write about this movie.

(10)  Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($2 million, $1440 per screen, $167.7 million total):  Ditto.

Next week we get Bruno and I Love You, Beth Cooper.  The Austrian gets about $27 million, and the cheerleader saves neither the world nor the box office, pulling in, oh, I’m a-gonna say $13 million.