Loaded Couch Potatoes

Can’t stand hot weather, but boy, do I wish it were July again…

(1)  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  ($24.6 million, $7887 per screen, $60 million total):  Dropping only 19% from a decent opening weekend, it appears that people actually like this movie and are on the verge of turning it into a legitimate hit.  That’s good news for the box office, which otherwise is in shambles right this moment.

(2)  Surrogates  ($15 million, $5083 per screen):  I was convinced this was going to do okay, but looking back on it, I’m not sure why I thought that.  I guess I’m stuck in the early ’90s, when Bruce Willis was actually relevant as a box-office star.  No more.

And I’d guess that those silly shots of him with a full head of blond hair may have cost the movie millions of dollars in ticket sales.

Surrogates was positioned to be the 2009 version of 2008′s Eagle Eye, a mildly successful sci-fi/action thriller, and it won’t end up being even as successful as that.

(3)  Fame  ($10 million, $3241 per screen):  A remake of a movie people below the age of 35 don’t remember, starring nobody the paparazzi would break into a trot to photograph, opening in late September…?  That equals non-starter, and that’s exactly what MGM got.  All things considered, this movie probably overperformed.

(4)  The Informant!  ($6.9 million, $2760 per screen, $20.9 million total):  Holding up reasonably well from last weekend, this movie still has a long way to go before anybody will be calling it a success.

(5)  I Can Do Bad All By Myself  ($4.7 million, $2241 per screen, $44.5 million total):  Continuing to slow down, which is typical for Tyler Perry movies.

(6)  Pandorum  ($4.4 million, $1759 per screen):  As predicted, nobody cared.  I’m surprised it made as much as it did.

(7)  Love Happens  ($4.3 million, $2280 per screen, $14.7 million total)/(8)  Jennifer’s Body  ($3.5 million, $1278 per screen, $12.3 million total):  Last week’s pair of high-profile duds got no solace this week, as the chances of either of them becoming slight word-of-mouth successes flew out the window.  Both will bedistant memories in another couple of weeks.

(9)  Appropriately enough, 9  ($2.8 million, $1399 per screen, $27 million total):  The movie is now close to earning back its stated budget of $30 million, so it’s not all bad news for the studio.  Still, this was a dud.

(10)  Inglourious Basterds  ($2.7 million, $1389 per screen, $114.4 million total):  Continuing to do relatively well on a week-to-week basis, this is the last week we’ll be hearing from Aldo and his Apaches in this column, but they had a good run, and will be fondly remembered.

Next week finds five new movies going into wide release, including Capitalism: A Love Story, which performed quite well in its limited opening this weekend, averaging $60,000 on eahc of its four screens.  It won’t do as well when it hits 1000 screens, but look for it to pull in no less than $5 million.

Pixar will possibly get its first taste of defeat when it rereleases Toy Story and Toy Story 2 as a combo double feature, this time in digital 3D.  Now, I can see this doing as well as $15 million, but I can also imagine people mostly looking at it and shrugging.  After all, do you know anybody who wants to take their kids to a three-hour movie?  I didn’t think so.  But I will say this: if I’m wrong, and the box office take is considerable, then it means next summer’s Toy Story 3 is going to be absolutely ginormous.

Also opening: Ricky Gervais’s The Invention of Lying (nobody cares), Drew Barrymore’s Whip It (good for $7 million), and Woody Harrelson’s Zombieland (good for $10 million now and every pothead in the world claiming it as their favorite movie five years hence).