I'm just posting the top 5 to make this fun-for-me observation: Canadians don't like The Love Guru either, despite its hometown appeal. They made up just under 10% of The Love Guru's domestic $13.9 box office haul last weekend, and therefore, exactly the same per-capita as Americans did (Canadians make up about 9.83% of the possible movie theatre patrons in the overall North American numbers you see every Sunday and Monday).

1 - Get Smart Warner Bros. $2.42M $2.42M 1
2 2 Kung Fu Panda Paramount $1.92M $10.61M 3
3 1 The Incredible Hulk Universal $1.64M $6.44M 2
4 - The Love Guru Paramount $1.40M $1.40M 1
5 4 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Paramount $909,312 $24.43M 5

This pleases me as I am a bit of a Mike Myers anti-fan.. somewhat because I haven't found him funny since he was on SNL, and mostly because when I was 18, I worked in the bottom of the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto (selling ties in a stand in the lobby, no less), and he was an asshole to me on two occasions.

Box office tracking site after box office tracking site shows basically two types of box-office: world and domestic. Many show various individual countries' box office that make up "the world" (Boxofficemojo and Variety, for example) and many call the domestic box-office simply the "U.S. box office." But what many know and some don't.. the domestic box-office also includes Canada. And because we get sneakily included in these receipts, its rare - even, to a degree, in our own country - to see the actual CANADIAN box office numbers posted anywhere.

There are sources (tribute.ca and Playback both post them), and figured I'd start including them on my blog every once in a while. I'll try and spare discussing the near complete non-existence of actual Canadian films on the charts, as this is already oft-discussed and would get repetitive (though Young People Fucking debuted rather impressively this week, and The Stone Angel just dropped off after a good run, both major feats for English language Canadian films), and use the posting as an opportunity to do something a little more fun and little less depressing: Looking at what American films did better or worse in Canadian, relatively.

I've always been really curious about the tiny differentiations in cultural product interest between the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. population is 304.3 million, the Canadian population is 33.2 million. Yes, much smaller. We know. But its still 9.83% of the "domestic box office" population, which is pretty significant. Its pretty simple too: $10 million Canadian box office is like $100 million US box office.

Interesting statistics from this week's chart? Canadians didn't go so hard for the openers. The Incredible Hulk (5.54%) and The Happening (6.03%) placed well under our percentage. In fact, the big Canadian moneymakers, percentage wise, were Sex and the City (10.7%) and Indiana Jones (10.2%). It appears overall that Canadians do not, per capita, spend as much money at the movies (though ticket prices and dollar exchange fluctuation may play roles in this) as most of the films placed under the 9.8%. One film that did REALLY well in Canada (though its no longer on the chart)? Harold and Kumar, which has grossed just under $9 million in Canada, roughly 24% of its $37 million "domestic" gross. The film it opened against - Baby Mama - seems to have not gone over so well with Canadians. Its $2.98 million Canadian haul is just 5% of its overall gross. Pot over pregnancy, and New York City socialites over the Hulk... Oh, Canada.

Top 20 Movies in Canada - Weekend of June 13, 2008

1 - The Incredible Hulk Universal $3.07M $3.07M 1
2 1 Kung Fu Panda Paramount $2.73M $7.64M 2
3 - The Happening 20th Century Fox $1.84M $1.84M 1
4 3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Paramount $1.49M $22.90M 4
5 2 You Don't Mess With the Zohan Columbia $1.45M $5.74M 2
6 4 Sex and the City Alliance $1.05M $12.33M 3
7 6 Iron Man Paramount $399,938 $24.74M 7
8 7 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Walt Disney $306,151 $11.24M 5
9 5 The Strangers Alliance $290,752 $2.88M 3
10 8 What Happens in Vegas 20th Century Fox $137,840 $7.35M 6
11 - Young People Fucking Seville $103,544 $103,544 1
12 12 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Universal $52,141 $6.08M 9
13 16 Baby Mama Universal $37,948 $2.98M 8
14 10 Made of Honor Columbia $29,832 $4.39M 7
15 9 Sarkar Raj Eros $21,667 $110,955 2
16 18 U2 3D National Geographic $21,593 $942,613 20
17 13 21 Columbia $19,206 $9.31M 11
18 15 The Visitor Alliance $16,351 $433,318 8
19 - When Did You Last See Your Father? Mongrel Media $15,389 $15,389 1
20 17 99 F Seville $12,864 $55,769 2

Sex and the City, as I had somewhat figured, opened with an astounding $26 million Friday, a higher opening day than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and double what most industry folk were expecting. On its way to a $65 million weekend, it will likely break a bunch of records: highest opening for a romantic comedy, for a film with female leads, etc, etc.

There is going to a ton of press about what these numbers mean (though its pretty simple: women are 50% of the population, and get 5% of the movies; Sex shows its time for that to change), and the movie itself will supplant itself into history as the first ever female-driven megablockbuster (other than maybe My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but that happened in a very different way).

Like seemingly every other urban gay or gal, I saw the film this weekend, and have wrestled with an instant love/hate relationship with it (don't read on past the first paragraph if you haven't seen it and want to).

On a side note, the viewing experience itself was really interesting. I went to a Thursday night show at the "Scotiamount" downtown Montreal. All 7 screenings were sold out, and women were dressed up in full fledged gowns. Cheers were rampant throughout the film, and the aura of excitement from the second you sat in the theatre was, honestly, really fun. But there's obviously a dark side to all this spectacle (for a take on that much funnier than I could ever muster: read this), and it was just as much depressing as it was exciting to see people take something so seriously. Not that they themselves are to blame. If Sex and the City: The Movie wasn't such a rare breed of event-movie, maybe it wouldn't bring out such desperation.

As a (conflicted) fan of the show (I don't know if it started now I'd be as in to it as I was back in 1999), for the most part I resorted to a nostalgic self during the actual viewing of the film, pretending I was the significantly less educated and cynical person that first fell in love with the show almost 10 years ago, just so I could get past a thesis-worth of issues. And, granted, this wasn't hard. The film is at times very funny, genuinely moving, and even occasionally shines light on often-ignored (and in terms of big summer movies, entirely ignored) themes like the fear of aging, the complications of monogamy, and the dark side of human emotion.

But there were times during the film I couldn't help but snicker, roll my eyes, and resist vomiting. The cheesy dialogue was in full force, especially in Carrie's "reading" of some parts of her "books" that she's now making a very good living of writing. At the very end she reads a section of unfinished new book that resulted from the events of the film, and I couldn't help but wonder: You'd think that Michael Patrick King would be capable, as a at times very good writer, of making Carrie seem like she herself is capable of being a good writer. Her "insight" into "love" sounds like it comes from a high school writing workshop.

And sometimes, so does King's (see the scene when Carrie figures out the password to her hidden e-mails). What's worse is King couldn't manage to come up with anything new here. The plot of the film is basically a rehash of the final season of the show, done bigger and (sometimes) done better. Breaking up Carrie and Miranda from Big and Steve (which we've already seen at least three times each) just to give the plot something to work with is as desperate as the girls wearing gowns to the screenings.

But at least there are some human-esque qualities to the as-seen-on-TV stories, and sometimes we get glimpses into the film Sex could have been. Cynthia Nixon, even with her tired storyline, rises above her work on the series and continues to push Miranda into her unique place among the 4 women: the only character with real problems. Even Samantha, who I felt was placed a few steps away from caricature and a few toward character, is given a story that - unlike the end of the series which awkwardly ended her story as being in a stable relationship - explores the idea that monogamy isn't for anyone, and Kim Cattrall does a really good job making this work on levels of both funny and affecting. Too bad Kristin Davis does the opposite, making Charlotte MORE of a caricature than she'd ever been and causing me to unintentionally laugh out loud at her shrill line readings on more than one occasion (her shitting herself in Mexico, though, was the funniest part of the film).

Carrie, always my least favourite character thanks to her remarkable self-absorption (evident here again when she consistently cuts off her friends' discussion of their problems by making a pun that transitions the conversation to her own drama), has a few moments of realism. One really good scene shows her looking to the mirror, sans makeup and voiceover, examining a face that very much looks her age. Its a minute of insight into the challenges that women face in a materialistic world based so much on how people look. But unfortunately, Sex champions this world way more than it criticizes it, so any insight it might give into the problems these ladies have is ruined by the fact that this film, and the series it came from, played a role in making them (which the film even winks to on a few occasions: 4 20something girls are shown walking in a gang at the beginning in an homage to many Sex-posers, and a scene toward the end shows them all drinking Cosmos and acknowledging they stopped drinking them because "everyone else started.")

"Labels and love" are the reasons Carrie gives to women who move to New York City, and she exemplifies its still the reason she stays there by shrieking at the sight of designer gowns, fancy bags, and, of course, shoes. Her character feels even more shallow that she did on the series. She's also even more well-off this time around (thanks to her books or thanks to her Big sugar daddy?) and this brings the film to a whole new level of depicting social hierarchies. This is most offensively displayed in the relationship she has with Jennifer Hudson's "we have a black person on Sex and the City!" character. Hudson's Louise is Carrie's assistant, and correct me if I'm looking to far into things, but their relationship plays a bit like Driving Miss Bradshaw. Louise is at Carrie's beckon call, unpacking her boxes, running her errands, returning her e-mails. And Louise, supposedly there to represent the differences in age-privileges among women, stands out as a representation of class and race differences. She can't even buy a bag, she "rents" them, and freaks out like a starved child when Carrie, rich, white woman that she is, buys Louise a real-life Gucci (I could have the brand wrong) bag for all her hard work she did making sure rich, white Carrie has an organized apartment and her e-mails returned. There's another scene that furthers these themes that outright shocked me. Miranda and her son are looking for an apartment in Chinatown and are surrounded by Asian people. Miranda sees a white man and her baby walk by and says to Brady (word for word, seriously) "follow the white man with the baby, he'll know where to go". And you wonder how subtle racism is bred among children?

These outstanding offenses aside, I do think that Sex is susceptible to more criticisms than the average movie. Its issues are all over the pop cultural map, but with Sex, the fact that, as its box office shows, it has such an intense following and extreme influence, people take more notice. If you take it simply as a summer popcorn film, its a very fun time. But Sex and the City, mammoth of estrogen-fueled following that it has, failed because it didn't take a very rare opportunity to be a little more critical of the world it examines and influences. I left the theatre thinking of my 15 year old sister, who went to see it with a big gang of future Carrie wannabes, and thought, THIS, Juno and Tina Fey aside, is the only role models Hollywood can muster up for them? Even if I look critically at myself, who watched the show from the ages of 14-20, I see my own vain, shallow, materialistic qualities and how Sex played a role in pushing them along. But Sex certainly didn't create them. Its just a big fish in a shallow ocean. And one might even argue that the materialism it displays is sadly a somewhat realistic portrayal of the rich, white world its portraying.

(for a different take, check out the always insightful - seriously - Reel Geezers:

)

Four weekends into summer, and things have not ended up the way they were planned. Iron Man was an even bigger hit than expected, showing the rare blockbuster staying power; Speed Racer was an even bigger failure than expected, unlikely to gross more than $40 million and even busting overseas; and while Indiana Jones is doing the big business everyone thought it would, $200 million budgeted Narnia just suffered a massive second week drop off from a first weekend that was already well below expectations (it probably will end up with about half the first film's gross, bad news since the 3rd film is already in production, but good news if you like the idea of Walden Media owner and Christian fundamentalist Philip Anschutz crying in his reclusive mansion somewhere).

For me, though, it is this upcoming weekend that I'm most curious about.

As far as pundits go, Sex and the City is worth $70 million on Hollywood Stock Exchange, which means they predict it will make $70 in its first four weeks. Most opening weekend predictions are in the $25-40 range. I think they are seriously underestimating the mammoth this movie really is. Women (and gays) do get summer movies, but they are always "sleepers" that have "legs" and end up "surprising" everyone (Hairspray, The Devil Wears Prada...). But Sex and the City is an event movie. Arguably, its the first gay/gal summer event movie, well, ever. Never have I seen this sort of advance response to a film from those neglected demographics. 50% of every woman or gay man I know, if not more, are going opening weekend, many with cocktail events planned around it. Some are going to two different ones. Even women as young as my 15 year old sister and her friends are very excited, given that DVDs and TBS reruns have introduced them to the show in the past few years (and here in Canada they don't even need a parent to get into it, though in the US maybe they'll find ways via older sisters or mothers who also want to see it). Its already sold out Thursday previews and most Friday showings in all the downtown Montreal theatres (except a few French dubbed showings ("Sex A New York"), which are still available).

Obviously I'm no data research/tracking company and my statistics are basic observations from one person. But many other people I've talked to in varied social realms and geographic regions are reporting the same responses. People who haven't gone to the movies in a year (or years) will make it out for this. Straight men and boys get 6 of these events a year, and it creates a bit of a fatigue. Even Iron Man, the juggernaut that it was, wasn't something everyone was talking about for weeks and weeks before it opened. Sex and the City is an event movie for people starved of having one. And unlike Prada, its going to be a frontloaded event. I'd guess more than 1/3 of Sex's overall grosses will come opening weekend. That number? Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm guessing at least $50 million. And I feel like I'm being conservative.

I figured since I've neglected the "box office" category for months now and every box office nerd around is eagerly awaiting Iron Man's summer kick off opening night numbers (including myself), I'd offer my top 20 moneymakers of the summer predictions.

I'm guessing it will be somewhat similar to last summer, where 5 films dominated with $290 million+ and another 10 or so did very good business as well. Only I'd guess it will be a little less top heavy this time around, with one massive #1 (Indiana Jones), and another 5 $250-300 million types (Wall-E, Hancock, Dark Knight, Iron Man, Narnia). But that's pretty easy to guess. The harder guesswork is in the disappointments. I'd wager The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, The Love Guru, The Mummy 3 and Speed Racer will all fall below expectations, while X-Files and Hellboy 2 won't do much better than their middle-ground hit successors.

The last few summers have taught two important points. Yes, there will be blockbusters. But there will also be comedies and woman-oriented films that will make some notable change as well. Though I already suggested The Love Guru will fail (it looks horrible, and Mike Myers is not the draw he once was, I think), but I'd imagine Step Brothers, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, You Don't Mess With The Zohan and Get Smart will all do decent business. Thunder looks like the standout, but Brothers' trailer seems to suggest it brings the funny way more than Semi-Pro did, and might mark yet another Ferrell comeback. The other three might all fall slightly below expectations, but all in the $100 million+ range. Sandler's films almost always hit the $100, even though its toward the bottom of that range more and more. Pineapple is not as accessible as Knocked Up or Superbad, and is the shakiest of them all, but it the presence of Rogen and a damn good trailer should help. And since the ladies (and gays) have so little to-themselves options (please note how very, very few summer movies have a female at top billing), I can't imagine Sex and the City doing poorly, even if it blows. Mamma Mia should see a near-Hairspray success too, but that is very much based on whether or not its good or not. Sleepers usually need good reviews.

Anyway, here's my top 20:

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Opening: $127 million Final: $365 million

2. Wall-E
Opening: $74 million Final: $298 million

3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Opening: $84 million Final: $289 million

4.The Dark Knight
Opening: $101 million Final: $284 million

5. Iron Man
Opening: $92 million Final: $275 million

6. Hancock
Opening: $75 million Final: $249 million

7. Kung Fu Panda
Opening $47 million Final: $164 million

8. The Happening
Opening: $54 million Final: $151 million

9. Tropic Thunder
Opening: $50 million Final: $144 million

10. Sex and the City: The Movie
Opening: $46 million Final: $141 million

11. Step Brothers
Opening: $39 million Final: $127 million

12. Get Smart
Opening: $37 million Final: $123 million

13. The Mummy 3
Opening: $40 million Final: $119 million

14. The Incredible Hulk
Opening: $45 million Final: $116 million

15. Mamma Mia!
Opening: $30 million Final: $108 million

16. Pineapple Express
Opening: $31 million Final: $102 million

17. You Don't Mess With The Zohan
Opening: $33 millon Final: $98 million

18. Wanted
Opening: $38 million Final: $95 million

19. The X-Files 2
Opening: $35 million Final: $92 million

20. Speed Racer
Opening: $34 million Final: $ million

Despite aggressive youth-oriented marketing and an MTV brand, Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss didn't make much of a play at the box office, taking in $4.5 million for a so-so average of $3,505. Personally, I didn't expect anything more. Its reviews were good but not great (which is better than most Iraq themed films as of late can say), and though pretty and buzzy, its cast is not exactly filled with household names. Either way, though, Loss has a shot of becoming the second highest grossing narrative Iraq War (the latter one, not the H.W. Bush one, which has found mild success in Three Kings and Jarhead) film.

The list so far...

1. The Kingdom $47,536,778
2. Lions For Lambs $15,000,115
3. Rendition $9,736,045
4. In The Valley of Elah $6,777,741
5. Stop-Loss $4,525,000
6. Redacted $65,388
7. Grace is Gone $50,899
8. Home of the Brave $40,830

If one needs any further indication that the presence of movie stars don't mean shit anymore (unless of course Will Smith is involved), this is it. Despite the presence of Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Robert Redford, John Cusack, Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon and Jake Gyllhenhaal, the unpleasant themes and disinterest of the American moviegoing audience won over. The combined gross of all of these films doesn't even equal what "disappointment" 10,000 B.C. has taken in so far.

The Jim Carrey-Steve Carell voiced Horton Hears a Who! made some serious money this weekend ($45 million) and is poised to become 2008's very first $100 million box office hit (at this point last year, we already had two: 300 and, cringe, Wild Hogs). It also became the first non-Disney G-rated film to open north of $40 million (Check out this wacky list).

Its not particularly surprising. Good reviews, big name "cast", known story, little out there for families... But what IS surprising is this article on Slate.com, which details the attachment of anti-abortion activists to Horton's (very) questionably relevant message.

Slate's Kim Masters attended the premiere:

Your Hollywoodland correspondent attended the glamorous premiere of Horton Hears a Who! last Saturday and was present when protesters started yelling shortly after Horton uttered his famous motto: "A person's a person, no matter how small."

We could not understand what was being shouted and thought perhaps that Seth Rogen or one of the other many vocal talents in the film was expressing love for Dr. Seuss' elephant and his signature line. But as you may have read elsewhere, anti-abortion activists had infiltrated the theater. Afterward, they handed out fliers designed to look like tickets.

Yes. First, Juno, now Horton. Desperate for any sort of flag for their ship, pro-lifers have jumped on Dr. Seuss' story about an elephant you finds a speck of dust on him that is actually the community of Whoville, hence the "no matter how small" line. And Mrs. Seuss isn't happy:

None of this sat well with Audrey Geisel, widow of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), who attended the screening. So did Karl ZoBell, the lawyer who represents her and who has represented the interests of Dr. Seuss for some 40 years. In an interview with NPR, he said he couldn't make out the yelling and thought maybe "some nut" was in the theater. Later, he asked the protesters what group they represented, and none would answer. Their silence didn't seem like an accident to him, which makes sense, because ZoBell has not been bashful about sending cease-and-desist letters to those who appropriate Dr. Seuss' material for their own purposes. And many do.

ZoBell says it would be nice if these people came up with their own material. But if they don't go too far - by copping the illustrations, for example - they can use a line like "A person's a person, no matter how small," even if it wouldn't have pleased Dr. Seuss. And it wouldn't have. The Geisels were opposed to using the Dr. Seuss books for any political agenda.

Perhaps this will show the usually talented Will Ferrell that three consecutive sports comedies (with similar themes, style and characters) does not a filmography make. Semi-Pro the basketball counterpart to Blades of Glory's figure skating and Talledega Nights' car racing (each big BO hits), made just $5 million dollars Friday night, heading for a $12-15 million opening, and putting it toward the bottom of Ferrell openers. Take a look:

ALL-TIME TOP 10 WILL FERRELL LIVE ACTION OPENINGS
1. Talladega Nights - $47M
2. Blades of Glory - $33M
3. Elf - $31.1M
4. Anchorman - $28.4M
5. Kicking & Screaming - $20.15M
6. Bewitched - $20.13M
7. Old School - $17.4M
8. Zoolander - $15.5M
9. Stranger Than Fiction - $13.4M
10. Semi-Pro - $13??

Even the soccer comedy "bomb" Kicking and Screaming did much better.

Thankfully, the trailer for this summer's Step Brothers looks a lot more promising, and maybe Ferrell can, uh, rebound.

The film's failure is also a sad end to a horrific week for New Line. This follows Rendition, The Last Mimzy, Martian Child, Over Her Dead Body and The Golden Compass, all of which tanked.

But in brighter box office news, The Other Boleyn Girl came in at third on Friday with $2.9 million on just 1,100 screens... heading for $8.5 million.

Keeping with 2008's apparent golden rule that any film - total garbage or not - can make money as long as it doesn't star Katie Holmes, this past weekend was a near-perfect example (though not the best example: that will forever belong to the weekend Rambo and Meet The Spartans ruled the chart).

Rounding out the top two were two critically shamed films starring two of the people I'd least want at a dinner party: Matthew McConaughey and Martin Lawrence. McConaughey's romantic comedy Fool's Gold topped the chart with $22 million, followed by Lawrence's Welcome Home, Roscoe Jones (not to be confused with my adolescent guilty pleasure, the Winona Ryder angst fest, Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael), which took in $17 million.

But joining Mrs. Cruise on the exception-to-the-rule list was Paris Hilton. Her Hottie & The Nottie was waaay at the bottom of the box office chart. Opening on 111 screens, the critically lambasted film averaged a truly pathetic $225 per theatre, narrowly beating December's similarly ridiculed Jessica Simpson project, "Blonde Ambition," which averaged $165 per theatre in its opening weekend (though it went on to reach a miraculous $260 average the following weekend).

Honestly, I'd much rather see Hottie in all its imaginably so-horrific-i'll-laugh-if-im-high campy glory than sit through Fool's or Roscoe. But I'm obviously in the minority there.

In other depressing box office related news, Alvin and the Chipmunks has made $210 million and Rambo has made more than (here I go again..): There Will Be Blood, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Margot at the Wedding, I'm Not There, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Savages combined.

TOP WEEKEND THEATER AVERAGES
(Wide Releases; 1982-Present; c/o Box Office Mojo)

1 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour | $42,459 | 2008
2 Spider-Man 3 | $35,540 4,252 | 2007
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | $32,817 | 2006
4 Spider-Man | $31,768 3,615 | 2002
5 Borat | $31,607 837 | 2006
6 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith | $29,619 | 2005
7 Shrek the Third | $29,507 | 2007
8 X-Men: The Last Stand | $27,845 | 2006
9 Fahrenheit 9/11 | $27,558 | 2004
10 The Passion of the Christ | $27,554 | 2004

Obviously due to inflated ticket prices.. only TWO pre-2000 releases are in the top 20: 1999's The Blair Witch Project, and the 17 year champ, 1983's Return of the Jedi.

But seriously.. this Hanna Montana thing is pretty insane. It wasn't like it was even close... $7,000 more than Spiderman 3 and now the "film" also holds records for Best Super Bowl Weekend Opening and Film With Fewest Screens To Ever Debut At #1

Rambo made more in 3 days ($18 million) then I'm Not There, The Savages, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Persepolis, Margot at the Wedding, Control and Lars and the Real Girl's total grosses combined.

J.J. Abrams' internet marketing bonanza, Cloverfield opened huge last night, grossing $18 million Friday (according to Fantasy Moguls), and heading for a January record (by far) $45-50 million weekend. The previous record was the Star Wars re-release back in 1997, which took in $35.9 million. The Katherine Heigl rom-com 27 Dresses practiced some smart counter programming this weekend as well, taking $8.6 million on Friday en route to $24-27 million over the weekend. While Katie Holmes' return to the screen predictably tanked, as Mad Money made no such thing, taking $2.25 million on Friday.

Juno was the highest grossing film in America Monday night, taking in $1.38 million, about $75,000 more than #2 National Treasure. Not bad considering it was its first day at #1 and its 34th day in release.

But more impressive (and more horrific), Monday night brought some other notable numbers, says The Futon Critic:

Last night from 8-9 p.m. ET, the regular time period debut of "American Gladiators" (4.8 rating, 12 share in adults 18-49, 10.9 million viewers overall) nailed NBC's highest 18-49 rating in this time period in 10 months (since March 5, 2007). In total viewers, "Gladiators" attracted NBC's biggest audience in the slot with regularly scheduled programming since June 18, 2007.

So its come to this?

In an interesting example of any-publicity-is-good-publicity, Jessica Simpson's Blonde Ambition, which made headlines last weekend for its absolutely horrific box office of just $1,322 on 8 screens, saw its earnings rise a fairly whopping 74% in its second weekend, despite a static screen count.

Now, $2,300 is still a huge joke of a weekend gross. But for an "actress" who is quickly turning into a huge joke herself (yes, she was always a joke, but now she's one without much financial prosperity), this is probably the best news she's got career-wise in a while. When other massive flops starring singer-actress hybrids like Gigli, Glitter and From Justin To Kelly fell 82%, 61% and 77%, respectively, Blonde Ambition at least has one miniscully positive thing to note about its pathetic box office voyage.

According to Fantasy Moguls, Paul Thomas Anderson's first two days in release has brought some major per theatre averages... In two houses, the film managed a $33,000 average on Wednesday and slightly down $28,000 average on Thursday. That suggests that Blood might be headed for a $90,000 average this upcoming weekend.

And this is good news for any lover of film, especially when two genuine pieces of garbage: National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Alvin and the Chipmunks, along with slighly more impressive I Am Legend have truly dominated the Christmas money train, once again showing us that the Wild Hogs suggested stupidity of American filmgoers was no fluke. The three films have a combined gross of well over $300 million, and have been open for less than 2 weeks or less than 1 week, respectively. Equally sad is that, other than Blood, the highest reported average on Thursday was The Bucket List.

In other news, briefly and notably, Sweeney Todd continues to have trouble, falling below P.S. I Love You and The Water Horse's takings on Thursday, earning just $2.27 million for 9th place. Juno, however, is doing quite well (benefiting from a platform release that might have done Sweeney some good), hitting 6th place on Thursday and bringing its cume to almost $16 million.

Heading into a weekend that is likely going to give a serious boost to a lot of platform releasers (Juno and Atonement most notably), I figured I'd take a quick look at where the limited releases of 2007 currently stand.

The following are, as of last weekend, the only 2007 releases to have opened in a traditional limited release and made over $10 million (with perhaps Sicko's inclusion pushing it, and The Lives of Others coming off a Oscar push from last year):

No Country for Old Men| Mira. | $34.58 million
Sicko | LGF | $24.54 million
Waitress | FoxS | $19.07 million
Into the Wild | ParV | $16.63 million
The Namesake | FoxS | $13.56 million
The Darjeeling Limited | FoxS |$11.57 million
The Lives of Others | SPC | $11.29 million
La Vie en Rose | PicH | $10.07 million

Of films already in release, Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Atonement all certainly seemed poised to join this list.

Last year, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen both topped $50 million; The Illusionist, Babel and Pan's Labyrinth all topped $30 million; while eleven other titles crossed $10 million, meaning 8 more titles than 2007 has with one month remaining.

Its quite possible 2007 could offer an incredible last minute push, especially with No Country quickly rising ($50 million+?) and Juno likely to do the same, and releases like There Will Be Be Blood still coming... I'll be really curious to see what happens. But as it stands right now, while 2007 is likely about to be talked about as remarkable year for films, especially many of the ones I just listed, it also could be a year when none of them really made any money.

Though the obvious story of the weekend's box office was I Am Legend (grossing $76.4 million, it was the biggest opening in December EVER as well as Will Smith's biggest opening, which is quite the spectacular feat), what blew me away the most was Alvin and the Chipmunks. The poorly reviewed half CGI film somehow took in $45 million. The eighth highest December opening ever, Alvin outdid the likes of Ocean's 11, Titanic, Night at the Museum and last weekend's The Golden Compass in terms of openings. I have no idea how this happened. The film's trailer drew mocking laughter whenever I saw it in a theatre.

But anyway.. its happened. And Alvin could turn into a $200 million movie. Wow.

The weekend was a big one all around. First, it was a massive kick for the overall box office, with astounding numbers from the aforementioned. It also brought news from the limited release front, with Juno finishing at #11 with $1.44 million on only 40 screens. Its whopping $36,000 average out did both Legend and Alvin, and suggests Juno could be quite the juggernaut in wide release.

And it wasnt alone in limited release prosperity. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Atonement both continue to excel, while No Country For Old Men finally hit the top 5 and is heading toward at least $50 million.

The only film that had bad news this weekend, really, is The Golden Compass, which fell 65% and looks like it might not even hit $75 million, a number I Am Legend crossed sometime Sunday evening.

Though my love for Juno as a film is milder than most (though I certainly enjoyed it), its hard for me not to root for the little(ish) movie than can and will. Its director hails from Montreal (where I live) and its two stars come from Halifax and Toronto (my two former homes), so its probably the only American film in history to represent my own personal geography. It might try too hard with occasionally outdated and a-bit-too-quick dialogue, but it definately has a notable heart. And though it might be unfair that scribe Diablo Cody is getting more spotlight than every other screenwriter working combined, mostly due to her unusual rags-to-riches story (she was a stripper if you didnt already pick up on that), its kinda great to see an unknown, female writer become THE buzz story of a movie.

So when I read today that Juno made an astounding $539K in its first 5 days on just seven screens (averaging over $60,000 this weekend), I'll admit it made me a little gleeful. It looks like it will join No Country For Old Men as one of the very few limited release success stories of the season, and - if the train keeps going, which I bet it will - it will make the adorable Michael Cera technically more bankable in 2007 than Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman combined, with two small-budget, big-box office stories under his belt. Juno's average was nearly 9 times that of the weekend's big opener, The Golden Compass, and making the top 20 films overall on just 7 screens is quite the feat.

Also notable this weekend, Atonement did quite well on 28 screens ($25K average), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly held onto its average very well (dropping for $28K to $20K) and No Country For Old Men nearly hit the top 5 on a still relatively small 1,324 screens, bringing its total to $28.9 million, even before any of its real awards attention even begins...

Though its no surprise that a well-marketed, well-reviewed good ol' fashioned Disney film is headed for #1 over US thanksgiving, its doing better than people even expected. $8 million on Wednesday, $6.8 on Thursday, and over $13 on Friday could spell a $50 million 5 day opening - the second highest Thanksgiivng opening ever. And Enchanted won't stop there, either. With reviews and word of mouth strong, its likely going to be one of the year's biggest grossers.. I wouldn't be surprised if it tops $200 million, and am now certain that Ms. Amy Adams is headed for an Oscar nomination.

Also notable was the very strong This Christmas, which is headed for nearly $30 million over the 5 days, has the highest per screen average in the top 10 (beating even the Coen brothers), Which means a small Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo and Regina King Christmas flick (which got decent reviews) will beat out the second weekend of Beowulf. It also means the horribly neglected African-American filmgoing audience is once again, after Why Did I Get Married? and partially American Gangster, showing that they are hungry for some representation.

Actually, pretty much all the studio openers look to do decently. Hitman looks headed for $20 million, and The Mist and August Rush both might take $13 million - respectable for films with relatively low financial expectations.

The wide release of No Country For Old Men also looks very healthy. On 800 screens, it looks to take around $12 million on the five days, which is quite impressive. Miramax's plan is working perfectly, and Country could end up with both Oscar nods and a Coen-record-final-box office. Not quite as impressive was I'm Not There. On 130 screens, I'm Not There might make $1 million over the 5 days, for a $5,000ish average. This is on par with the averages of much wider August Rush and The Mist. In its third week and on 800 screens, No Country will average twice that. This does not bode well for There. 130 screens might have been too many screens to start off on.

Despite mixed reviews, Margot at the Wedding (a personal favourite), is heading for a $40,000 weekend average.. though its 2 screens make it hard to suggest whether Margot will do well when it expands. But it can never do as bad as Richard Kelly's much-delayed release of Southland Tales, which is heading for a $1,500 average on 63 screens. Based on Friday estimates, it looks like No Country For Old Men will be the story of weekend, and might just break the fall-indie-curse, as it hit the top 10, placing 7th on just 148 screens, heading for a $2.5 million weekend and a $18,000 average.

In the bigger leagues, Lions For Lambs continued to tank into oblivion, grossing under $1 million on Friday (below No Country, despite playing on 15 times the screens) and heading for maybe $3 million. Thats a 60% drop, and makes it headed for a final gross of around $20 million, the lowest grossing Cruise film since 1986's Legend (and if you adjust for inflation, the lowest since 1983's Losin' It).

The news wasn't much better for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which took in $2.6 million as it heads for $9-11 over the weekend. But Beowulf managed to hit expectations with $9.7 million, even if that might be a bit low for a hugely hyped and very expensive techno-saavy venture. Nonetheless, it could end up beating What Lies Beneath's $29 million to become the highest opener of Robert Zemeckis' box office heavy career.

Tom Cruise, usually an overseas cash cow, lost to two Bollywood pictures in the overseas box office race. Last weekend, Lions For Lambs opened in 3rd place, earning just over $10 million from 44 territories and barely edging the 20th weekend of Ratatouille, which was playing in 14 less markets. What's more two Indian pictures, Om Shanti Om and Saawariy, beat it for the top 2 slots. Also of note, Stardust continues to find a deserved audience overseas, crossing $80 million in its 14th weekend and remaining in the top 6, while Atonement hit $27 million in 10 territories, three weeks before it lands in the U.S. and Canada.

On the homefront, a quick note of something rather spectacular: Last night, No Country For Old Men was the 9th highest grossing film in North America, playing on just 28 screens. It made more than Michael Clayton, which was playing on 41 times more screens.

Lions For Lambs opened to just over $2 million on Friday night, placing it in a close heat with Dan in Real Life's third weekend for 4th place. Expected champ Fred Claus did much better, but still under expectations, with $5.3 million. It should end up with $17 million or so and in 3rd place, under the thriving American Gangster and Bee Movie which will battle out the #1 spot with $21-25 million each. Its likely Bee will win, given the tendency for familys to come out in, uh, drones, on weekend afternoons. Also notable was No Country For Old Men's stunning average on 28 screens, as heads toward a $45,000 weekend average and $1.2 million.

To make matters worse for Mr. Cruise, this is the trailer for next summer's Valkyrie:

Shouldn't he at least have a German accent?

It would be a miracle straight from Xenu if Lions For Lambs, which opens tomorrow to bad buzz and worse reviews, keeps up Tom's impressive streak so far this decade.

Check out the stats after the jump.

Rising above expectations and likely breaking six straight weeks of poor box office, Ridley Scott's American Gangster grossed $15.8 million in its opening day, which could mean a weekend of close to $45 million. Most analysts were predicting the mid-30 million range. This could mean a lot for Gangster's Oscar chances too (seeing as how everything else this fall thats award worthy is tanking).

On the flipside, Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie opened slightly below expectations with just over $10 million on its opening day. Its still headed for $35 million, close to last year's Happy Feet, which opened to over $40 million in its first weekend. The only other notable happening in the limited estimates released this morning was Saw IV's whopping 75% drop from last weekend, which is pushing toward a $10 million weekend. Which I think most saw coming.

Just a brief update considering yesterday's post: but 30 Days Of Night is headed for $17-19 million as per Saturday numbers, with Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married second with $10 million or so, The Game Plan third with $8 million (19% drop.. who the fuck keeps seeing this movie?) and Michael Clayton holding up nicely with about $7 million. The Comebacks and Gone Baby Gone are both headed for around a $6 million opening, Rendition looks like it might have to settle for truly pathetic $4 million, and Things We Lost In The Fire looks to manage maybe $2 million. Oh, and The Ten Commandments and Sarah Landon? Wide releases lucky to make the top twenty! Both are looking at per screen averages under $500.

The only real success of the "new" releases other than Night looks like Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D which is heading for an astounding $5 million on just 500 screens. So, in conclusion: 8 new releases, only one hits over $10 million, and a twice-reissued 1993 animated goth musical can make more money than a Witherspoon-Gyllenhaal-Streep thriller playing on four times the screens. This is a nice set-up for Burton's Sweeney Toddaganza in December.

So Im actually writing this from my terrace in on a mid-October afternoon in what is supposed to be one of the coldest metropolises in the world. It is 25 degrees (77 for the imperial crowd). When I left to get my Cafe du Starbucks this morning, I was in full coat and scarf, oblivious.. Now Im in a t-shirt. Its a record for today so The Weather Network tells me. And, using weather as a desperate entry point into the real topic of this blog, its also a record at the movie theatres today! Today, a record EIGHT films open in wide release, which is most to have done so in one weekend ever. Twice (In December 1983 and in December 1995), seven have managed to simutaneously open, but never eight. And since 1982, only 20 weekends have seen six or more movies debut in and/or expand to wide release. So the big gang consists of: 30 Days of Night, The Comebacks, Gone Baby Gone, Rendition, Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour, The Ten Commandments, Into The Wild and Things We Lost in the Fire. Add this to The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D's 500 screen re-issue and 200-300 screen expansions of The Darjeeling Limited and The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, and we've got ourselves a pretty crowded weekend at the box office...

It's interesting that amidst all of this "October is the new December" talk, that October is turning out to be the 2007's first real stinker of a month at the box office. It's now half-way through the month, and the only two hits are a family sports comedy starring The Rock ("The Game Plan") and another Tyler Perry movie ("Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married"). The former continued to see mild slips (just 33%, beating out the opening weekends of "Michael Clayton" and "We Own The Night") this past weekend, inching toward a final cume just south of $100 million. And Perry's film came out of nowhere to lead the box office this weekend, doubling most expectations to do $21.3 million. Neither's final outcome will likely even make the year's top 30 films. And them to September's biggest hit (yes, that is "3:10 To Yuma"'s $52 million), and the combined fall success rate is downright laughable. Is October actually the new January?