The Playlist

Weekend Box Office: 'The Lorax' Rules The Roost, While 'The Artist' Fails To Capitalize On Oscar Night

By Gabe Toro
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March 4, 2012 1:48 PM
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5 Comments

Box Office

Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Nicolas Sparks, Tyler Perry – to these foolproof brands, add one more: the late Dr. Seuss. “The Grinch,” “The Cat in The Hat“ and “Horton Hears a Who” have all grossed over $100 million, and now, opening with stronger numbers than the three of them is “The Lorax.” The environmentally-minded ‘toon, which ironically has helped market SUVs, is the third effort from Illumination Entertainment, and it looks very likely to outgross the openings of both “Despicable Me” and “Hop.” Industry expectations pegged this as a huge opener, as it was a notably deflated market with no animated blockbusters since last winter’s mostly well-received “Puss-In-Boots.” In other words, duh.

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Weekend Box Office: 'The Vow' And 'Safe House' Tussling Again For First Place; 'Ghost Rider' Does Less Than Half Of Predecessor

By Gabe Toro
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February 19, 2012 12:37 PM
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2 Comments

Box Office

Love is in the air, but "Safe House" ain't hearin' it. In weekend two, the film surpassed last week's champ, "The Vow," if only barely. While the film hasn’t done quite the same weekday business as the Tatum-McAdams romancer so far, it’s outperformed its modest programmer aspirations and should easily leapfrog $100 million. Amusingly enough, this would give Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds both four $100 million domestic earners on their resume. Sometimes the line separating a star and a journeyman can be very thin, though to Denzel’s credit, he’s never really been the type to command massive $200 million budgets. Though, yeah, he probably would have been a good “Green Lantern.” Now that that’s been brought up in conversation, let us ignore it forever. Apologies.

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Weekend Box Office: 'The Grey' Sees Green, While Audiences Stay Away From The 'Ledge'

By Gabe Toro
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January 29, 2012 12:14 PM
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3 Comments

Box Office

Good ole’ dependable Liam Neeson. This is the third straight early-year period where the character actor turned badass leading man has scored a number one hit. While “The Grey” couldn’t pull in the same numbers as “Taken” or “Unknown,” it did top $20 million. Not a bad figure considering this was a much less commercial beast, with an R-rating, and it’s arguable that few leading men could have gotten a man-vs.-wilderness drama into an eight figure debut. This is distributor Open Road’s second ever release. Their first, last year’s “Killer Elite,” seemed like a surefire commercial proposition, but it pulled in half of what “The Grey” is looking to make on this opening weekend. You could argue this was a bait and switch, as the ads centered around spoiling, and misinterpreting, the film’s ending -- Cinemascore was a not-entirely-kind B-. But everyone got the opening they wanted -- this puts Open Road on the map, it gets Joe Carnahan out of Director Jail following “The A-Team” and it continues Neeson’s winning streak. Also worth noting: throughout each week in 2012 so far, the number one slot at the box office has been filled by R-rated fare.

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Weekend Box Office: 'Underworld: Awakening' Sucks Its Way To #1, While 'Red Tails' Shoots Into #2

By Gabe Toro
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January 22, 2012 12:08 PM
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9 Comments

News

If there was ever a weekend that better illustrated the divide between audience and critics, we certainly can't remember it. Following a financially successful franchise pattern thus far, "Underworld: Awakening" joined the other films in the series in opening to over $20 million. In the grand scheme of this vampires vs. werewolves franchise, this opening comes in lower than the second installment, but a shade beyond the first and third.

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Weekend Box Office: Audiences Hate 'The Devil Inside' All The Way To The Top Of The Box Office

By Gabe Toro
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January 8, 2012 12:04 PM
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20 Comments

Box Office

The smash-and-grab -- who needs a fourth or fifth weekend, when you can nail down a profit after your first day? Paramount dipped into the kitty and spent a million producing “The Devil Inside” (through their low budget shingle Insurge) and a little bit of marketing later, we have our first big winner of the new year. Final estimates have the studio looking at a big $30 million+ weekend for the latest in a wave of cheap found-footage horror films.

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Weekend Box Office: Strong Rebound Numbers For Entire Marketplace, With 'Mission: Impossible' On Top Again

By Gabe Toro
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January 1, 2012 1:55 PM
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4 Comments

Box Office

Yes, it was a down year at the box office in 2011, but sometimes it’s all about scheduling. While the family’s all together for Christmas, they might not exactly spend a holiday at the multiplex, particularly with many theaters closing early. The weekend after, when everyone’s glad to see their friends again, however, is just enough motivation to plunk down that $10-$12-$20 on an overpriced box office ticket and a mammoth, bladder-clogging, sugary fountain drink that can’t be good for you.

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Weekend Box Office: 'Ghost Protocol' On Top Of Weak Holiday Weekend

By Gabe Toro
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December 25, 2011 7:22 PM
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12 Comments

Box Office

Twas the night before and/or the night of Christmas, and all through the theaters, it was empty and chilly, no maintenance, no heaters. Most moviegoers selected the 'Ghost Protocol,' with the legend from "Legend" and that guy from "Paul." "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" couldn't beat the Tom Cruise sequel. Not even the Steven Spielberg-Peter Jackson collaboration could be its equal.

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Weekend Box Office: 'Sherlock' And 'Alvin' Underperform, 'Mission: Impossible' Scores In Limited Release

By Gabe Toro
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December 18, 2011 1:58 PM
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23 Comments

Box Office

And the hits keep coming for this mediocre year at the box office. Or not coming, that is. After December began with the two lowest grossing weekends of the year, many predicted salvation from “Sherlock Holmes” and “Alvin And The Chipmunks.” Previous entries in their series’ grossed $524 and $443 million worldwide, respectively, so there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t bust that block. Particularly notable was how both the original 'Sherlock' and “The Squeakquel” opened within two days of each other, both grossing over $200 million in the States while “Avatar” was in theaters. Being upgraded from everyone’s second choice to the top attraction was meant to flatter everyone.

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Audiences Celebrate 'New Year's Eve' Early On The Worst Box Office Weekend Of 2011

By Gabe Toro
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December 11, 2011 12:07 PM
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4 Comments

News

It’s not a surprise to see two of the year’s mildest weekends following each other. It is, however, a bit of a departure to see them at the beginning of December. The top twenty films at the box office brought a cumulative $73.2 million, the worst weekend of 2011. That's right, even worse than last weekend which had no new wide releases. You can keep filling up the theaters with crap Hollywood, just don't expect anyone to go.

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