The first big holiday film of the season arrived this weekend to the tune of $30 million. The Jim Carrey Robert Zemeckis collaboration about the classic Charles Dicken’s tale took top honors at the weekend box office. The 3D animated movie made $30 million Friday – Sunday which was a solid debut, however it was below industry expectations. With the added cost of IMAX tickets and digital 3D features, this film had an advantage to rake in more cash. The one bright spot for this film is that it’s early November release will mean a long run through the holiday season. The IMAX version will be in theaters through the 17th of December when Avatar takes over on the 18th. For a full breakdown of the November 6th-8th box office read on!

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Adam Sandler usually opens a movie in the $30 – $40 million range, but this time around he still took the number one spot, yet with a lower opening weekend. Funny People, which stars Sandler, along with Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann was the top draw at the weekend box office bringing in $23.4 million from Friday – Sunday. That number was significantly lower than most expectations which tracked the latest Judd Apatow film around $30 – $35 million. The films darker tone and R rating surely didn’t help bring in a huge audience, and Sandler usually sees a lower opening when he takes on more serious roles. Overall the weekend box office saw a slump as summer begins to wind down and the last few films of the season hit theaters. Continue reading for a full recap of the weekend box office.

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This doesn’t happen too often. For the July 4th holiday weekend two new films entered the race against Optimus Prime and Co. and who finished on top? Oddly enough it was Transformers 2 and Ice Age 3 which both grossed $42.5 million over the three day weekend. Come tomorrow morning, one movie will push the other and we will have an actual winner, but for the rest of today we can talk about this rare tie. These sequels were in a photo finish for the three day weekend but since Ice Age 3 came out on Wednesday it had a five day total of $67.5 million, whereas Transformers 2 only made $64.9 million. So in the scope of 5 days Ice Age 3 was king, but for the 3 day gross Transformers 2 was top dog.

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After five days of release Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen became the second film in history to make $2oo million in five days. Of course, the first film being last summers The Dark Knight which made $203 million in the same amount of time. These numbers are so close that we won’t know the exact figure until tomorrow morning. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Transformers numbers dropped a little because I am sure that Paramount has embellished their numbers just a tad. They want to compete with The Dark Knight, and what better way to do so then making $200 million in five days. If you have been following our box office tracking reports we shared with you the huge opening day that Transformers 2 had with $60 million on opening day.

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Summer blockbuster season is now in full swing with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The sequel to the 2007 hit film opened last night to $16 million in ticket sales for midnight showings across the country. Midnight shows were selling out at a record pace in both regular and IMAX screens. Some theaters even ran 24 hours of the film with shows at 3AM and 6AM selling out as well. So it is no surprise that we are looking at some mighty high box office returns come the end of this 5 day opening. Early reports are tracking this film in the realm of The Dark Knight and Spider man 3. Both films were huge opening week blockbusters. Last summer The Dark Knight took in $67 million in its first day of release. That is the highest grossing opening day for any film in history. Can Transformers 2 pull those same numbers? Keep reading to find out.

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I just finished watching The Proposal and was pleasantly surprised. The film is your standard romantic comedy, but the casting of Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds is what brought in such a big audience. $34.1 million worth of an audience to be exact. The romantic comedy was the number one film this weekend marking the first hit for star Sandra Bullock in several years. The pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Bullock was most likely a draw as fans of both actors hit the movie theaters to check out their new flick. The marketing for this film was successful, as the movie’s trailer appealed to both men and women, young and old. That is an ideal demographic right there. Continue reading to check out a full box office report.

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For the second weekend in a row The Hangover has taken audiences on the ultimate drunken bender. The Vegas bachelor party comedy dropped only 25% in its second week of release bringing in another $33.4 million. This puts the sleeper hit of the summer at $105 million and counting. At this rate, The Hangover will be a major competitor for one of the top hits of the summer. I would expect around a $200 million finish which is surely much higher than even the most generous predictions. Close behind our trio of drunken buddies was Pixar’s animated film Up which in its third weekend out took in $30.5 million for a number two finish. Up is on the course to pass last summer’s WALL -E which ended its run with around $227 million total. Up currently stands at $187 million and is still flying high.

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For the second weekend in a row, Pixar’s latest animated adventure Up, was number one at the box office with another $44.2 million in the bank. This is the first movie this summer to be number one for more than one week. Up has now grossed $137 million in just two weeks of release. Two new high profile movies were released this weekend and only one gave Up a run for its money. The Vegas road trip comedy The Hangover nearly took the top spot this weekend making $43.2 million opening weekend. This puts The Hangover about million behind Up, and come tomorrow morning, the final numbers could put Hangover in the top spot. Continue reading to check out a full breakdown for the rest of the weekend box office.

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The final numbers are here for Up and as expected the film went up, up, and away at the box office this weekend. Coming in with a strong first place finish, the tenth movie by Pixar animation studios grossed a whopping $ 68.1 million over the three day weekend. Up is third biggest opening for Pixar falling behind Finding Nemo and The Incredibles who hit the $70 million mark during their opening weekend. The adjusted price for 3D showings surely helped this movie overall, but being the best reviewed film of the year certainly didn’t hurt either. Continue reading for a full breakdown of the weekend box office results.

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With two big box office competitors this weekend only one could come out on top. In one corner was Ben Stiller who was returning with his family friendly sequel to 2006’s Night at the Museum. In the other corner was Christian Bale, who coming off a stint of bad press, is leading the Terminator reboot, Terminator Salvation. Both films were highly buzzed about. Both actors have big followings. But you have to leave it to the kids to dominate the weekend box office. Especially when it is a holiday weekend, families were hitting their local multiplex, and while some were checking out Terminator, most were waiting in line for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

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This holiday weekend there is something for everyone to see. The adults will be flocking to the fourth installment in the Terminator franchise. The kids will be hitting up Ben Stiller’s sequel to Night at the Museum, and the teenagers may check out the Wayans’ Brothers comedy Dance Flick. Obviously the competition this weekend is between Bale and Stiller who are competing with Terminator and Museum respectively. Terminator Salvation hit theaters a day early with a Thursday release and hit the gates running. Midnight showings on Wednesday grossed a strong $3 million and with yesterdays opening its’ total stands at an impressive $13.3 million. How will the rest of the box office play out? Continue reading to check out our predictions.

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What a huge summer it is shaping up to be! Week one saw Wolverine hit $85 million opening weekend. Week two witnessed the rebirth of the Star Trek franchise with $79 million in its’ first weekend. Now The Da Vinci Code sequel Angels & Demons hit theaters this past Friday with an expected gross of around $46 million. This pales in comparison to the $77 million that Da Vinci Code opened with in 2006, but it was still enough to top the weekend box office. Ron Howard’s adaptation of the Dan Brown novel may have ruled the box office but it barely beat the starship enterprise which made a whopping $43 million in its’ second week of release. This was a decline of only 42% from its’ opening and after only two weeks of release J. J Abrams’ Star Trek has grossed an impressive $147 million.

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As if the initial estimate of $72 million wasn’t exceeding expectations, we have even more money to add to that total. Reports are now coming in stating that J.J Abrams’ Star Trek grossed a whopping $79.2 million over the weekend. Most predictions placed the sci-fi reboot in the mid to high $60 million range. For any movie to rake in almost $80 million is an impressive accomplishment; but for a reboot of a 1970’s television show, with no big name stars, is even more incredible. This film will certainly perform well over the coming weeks as positive reviews continue to roll in, and the word of mouth has brought in all different demographics to fill theater seats. I look forward to seeing the competition between Star Trek and Angels & Demons this weekend – who do you think will come out on top?

Live long and prosper? Looks like J.J Abrams’ new Star Trek movie is set to do just that. With an opening weekend of $72.6 million (with Thursday night showings you can tack $4 million more to that number) the Star Trek reboot opened bigger than any Star Trek film in history. To put it in perspective for you, the J.J Abrams’ directed Star Trek completely smashed all other Trek films in years past. The last Trek movie was Star Trek: Nemesis which made $43 million in its entire run. The new Star Trek almost doubled that number in just three days. This is an impressive feat for a movie which had no big name stars and a director who is responsible for more television hits than big screen movies.

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Whoever thought that the leaked version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was going to hurt it’s box office gross can eat their words. Summer is officially here and Wolverine has started the season off with a bang. From Friday to Sunday, Wolverine grossed an estimated $87 million. This was right around most predictions (including mine which was $90 million.) The movie also falls right around the opening of X2:X-Men United which made $85 million it’s opening weekend in 2003. The number did fall short of X-Men 3: The Last Stand which hit $102 million it’s first weekend in 2006. With an $87 million opening Wolverine definitely started the summer movie season off right. Continue reading for a full box office report.

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The weekend before summer is typically one of the slower weekend of the year for movie theaters. Most studio release their films which they have had shelved for some time in a last ditch effort to release them before the summer movies hit. This weekend saw four new wide releases which included Beyonce’s thriller Obsessed, Robert Downey, Jr’s The Soloist, Channing Tatum’s Fighting, and the Disney documentary Earth. With X-Men Origins: Wolverine arriving in theaters next weekend, these movies really have one week to show what they got. Only one of the films performed well; and actually it performed far above expectations. That movie is Obsessed which made $28.5 million over the three day weekend. That number is far above expectations, especially for a movie which is scoring only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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By Jeff Olson
April 19, 2009
Source: BoxOfficeMojo

Zac Efron proved he doesn’t need High School Musical to bring in an audience at the box office. His new teen comedy 17 Again was king of the weekend box office raking in an estimated $24.1 million. By opening a movie with a number this high, Efron demonstrated he doesn’t need Disney to be a star. Last year Efron’s High School Musical 3 opened with $42 million, and before that Efron co-starred in 2007’s Hairspray which made $27 million in it’s opening weekend. For an actor who is still up and coming, this is a strong opening weekend. Coming in second place was the Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck political thriller, State of Play, which made $14 million this weekend.

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By Jeff Olson
April 12, 2009
Source: BoxOfficeMojo

Vin Diesel couldn’t make it a second straight weekend at the top of the box office. The Fast and Furious sequel was trumped by Disney’s family film Hannah Montana The Movie. The Easter weekend was good to Hannah Montana which raked in $34 million in it’s first three days; but other new release like Seth Rogen’s comedy Observe and Report failed to find an audience. The R rated mall cop comedy made only $11 million in it’s opening weekend. The other major new release of the weekend was Dragonball Evolution which made a dismal $4.6 million from Friday to Sunday. Last week’s champ Fast and Furious saw a 59% decline but still made an impressive $28 million for a number two finish this weekend. Continue reading for a full breakdown of this weekend’s box office results.

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By Jeff Olson
April 4, 2009
Source: BoxOfficeMojo

Who would have guessed that a movie franchise which most thought had gone to the junkyard would be on it’s way to having the biggest opening of any movie this year? Fast and Furious (it dropped the “the” from the title for the fourth movie) had a huge opening day grossing $30 million. This is way beyond expectations. Most reports were gauging the film to do about $40-$45 million opening weekend. Even the most embellished numbers did not for see an opening of this caliber . If the rest of the weekend holds up for Vin Diesel and crew, this movie could well be on it’s way to hitting $70 million by Monday morning. That would make it the biggest debut of the year beating last weeks winner for biggest opening, Monsters VS. Aliens.

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By Jeff Olson
March 22, 2009
Source: Box Office Mojo

This weekend’s box office saw three new challengers; and while all three films pulled in some good money, only one could be top dog. The sci-fi thriller Knowing took the top this weekend pulling in an estimated $24.8 million it it’s first three days. This was a big success for Summit, which is the studio that released the film. Despite terrible reviews and negative word of mouth, Knowing was a major draw this weekend. Although it opened above industry expectations, look for this film to nose dive in the coming weeks when it’s bad press catches up with it. Coming in at a strong number two is the buddy comedy I Love You, Man which made $18 million over the weekend.

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