The Z Cast has returned for our second episode where we recapped summer 2009. With Labor Day approaching the end of the summer movie season has arrived so we decided to bring you our best and worst picks for the 2009 summer. The last three months have been filled with blockbuster hits, box office bombs, and a few surprise gems under all the chaos that is the summer movie season. So what better way to end the season then discussing the movies that made summer 2009 the biggest summer for movies ever? Check out the second episode of The Z Cast after the jump and be sure to leave us some feedback! Thanks for listening!

In Episode 2 Jeff, Jordan, and Roman talk about the big news from Monday which was the Marvel Entertainment buyout by Disney. We discuss what this will mean for both companies and for the future of film.

After covering the big news of the day we move on to our summer movie recap where we discuss all the big summer flicks from May to August. We conclude the show by giving our picks for our favorite movies of the summer. We also make our picks for the biggest disappointments of the summer as well.

Click the play button on the media player below to listen to The Z Cast.

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After months of hearing negative buzz for G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra the one voice that matters finally spoke: the public. With an opening weekend of $54.7 million audiences clearly didn’t allow any bad buzz prevent them from seeing this summer popcorn movie. Led by a mediocre cast including Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, and Sienna Miller, G.I Joe exceeded expectations with a monster opening. Despite poor reviews, the film has managed to attract the coveted 18-34 year old male demographic. The action flick directed by Stephen Sommers had little competition this weekend as Meryl Streep and Amy Adams were the only real contenders with their Julie and Julia comedy that banked an impressive $20 million opening weekend. Continue reading for a full recap of the weekend box office.

G.I Joe is sitting at a low 40% on the fresh meter with Rotten Tomatoes however negative reviews didn’t seem to hurt this movie. While some gave the flick scathing reviews, many critics embraced the fun adventure for what it is. Our own critic, Jordan Tunney gave the film a B- and while he realized there were numerous flaws in the movie he was ultimately entertained. I expect this film will hold up nicely over the next few weeks as people want to check out a fun mindless action movie.

While G.I Joe took top honors this weekend here is what the rest of the weekend box office looked like:

Mery; Streep and Amy Adams scored a hit coming in at number two with Julie and Julia. The comedy about chef Julia Child brought in $20 million for the weekend and should hold on strong with older audiences.

The other new wide release this weekend was the crime thriller The Perfect Getaway which bombed with a number 7  finish and only $5.9 million in the bank.

Last weeks number one film, Funny People, took a not so humorous nose dive in its second week of release. The Adam Sandler Seth Rogen comedy/drama dropped 65% in week two and only managed to make $7.9 million for a number 5 finish. After two weeks the Judd Apatow production has only made $40.5 million.

The number three spot went to the Disney kids movie G-Force which made another $9.8 million. After three weeks of release G-Force stands at a strong $86 million and counting.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince took the fourth place spot with $8.9 million. The sixth Harry Potter movie has now made $273.8 million. That is a lot of cash, however I would have anticipated this film to do well over $300 million. To put this in perspective for you the summer comedy The Hangover has currently made $261 million and that had no following. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

That does it for this weekends box office report. Check back with us next week for a recap of District 9, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and all of this weekends leftovers that shoot for the number one spot. See you at the movies!

Box Office figures courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

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.

After 10 days of release Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has grossed $293.4 million. It has now become the highest grossing film this year and is still truckin’ along. The other new release this weekend was Johnny Depp’s Public Enemies which also was released on Wednesday. The film about notorious bank robber John Dillinger made $26 million over the three day weekend and $41 million after five days of release. The film which costars Christian Bale received mixed reviews, but should hold up pretty strong because it is the only draw for adults at theaters right now.

The rest of the weekend box office looked like this:

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds continued to bring in an audience with their romantic comedy The Proposal. The film came in fourth place this weekend with another $12.8 million in the bank. It currently stands at $94.2 million and counting. In fifth place was The Hangover which made $10.4 million and after five weeks of release has made $204 million. Not too bad for a comedy without any big name stars huh?

In other box office news Pixar’s Up has now become the second highest grossing Pixar film of all time. With $264 million the animated film passed The Incredibles and is only second to Finding Nemo as Pixar’s highest money makers. It has been a huge summer so far and next week we see the arrival of Bruno and the Wednesday after that is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

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.

On Thursday the film made a strong $28 million and from Friday to Sunday it pulled in a whopping $112 million. That gave it a grand total of $201 million after five days of release. That is higher than most expectations. I don’t think most people figured it would give The Dark Kight quite a run for it’s money. The numbers for Transformers 2 are significantly higher than the original film which made $70 million its opening weekend.

We all knew this would be the film to beat this summer and it certainly looks like Transformers 2 held up to it’s hype. I am curious to see how the movie will hold up in the coming weeks. This Wednesday it will face some competition from Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Johnny Depp in Public Enemies. Revenge of the Fallen should remain strong until Harry Potter 6 drops in the middle of July.

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.

The Dark Knight beat all box office records when it was released last July. The film currently holds the record for opening day ($67M), opening weekend ( 3 day total of $158M), and record first five days ($203M). I don’t think Transformers 2 can make quite that much but I do believe that it will be the movie to beat this summer, and possibly this year.

Last night Transformers 2 grossed an estimated $16 million in ticket sales for midnight showings. The Dark Knight hit $18.5 million for it’s midnight run so Transformers 2 is not too far behind that gross. The Dark Knight was released on a Friday, where as Transformers 2 is a Wednesday release, so box office numbers will look a little different. I can’t see Transformers 2 beating Dark Knight’s five day tally of $203 million but it shouldn’t be too far behind.

Opening day for Transformers should be in the $50-55 million range which would put it right around the opening days of Star Wars Episode III and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. With an opening day in that range we could see a 5 day opening of around $175 million. That would put Revenge of the Fallen only second to The Dark Knight for most money in the first five days of release. For the sake of comparison, Star Wars Episode III made $172 million in five days and Pirates 2 hit $169 million in the same amount of time.

Optimus Prime and company will have a lucrative opening week. Just how lucrative will it be? Check back with us throughout the next five days as we keep you updated on Transformers 2 box office run. Until then here is our predictions:

Opening day: $55 million

Five day opening weekend: $178 million

Box Office Numbers Courtesy of Boxofficemojo

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.

Surprisingly, The Proposal was the big draw this father’s day weekend. Although the ultimate guy movie The Hangover was a strong contender in the number two spot. This movie is holding on so strong that I am actually surprised it didn’t score a hat trick and take the number one spot for a third weekend in a row. While it did land in the number two spot, it only dropped 18% from last weekend, bringing in another $26.8 million. After three weeks in release this sleeper comedy hit has made $152.9 million. It is well on its way to the $200 million mark.

Speaking of summer comedies, Jack Black and Michael Cera couldn’t even dethrone the boys from Hangover with their new comedy Year One. This prehistoric flick managed to make $20 million opening weekend, which was pretty much expected, however still low for a movie of this caliber. It did however score more cash than Will Ferrell’s Land of the Lost which is slowly slipping off the radar after it’s week $17 million debut. Year One will take a huge hit on Wednesday when it’s target audience, teenage boys, will all be watching Optimus Prime in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

With only two new releases this weekend the rest of the box office looked like this:

Pixar’s Up is still bringing in the money. In week number 4 the 3D animated film made $21.3 million which brings it to a total of $224 million and counting. As already stated, Year One took the number four spot, and the fifth spot went to the Denzel Washington, John Travolta hijack movie The Taking of Pelham 123. Pelham made $11.3 million in week number two which was a 51% decline from last week. It currently stands at an unimpressive $43 million.

The way this summer is stacking up, you either have one week to make or break it. Unless, of course, you are The Hangover and you have clearly set out to destroy the box office numbers. As far as destruction of box office numbers go, check with us this Wednesday as we will have our predictions for the 5 day opening of the mother of all summer blockbusters, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen!

Box office numbers courtesy of Boxofficemojo

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.

Two major movies were released this weekend. The first was Denzel Washington and John Travolta’s hijack thriller The Taking of Pelham 123. Pelham took the number three spot this weekend with a respectable $25 million. The R rated action flick brought in what most anticipated. The reviews for the Tony Scott directed movie were rather weak. Check out our full review of the film here. The star power of Pelham brought moviegoers to the theaters, but I doubt this film will hold on well in the coming weeks.

The other release this weekend was the Eddie Murphy kids comedy Imagine That. Murphy, as of lately, has made a career out of making bad movies that nobody watches ( I guess that is better than bad movies that everyone watches, right?) Anyways, Imagine That tanked at the box office as it only manage to make $5.7 million for a six place finish. On the bright side, that is a higher opening than Murphy’s last film, Meet Dave, which only hit $5.2 million its opening weekend last summer. I have no idea why Murphy continues to make these movies. If he hasn’t already, he really needs to fire his agent.

The rest of the weekend box office looked like this:

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian held on for a number four finish and another $9.6 million in the bank. It currently stands at $143.4 million since its release Memorial Day weekend. The number five spot went to Will Ferrell’s Land of the Lost which dropped 50% in week number two only making $9.1 million. After two weeks out it has only mustered up $34.9 million (about what The Hangover made this weekend in week number two of release.)

Next weekend will see the arrival of Jack Black and Michael Cera in Year One as well as Sandra Bullock in The Proposal. Then a few days after that is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which we all know will put all these low opening numbers to shame.

Box Office numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo

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.

Director Todd Phillips has brought audiences the official sleeper hit so far this summer. Most estimates put The Hangover making $25-30 million opening weekend. With a fantastic $17 million Friday opening, the hilarious comedy starring Bradley Cooper took in $43.2 million. This movie should hold up well in the coming weeks with positive reviews and little competition from upcoming films. The next comedy to hit theaters will be the Jack Black and Michael Cera comedy Year One. If I were the producers behind Year One I would be concerned seeing how Will Ferrell’s new release Land of the Lost bombed this weekend with a dismal $19 million opening. Land of the Lost did manage to make it to the number three spot but with negative reviews this movie won’t last long this summer.

The rest of the weekend box office looked like this:

Night at the Museum took in $14.6 million (#4)  this weekend bringing its total so far to $127 million in three weeks. The number five spot went to Star Trek which had continued its run at the domestic box office as the highest grossing movie this year. It made $8.4 million this weekend which brings the J.J Abrams’ reboot to a stellar $222 million in just 5 weeks of release.

Next week should be a slow weekend at the box office. Eddie Murphy brings audiences his kids flick Imagine That and Denzel Washington and John Travolta star in The Taking of Pelham 123. We may be seeing some lower profile movies the next few weeks, but on the 24th of June all that will end with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen being released.

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.

Pixar clearly knocked it out of the park again with their tenth film. It makes me wonder if they can do no wrong. Not only do they have the best looking animation out there, but the stories they bring to the screen rival those of any other movies out there. Last years Pixar extravaganza was WALL-E which was snubbed for the best picture nomination, however it did win best animated picture. WALL-E tapped out at $227 million which was a number that was dwarfed by The Dark Knight being released a few weeks later. Up has the market to itself until Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen arrives later this month. Look for Up’s box office numbers to stay strong in the coming weeks.

The rest of the weekend box office looked like this:

The other wide release this weekend was Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell (#4) which only managed to bring in $15.8 million. The PG-13 horror film was well received by critics, but being released in the middle of a crowded summer didn’t help the film any. Coming in at a distant number two to Up was last weeks top dog Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian which dropped 55% in week number two which meant only $24 million over the weekend. Number three belonged to Terminator Salvation which saw an even bigger drop of 61.4%. Terminator only made another $16 million which brings its’ total to a mediocre $90. That may sound like a lot of money, but facing competition from Star Trek, and several kids movies, Terminator may not be the hit everyone thought it would be.

Star Trek rounded out the top five with another $12.6 million in the bank. After four weeks of release its’ grand total stands at $209 million. This makes Star Trek currently the highest grossing film of the year.

Next week brings Will Ferrell’s comedy Land of the Lost as well as the Vegas road trip comedy The Hangover. The next few weeks will see a lull at the box office until Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen drops and destroys everything around it. Look for Transformers 2 to be the biggest movie of the summer.

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.

Abrams’ Star Trek will soon become the highest grossing Trek film of all time. The current holder for that title is Star Trek: First Contact which grossed $92 million in 1996. Fans lined up to see the reboot of the famous tv show and based upon word of mouth, are enjoying the movie. Critically speaking the movie is great. Rotten Tomatoes has the film ranked with a 96% fresh rating which makes it the best reviewed film so far this year. With last weekends X-Men Origins: Wolverine grossing $85 million opening weekend, and now Star Trek with over $70 million, summer is definitely starting off with a bang. Here is how the rest of the weekend box office looked:

Coming in at a distant number two was last weekend’s champ Wolverine which suffered a 68% decline in week 2 which meant only $27 million over the weekend. The movie has endured horrible reviews so this number is not surprising. After two weeks of release Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine stands at a strong $129 million.

The number three spot went to Ghosts of Girlfriends Past which made another $10 million this weekend. After two weeks the romantic comedy has drummed up $30 million from moviegoers. The fourth and fifth spot went to April holdovers Obsessed and 17 Again respectively. Obsessed made another $6.6 million while Zac Efron’s 17 Again made $4 million in its fourth week of release.

The weekend box office was up a stellar 22% percent compared to this weekend last year when Speed Racer crashed and burned on opening weekend. Next weekend should see even more $$ at the box office when The Da Vinci Code sequel Angels & Demons arrives in theaters.