This week:
Owen Wilson has the highest new entry at the box office with Hall Pass, while Nic Cage runs out of gas with Drive Angry; Patrick Wilson and James Marsden move into a Loft; Clint Eastwood’s J.Edgar has someone to Root for; Gerard Butler is Playing The Field with Uma Thurman and Jessica Biel and Steve Carell moves out of The Office and onto the stage with Burt Wonderstone.
Box Office
Oscar weekend saw quite a few weak performing films at the box office. The Elton John soundtracked Gnomeo & Juliet was first after singing-up an additional $14.2 million. The Shakespeare themed ‘toon has now grossed over $75 million.
The Farrelly Brothers comedy Hall Pass (read our review) opened at number two with a not very impressive $13.5 million. The comedy which stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudekis failed to find an audience like other buddy-comedies such as Due Date, The Hangover and even box office under-achiever The Dilemma.
Liam Neeson’s Unknown dropped to number three, with a weekend take of $12.4 million. The European set thriller has now amassed $42.8 million after two weeks.
Just Go With It continues to do well, a smidgen over $11 million gives the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy a total gross of $79.4 million.
I Am Number Four grossed another $11 million. The (failed?) potential franchise starter has now banked an unspectacular $37.7 million.
Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never: The Director’s Fan Cut (does that even make sense?) brought in another $9 million. The tween-targeted film has now grossed an impressive $62.5 million.
Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son scored another $7.5 million for a total of over $28 million, while Oscar hopeful The King’s Speech brought in another $7 million for a $114 million total haul.
Nicolas Cage’s latest crazy extravaganza Drive Angry – in 3D (read our review) opened terribly in ninth place with a $5 million debut, while former number one The Roommate rounded out the top ten. The thriller grossed a smidgen over $2 million for a $36 million total take.
Movie News
1. Patrick Wilson and James Marsden are currently in talks to star in the remake of the 2008 Belgian film Loft.
According to Variety:
“(The) Film follows five married friends who decide to rent a loft together where they can bring their mistresses. When the body of an unknown woman is found in the loft, they realize that they don’t know each other as well as they thought and begin to suspect one another of murder.”
Erik Van Looy (director of the original) will direct a screenplay by Wesley Strick.
Source: Variety
2. Stephen Root is the latest thespian to join the cast of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar.
Root has previously appeared in the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? and No Country for Old Men, and his voice will also be heard alongside Johnny Depp in Rango.
According to Variety:
“Root will portray Arthur Koehler, an introverted man and wood specialist who helps J. Edgar Hoover piece together the mystery of the Lindbergh kidnapping case through an examination of the ladder used by the abductor.”
Leonardo DiCaprio takes the lead role in the Warner Bros. film.
Source: Variety
3. Gerard Butler has signed on to take a lead role in the soccer sporting comedy Playing the Field.
Uma Thurman and Jessica Biel co-star in the film which sees Butler’s school soccer coach fending off a selection of “soccer-moms”.
Oh dear!
Source: Variety
4. Charles McDougall is in talks to direct Steve Carell in the magician comedy Burt Wonderstone.
According to THR:
“Carell is a more traditional magic man who is dethroned by a hip younger illusionist and must then find a way to rediscover his love for magic.”
In the past McDougall has directed episodes of The Office, Desperate Housewives, The Tudors and Sex and the City.
Source: THR
That’s it for now. See you at the movies.
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Wow I never expect that Drive Angry 3D would have such a weak performance at the box office.
Not at all surprised at the performance of Drive Angry the only thing is I thought it would make a little less, but it’s still pretty close to expected.
The film is definatly not for a huge fan base, even for Cage. I liked it well enough though, then again, I LOVE movies like this.I think that I am one of the few here that actually goes to movies to be entertained. Sure I like movies like Inception, Black Swan, but i also need an escape every now and then. But yea Daniel, I wasn’t expecting this to do well this weekend at all lol.
I personally think alot of people went to see it because of the rumors that the new Captain America Trailer was suppose to be attached
Saw Drive Angry today. Loved it. Sad to see it performing so bad, people would rather see a film about lawn gnomes I guess.
LOL James..well these days it isn’t any surprise. Parents love taking their kids to movies these days, seems to be a good thing though, at least parents are spending time with their kids. As far as Drive Angry..I loved it too. It was exactly what I expected.
@Anthony. Exactly what I thought about Drive Angry, it was what I expected it to be, it was a hell of a good time!
I for one am glad Drive Angry is tanking, its in 3D.
Down with 3d,,,!!!
Shouldn’t the box office for the Bieber movie not be combined with the director’s cut? Usually they are seperated as two different movies.