Alternate 'Eagle Eye' Ending Worse Than Real Ending

Eagle Eye was one of the year's more surprising $100 million earners. It's about a million dollars away from landing in the top 20 grossing films of 2008. Who would've thought? I suspect wouldn't have made that much coin with this ending tacked on instead of the one we got. Actually, the movie was so average (and ridiculous) that it's kind of surprising that it got that far anyway. But this ending - the one that will forever be known as the Rock Band ending - is one of the worst sequel pimps I've seen in a while. You've got Shia and Michelle Monaghan, and then, the mood of the birthday party changes... Eagle Eye is out now on DVD, and with the cheesy alternate ending, you can make it suck even more in the comfort of your own home.

More DVDs to Hit Shelves on Sunday Instead of Tuesday

We wondered a couple of weeks ago why in the wide, wide world of sports the Kung Fu Panda DVD was being released on a Sunday instead of the more traditional Tuesday. It seemed odd because it fell between Election Day and Veteran's Day, which I guess could be hindrances, but is making it available when people don't know to look for it a better approach?

Hollywood might think so. Video Business reports that Paramount and Sony might do away with the big Tuesday releases, going instead with a practice that carries the annoying name "Alterna-dates." Paramount is keeping an eye on Sunday. This makes sense from one perspective, if you're going to make it an industry standard: It's easier to advertise. You know how you get the Best Buy circular and it has smokin' deals on movies...that you have to wait 48 hours to buy? Now you won't have to, if the studios see good returns on their first few batch of Sunday DVD releases.

Click to read more ...

Fearless Forecast - Mad Money for 'Madagascar'

And so begins a big month of box office activity that could beat December totals when all is said and done. We have three big releases this weekend, only one of which will make a huge chunk of change, and then with Quantum of Solace, Bolt, and Twilight all with blockbuster potential, November is like a second May, the last month that saw big movie after big movie after big movie.It all starts with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. I've seen some really high projections for this flick, some ballooning up to $60 million on its opening weekend. But what I haven't seen is a lot of advertising, certainly not as much as Quantum of Solace, which opens next week. I have no doubt that it will do well, both this weekend and over the long haul, but $60 million seems a bit high to me. Consider this: The first movie opened in third place on Memorial Day weekend back in 2005 with $47 million, albeit against a lot of competition (Star Wars, The Longest Yard). But even though it will easily take a victory lap this weekend, only six movies have opened north of $60 million in 2008, and this doesn't exactly have that aura.The good news for Madagascar is that it's opening against a couple of very adult-oriented comedies that have modest expectations - Role Models and Soul Men. Role Models is getting great reviews, actually, but probably doesn't have any real staying power. That's tougher to find for comedies, anyway. Soul Men will draw a slightly bigger crowd at first because of the passing of Bernie Mac, but it, too, will struggle after about the second weekend. I think you'd be generous to say that either one of those movies will have a total box office greater than Madagascar's output in just its first three days.As for the movies already in theaters, the only real story is how close Eagle Eye will get to becoming another $100 million movie for Shia LaBeouf. It's already made $93 million, believe it or not. The rest of them, from Zack and Miri to High School Musical, have pretty much done most of their damage. Changeling is the only film among that group that could still be doing decent business in another couple of weeks, because it draws a much older crowd that will see something they really want to see three weeks late rather than spending money on something just because it's new.The Top Five:

1 - Madagascar ($49 million)
2 - Soul Men ($12.5 million)
3 - High School Musical ($10 million)
4 - Role Models ($9.5 million)
5 - Changeling ($6.5 million)

Last week, our predictions were thrown off by Halloween night. We apologize for not taking that into consideration. Still, we got the order exactly right, knowing that High School Musical would outdraw Zack and Miri. Our totals for the top three films were off considerably because of the Friday night hiccup, but we finished strong, predicting where The Haunting of Molly Hartley would wind up and suggesting - against the objections of our readers, by the way - that Changeling would do $9 million.

Box Office - 'Max Payne' Wins Friday Easily

So far so good for Max Payne, the new video game adaptation starring Mark Wahlberg. On Friday, it easily distanced itself from the pack at the box office, taking in just over $7 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That figures to mean a $20 million debut for Payne, a great number considering its $35 million budget. Oliver Stone's W. finished the day in second place, and appears to be headed towards a $12 - $14 million weekend. Like Max Payne, it has a reasonable budget despite its high profile, so W. will have no problem earning a profit, especially considering Stone's worldwide audience, which generally treats him better than American crowds. The Secret Life of Bees is a slight surprise, taking third place on Friday, with Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Eagle Eye rounding out the day's top five. The week's other new release, Sex Drive, should finish in the $4 million range, which is about what was expected from the teen comedy.Though we'll follow it more extensively next week, there are a rash of major box office bombs in theaters at the moment, with films like How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, The Express, Body of Lies, and City of Ember simply failing to connect with enough people. Only one of those films will make $20 million domestically - Body of Lies - while the others will be stuck around $10 million if they're lucky.

Fearless Forecast - Leo and Crowe Will Outmuscle 'Chihuahua'

You can't blame Body of Lies for being released this week, but the new Leonardo DiCaprio-Russell Crowe film may have a little trouble at the box office because of its political nature. Obviously, the economy continues to plummet; the Dow was around 13,000 in mid-May and today it fell below 9,000 for the first time in five years. That could trigger a down weekend overall at the box office, and the most visible victim of that would be a movie about the war on terror.It could happen that way, but I'm still picking it to finish in first place at the box office, though not by an extreme margin. Beverly Hills Chihuahua should have a very strong second weekend, based on its mid-week performance.The other new releases that appear headed for the top five are The Express and Quarantine, and they might be interchangeable. I don't mean in tone, certainly, but just in terms of their weekend receipts. The Express is a football movie that's frankly coming out in the exact wrong time of the year; football is the country's favorite televised sport, and if they're watching real college or pro football, why would they jump in the car and blow $20 or more on dramatized football? This movie needed to be released in mid-August.As for Quarantine, it's a horror movie that might get some curiosity viewing, but because there will be very few reviews for it, it will basically have to fend for itself. The good news is that there isn't another movie so aggressively targeting the 18 - 24 crowd this weekend. The Top Five:1 - Body of Lies ($22.5 million)
2 - Beverly Hills Chihuahua ($18.5 million)
3 - The Express ($13 million)
4 - Quarantine ($11 million)
5 - Eagle Eye ($9.5 million)