Box Office - 'How To Train Your Dragon' Back On Top

After debuting five weeks ago to what was considered a fairly uneventful $43 million (Shutter Island did $40 million in fewer theaters without the benefit of 68% of tickets sold at a higher rate for 3-D), How to Train Your Dragon has cobbled together a very effective month, primarily through word-of-mouth. And now it's all paid off; Dragon is once again the number one movie in America.

Keep in mind that a week after it opened, another 3-D movie - Clash of the Titans - took the top spot, and don't forget that this week and last week, Dragon shed a total of almost 350 theaters, which would normally be a disadvantage. But the drops from weekend to weekend have been quite low (topping out with 34% in its second weekend, which is always the biggest drop, anyway), and now after losing only 23% of last weekend's audience total, Dragon earned $15 million, easily enough to turn back the challenge of every other movie released since the film's March 26th debut. Obviously, $15 million isn't a great big number, and relatively speaking, $178 million on a $165 million investment isn't super duper, either, but the global number is just over $350 million, so Dragons is getting closer to being an outright success. But keep it in perspective: Monsters vs. Aliens, last year's DreamWorks 3-D spring release, made around $380 versus a $175 million budget and was not considered a hit by the studio, so there's still more work for Dragons to do. And it should be able to make about another $100 million or so in the next few weeks around the world.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - 'Back-Up Plan' Leads Slow Friday

A weak Friday at the box office helped The Back-Up Plan, which can now run commercials boasting that it's "America's number one live-action comedy on Friday." The Jennifer Lopez rom-com took in $4.2 million, and might push toward $13 million by the end of the three-day stanza, but that won't be enough to win the weekend outright.

More than likely, How to Train Your Dragon, as we discussed on Thursday, will take the crown four weeks after its last stint at number one. That's a rare feat, unique going back at least ten years. But the DreamWorks 3-D flick has been mighty consistent, and will be close to $180 million by Monday, meaning $200 million is in the bag. Not bad for a film that opened with $43 million and sent the company's stock plummeting. It's in second place right now, but Saturdays have been very good to Dragon, and should push it past Back-Up Plan heading into Sunday.

Click to read more ...

Movie Review - 'The Losers'

The Losers Starring Zoe Saldana, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Idris Elba Directed by Sylvain White Rated PG-13

It very rarely happens that style and substance exist on level ground. But even a movie that's heavy on style, like, say, Mouline Rouge!, has to have something behind it to string us along. Because most movies are downright average, films that emphasize their style typically leave a lot of the storytelling behind. The Losers definitely has style. And that's about it. However, off and on, it sure is fun to watch. You just come away wishing there was a little more steak behind the sizzle. To be sure, there's plenty of sizzle. The action is pretty inspired, considering this is essentially just a shoot-em-up, blow-em-up. Director Sylvain White sexes up a fight scene between Zoe Saldana and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and that's cool. And then there's the dialogue, which is highly irreverent and occasionally very funny. That's a lot of positives, but the movie's mostly strung together because the story is beyond simplistic. There are two ways to look at that: Either going all out and making it a comic book come to life will cover the weak spots or doing that will emphasize how little else the movie has to offer. In this case, individual scenes are fantastic, but they don't add up to anything particularly cohesive. The plot boils thusly: Five former government mercenaries - Morgan, Idris Elba, Chris Evans, Columbus Short, and Oscar Jaenada - are on the hunt for their former boss (Jason Patric), who set them up and left them for dead. And you thought your boss was difficult. What The Losers needs with this launching pad is a bit more motivation; it's as if Patric's actions are dictated only by the need to have the mercenaries target him later. And as good as he normally is, Patric could benefit from the current 3-D trend by being granted a second dimension.

Click to read more ...

Fearless Forecast - 'Dragon' Breathes Fire Again

Several weeks back, I hypothesized that we may be entering a new phase in box office charting, that the era of the Blockbuster Of The Week may be disappearing. There's more evidence of that this weekend, which we'll discuss in a moment.

First, here's what I wrote about a month ago:

"In 2007, nine movies held the top spot for longer than a week. In 2008 and 2009, seven did it each year. This year, three movies have already accomplished that feat, with Avatar winning all of January and Shutter Island and Alice in Wonderland taking four of the next six weeks between them. I think we'll surpass seven repeaters this year, and maybe even ten."

Since then, Clash of the Titans repeated and now How to Train Your Dragon looks to pull off the incredibly rare repeat performance four weeks after it debuted at number one. So that's five repeat winners in less than four months. And we've still got Iron Man, Toy Story 3, and Twilight to come this summer, all of which could have two-week stays at the top. The last time we had ten perform that trick was 2004, with 11 repeaters. In 2000, there were 15, if you can believe it. And every year, it happens more frequently in November and December, so expect this year to probably match that total.

Click to read more ...

New 'Losers' Video: Jensen's Dating Tips

There's a new video for this weekend's The Losers that is doubly misleading. First, it describes itself as "viral," although it's merely a promotional video with clips from the movie. Traditionally, that's not what you get out of a "viral" campaign.

Secondly, it's called "Jensen's Dating Tips." Jensen's the character played by the new Captain America, Chris Evans. And it's really not dating tips at all. However, if the makers of The Losers had played this correctly, they could have produced a new video with Evans as Jensen, who could have come up with dating tips. That might have had a chance to be "viral." This is just a character trailer. However, it's still pretty entertaining in spots. You get to see Zoe Saldana, so that's worth the free admission.

Click to read more ...