Weekend Box-Office: 'Get Smart' Wins; 'Love Guru' Can't Hack It

Both of last week's new releases dropped like a rock to make room for Warner Bros.' Get Smart, which landed smack in the middle of expectations with a nice $39.2 million bow. As many people guessed, toxic word-of-mouth on The Happening led to a steep drop -- 67% -- and a fifth place, $10 million finish for the Shyamalan thriller. The $50.3 million cume is far from an embarrassment, but the descent is hopefully a signal to the filmmaker that he needs to, if not go back to the drawing board, at least steal a glance at it.

Slightly more surprising is the 61% drop for The Incredible Hulk, which finished third with $21.6 million. That's a measurable improvement on the 69.7% hit that Ang Lee's Hulk took in 2003, but the new film is still running behind the old one, and its lack of legs in a summer where big movies (Iron Man, Indiana Jones) have held up admirably might be an indication that the "less arty" reboot didn't solve the problem with the franchise, whatever that may be.

Mike Myers' The Love Guru managed only a fourth-place finish, pulling in a disappointing $14 million. I blame the moronic advertising, which must have sent people running for the hills. It is not a good movie, but it's better than (and at least as marketable as) either You Don't Mess with the Zohan or What Happens in Vegas, both of which have done quite well. But Paramount is probably too busy counting the proceeds from Iron Man (sailing past $300 million in its 8th week in the top 10), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (closing in), and its share of Kung Fu Panda (kicking ass and taking names in second place) to notice.

A bit further down the list, niche player Kit Kittredge: An American Girl grossed a nothing-to-sneeze-at $223,000 in a 5-screen, sneak-preview run in advance of its wide release in a couple of weeks.

Top ten below ...


1 - Get Smart (Warner Bros.) - $39.16 ($10,011) - $39.16
2 - Kung Fu Panda (Dreamworks Animation) - $21.70 ($5,354) - $155.60
3 - The Incredible Hulk (Universal) - $21.56 ($6,145) - $96.48
4 - The Love Guru (Paramount) - $14.00 ($4,648) - $14.00
5 - The Happening (Fox) - $10.00 ($3,348) - $50.27
6 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) - $8.41 ($2,653) - $290.84
7 - You Don't Mess with the Zohan (Sony) - $7.2 ($2,196) - $84.06
8 - Sex and the City (New Line) - $6.47 ($2,647) - $132.39
9 - Iron Man (Paramount) - $4.00 ($2,093) - $304.79
10 - The Strangers (Rogue) - $1.95 ($1,235) - $49.59

Numbers from the extremely huggable folks over at Box Office Mojo.
Next week belongs to Wall-E, but the fate of the R-rated comic book actioner Wanted is anybody's guess. I think the marketing has been strong, especially lately, but we'll see.