Box Office: Chihuahua Time

by Matt Bradshaw Oct 1st 2008 // 4:10PM

Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash

Chalk up another number one opener for Shia Labeouf as Eagle Eye took the top spot with Richard Gere's romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe sliding into second. Here's the top five:

1. Eagle Eye: $29 million
2. Nights in Rodanthe: $13.4 million
3. Lakeview Terrace: $6.9 million
4. Fireproof: $6.8 million
5. Burn After Reading: $6 million

We've got a whopping six new releases this week, so let's get started...


How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
What's It All About: Simon Pegg stars as a small time gossip journalist from England who joins the staff of a prestigious New York magazine and proceeds to piss off a lot of people.
Why It Might Do Well: Dude, it's Simon Pegg.
Why It Might Not Do Well: No zombies or cricket bats in sight.
Number of Theaters: 1,750
Prediction: $6 million




Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
What's It All About: Superbad's Michael Cera stars as a recently dumped teen who strikes up a romance with a young woman who joins him on a search for a secret gig being performed by their favorite band.
Why It Might Do Well: A respectable 79% at Rottentomatoes.com, plus the fact that Cera has a knack for picking good projects like Juno and Arrested Development.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Those filthy chihuahuas are going to keep this one out of first place.
Number of Theaters: 2,300
Prediction: $15 million


An American Carol
What's It All About: Kevin Farley stars as a documentary film maker with more than a passing resemblance to Michael Moore. To shake his cynical attitude, three ghosts visit him and try to restore his American spirit.
Why It Might Do Well: This is written and directed by David Zucker, the guy behind Airplane, the Police Squad movies and BASEketball.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The fact that Zucker's resume also includes Superhero Movie, on which he served as producer, shows that the time for this brand of comedy may have come and gone.
Number of Theaters: 1,600
Prediction: $3 million

Beverly Hills Chihuahua
What's It All About: In this kid-friendly flick, a pampered chihuahua voiced by Drew Barrymore gets separated from her owner and must make her way home with the help of some newfound friends who also happen to be talking dogs.
Why It Might Do Well: I have to admit, I'm a sucker for a good talking dog movie, so there must be others out there.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The operative word there is "good" and based on the trailer, Homeward Bound this isn't.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $24 million

Blindness
What's It All About: Based on a novel by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, a large metropolitan area is devastated by a mysterious epidemic of blindness, and Julianne Moore plays one of the few who can still see.
Why It Might Do Well: As stories about blind people go, you know it has to be better than Daredevil.
Why It Might Not Do Well: It's currently getting a mere 41% over at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 1,700
Prediction: $5 million

Flash of Genius
What's It All About: In this film based on true events, Greg Kinnear stars as Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper who fought for years against the car companies that stole his idea.
Why It Might Do Well: 80% at Rottentomatoes.com is nothing to sneeze at.
Why It Might Not Do Well: It cuts me to the quick knowing that this film will do less business than a movie about talking chihuahuas, but of all the new flicks this week, this one is opening in the fewest theaters.
Number of Theaters: 1,000
Prediction: $3 million


And with all those new movies this week, how many will actually end up in the top five? Here's my prediction.
1. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
2. Eagle Eye
3. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
4. Nights in Rodanthe
5. Fireproof

A big shout out to Ray with his perfect score and his magnificent singing voice (though the latter is just a guess). Here's how everyone did.
1. Ray: 16
2. Adam P: 13
2. I Eat Robots: 13
3. Kevin 12
3. VP: 12
4. Liz: 11
4. Chris: 11
4. Romel: 11
4. Vera: 11
4. Gregory Rubinstein: 11
4. hitesh choudhary: 11
5. Alex Farquharson: 10
5. Jessica Dillon: 10
6. NP: 9
6. lostinafog: 9
6. Gregorius: 9
6. zach: 9
7. cough: 8
8. Rvega: 7

Post your predictions for the top five movies in the comments section below before 5:00PM Eastern Time on Friday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie.

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Tags: An American Carol, AnAmericanCarol, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, BeverlyHillsChihuahua, Blindness, Flash of Genius, FlashOfGenius, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, HowToLoseFriendsAndAlienatePeople, Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist, NickAndNorahsInfinitePlaylist

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