Weekend Box Office: 'Revenge of the Fallen' Defines Critic-Proof
Filed under: New Releases, Box Office
Well, don't we all feel a little silly. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the movie that received the most hysterically negative reviews of 2009 opened to by far the year's biggest numbers -- $201 million since Wednesday, according to estimates. That's just a couple million shy of the first-five-days-of-release record set by The Dark Knight, though that movie opened on a Thursday. (It's tough to truly compare opening weekends of mega-blockbusters these days, since God knows on what day of the week they all hit theaters.) I hope everyone is looking forward to Transformers 3, where Autobots will discover fart jokes.The only movie to dare take on Revenge of the Fallen in wide release, was the Nick Cassavetes weepie My Sister's Keeper, which opened to a respectable $12 million -- almost as strong as Cassavetes' The Notebook, though unlikely to be carried to an $80 million cume by good word-of-mouth. Year One took a big tumble, falling off 70% its middling opening; I guess Michael Cera and Jack Black aren't quite the automatic draw that battling cyborgs are. And The Hangover continues to ride a wave of audience goodwill; it will likely have reached $200 million by this time next weekend.
As for your weekly Up v. Finding Nemo update -- it's still neck-in-neck, with Nemo ahead by about $3 million after five weeks of release. If this weekend's heftier drop-off for Up is any indication, it may be starting to lose a little steam, which would mean that Nemo would get to hold on to the Pixar crown.
The full top 10 after the jump.
1 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount/Dreamworks) - $112.00 ($26,453) - $201.25
2 - The Proposal (Disney) - $18.47 ($6,039) - $69.05
3 - The Hangover (Warner Bros.) - $17.22 ($4,884) - $183.25
4 - Up (Disney) - $13.05 ($3,741) - $250.22
5 - My Sister's Keeper (Warner Bros.) - $12.03 ($4,616) - $12.03
6 - Year One (Sony) - $5.08 ($1,918) - $32.21
7 - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Sony) - $5.40 ($1,803) - $53.41
8 - Star Trek (Paramount) - $3.61 ($1,978) - $246.23
9 - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Fox) - $3.50 ($1,556) - $163.25
10 - Away We Go (Focus) - $1.68 ($3,390) - $4.06
Next weekend: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which should do well (The Meltdown opened to $70 million 3 years ago), and Public Enemies, which may be a little too heady to make a splash, though it certainly has a great cast.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-29-2009 @ 12:30PM
Stan Winsome said...
Or maybe, just maybe Michael Bay is much smarter than anyone gives him credit for.
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6-29-2009 @ 1:03PM
AlfredHitchcock said...
Why is this surprising?
If you re-released Casablanca and Terminator: Salvation in the cinemas Casablanca probably wouldnt break a hundred dollars but Terminator: Salvation would go on to make hundreds of millions.
Most people once though the planet was flat and threatened to prosecute the one man who thought otherwise.
Being popular is not the same as being right. In fact many times throughout history the two have been complete opposites.
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6-29-2009 @ 1:22PM
Walter Squibbletaint said...
The gall you have to name yourself Hitchcock....
The Casablanca vs Terminator argument is pretty lame, consider ing it's already been seen a billion times.
I mean hey, I'll see a classic in a byob casual theater, but not for premium price unless it's been revamped in 3d and remastered in 12.1 (disregarding Star Wars just let it go already)
At this point we should know what to expect from Bay. We all know what he does best and worst; the numbers show that we don't care. It doesn't make us morons, it just means we're in the mood to see it.
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6-29-2009 @ 1:47PM
Jason said...
I think some people around here need understand the difference betweeen "ARTWORK" and "ENTERTAINMENT"... Transformers 2 was all about ENTERTAINMENT.... it was a GREAT movie in my option (I am in my early 30s and grew up playing with Transformers) and my kids (all under 10) LOVED it.
There was non-stop action right from the get go... this is what a summer blockbuster should be... not some boring story filled 2 1/2 hours... my kids were hooked on the movie the entire time... no complaining about being bored!
Don't forget... this whole series is based on Comic Books and toys... Half the movies goals is to get kids begging mom and dad for the new transformer toys.
I know that sometimes "Critics" don't understand the entertainment value of movies like this but man it was great fun and the best $40 bucks I have spent on a movie in a long time!
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6-29-2009 @ 3:01PM
Billy Soistmann said...
Yes, there are "art films" and movies that simply entertain, but film is an art and the best movies both entertain and give something deeper. (like a decent plot)
6-29-2009 @ 6:46PM
Adam said...
Lol, I don't think any critic walked into Transformers 2 looking for the next Citizen Kane. Critics loved The Hangover, because it promised to be a funny, entertaining movie, and it delivered. Critics hated Transformers 2 because it promised to be an entertaining movie with cool action scenes, and it was a boring movie with repetitive action scenes.
The Pirates sequels made tons of money, but everyone admits they were crap.
6-29-2009 @ 2:08PM
cufford said...
Well, once again this just goes to show how worthless and pointless professional film critics are. They think that they're all that, but what they think doesn't matter. Only what the audience at large thinks, which is all too often NOT what self-proclaimed critics think.
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6-29-2009 @ 2:21PM
Jimmy B Goode said...
Um Eugene, did you call the Transformers cyborgs to start a flame war, or do you really not know the difference? Otherwise, critics opinions are just that, same as mine and anyone else's. We all have different feelings and approach movies with our personal pre-conceived notions. I mean Armageddon is a crappy movie through and through and does not entertain me at all, but I know people who love it for the spectacle. Me? I feel the same way about Transformers.
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6-29-2009 @ 2:59PM
Billy Soistmann said...
Sure, it has enough hype to generate a huge opening, but without strong word-of-mouth it will drop like a rock in the coming weeks. Both Star Trek and The Dark Knight were successful for a while, but only because they were actually good movies.
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