Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Box Office Round Up: Cowboys Win in Overtime


It was a close race, with the weekend estimates predicting a tie. But the actual results are coming in and Cowboys & Aliens just barely edged out Smurfs & Neil Patrick Harrises. The Cowboys wrangled in $36.4 million, while the Smurfs smurfed in just a little less with $35.6 million. While this may be a temporally win for Camp Favreau, C&A did nowhere near as expected after its huge $163 million budget and big marketing push. And the reports for the movie are all quite disheartening, as the movie apparently isn't a western, isn't Sci-Fi, isn't really much of anything. The only good thing about it is that it's easy on the eyes, thanks to the effects and Olivia Wilde.

Speaking of Miss Wilde, I just want to point out to my loyal readers that she really is Oscar Wilde's imaginary granddaughter. Olivia Jane Cockburn officially changed her last name to honor her fellow Irish author Oscar. Good thing she did too, or we will have never gotten what is perhaps the greatest red carpet interview ever.

Interviewer: Your original name was Cock-Burn. Lol, Cockburn. So did a lot of people in school make fun of the name Cockburn?
Olivia Wilde: (awkward silence) ... It's pronounced Co-Burn.     

On to Smurfs. No budget has been released yet, but seeing how it looks like a homemade Youtube video, they should be happy with $30+ million. That's twice as much as the similar(ly bad) Yogi Bear made its first weekend. It was also on fewer screens than C&A meaning to took in a better per-theater average. But what is good for the studios is bad for us, as this means we will probably get a Smurfs 2: Back 2 Tha Hood with even more forced urban references.

Captain America took a sharp fall to $25.5 million. But it is finally gaining some cash in the rest of the world with $53m of its worldwide $170m gross coming from markets that the movie completely neglects. It opens in Germany in three weeks, hopefully with an alternate ending where Red Skull wins. I wonder how it does there.

Harry Potter is still doing pretty good. Another $22 million US brings the worldwide total pass the Billion mark. It becomes the ninth movie ever to hit ten digits, and it only sits behind two James Camerons, two Pirates, one Lord of the Ring, one Toy Story, and, somehow, one Alice in Wonderland. Think it will catch Avatar? Think again, as Harry only needs to make another $1,773,400,000. Transformers 3 (8th with $6m US) should also pass the billion mark in a week or two.

Crazy Stupid Love was 5th with $19 million. Much like the movie itself, I can't think of anything witty to say.

Finally, Attack the Block didn't do much of anything as it was only on eight screens. Remember, this was set for a limited release, but got bumped up. Bumped up to eight screens. Neither math nor logic have ever been strong suits for Hollywood.

10 comments:

  1. In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard Following!

    ReplyDelete
  2. i had good hopes for cowboys and aliens. now i will probably go for smurfs and leave C & A for dvd

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'd rather go see "Cowboys and Aliens" than "The Smurfs".

    ReplyDelete
  4. The fact that Smurfs was even a competition for Cowboys says something about Cowboys & Aliens.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jeebus Harry Potter is a goldmine...

    also, i totally agree with msmariah

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would love to see the alternate ending of Capt. America with the Red Skull winning then the alternate Avengers with the Red Skull superimposed over Chris Evans throughout. To the German Fan Fiction Forum! (That hopefully doesn't exist, but probably does.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. a ten-year-old i know reviewed Captain America as "the worst movie ever made" I thought that was a slightly harsh

    ReplyDelete
  8. Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king. Supporting!

    ReplyDelete