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Box Office

'Identity Thief' Tops the Box Office, Becoming the First Big Hit Comedy Since 'Ted'

by | February 11th, 2013

The past six months have been pretty sluggish for comedies at the box office, with high-profile movies like This Is 40 and Guilt Trip faring worse than expected, but comedy's dry spell seems to be over. This weekend, the Jason Bateman-Melissa McCarthy vehicle Identity Thief topped the charts, earning $36.6 million despite mostly negative reviews from critics. Last weekend's #1 movie, Warm Bodies, a zombie rom-com, came in second with $11.5 million. Identity Thief and Warm Bodies are the first comedies to top the box office since Seth MacFarlane's Ted was #1 for a single weekend last summer. Please use the comments section to thank me for not giving this post one of those [...]

Box Office

'Ted's' Silly Huge Opening Weekend

by | July 2nd, 2012

Ted grossed $52.5 million this weekend. This is an insanely large number for an R-Rated comedy or really any movie that doesn't feature at least one superhero. This is big news for Seth Macfarlane, as this is his first foray into film. It's an indication that his fanbase will follow him into movie theaters. As a result, expect to see more movies from Seth Macs. Like Magic Ted, a film about a boozing, off-color teddy bear who Channing Tatum takes under his wing and teaches how to shake his buns.

Box Office

'The Campaign' Opens Strongly with the Highest Debut for a Political Movie Ever

by | August 13th, 2012

The Campaign opened this weekend, and it clocked a strong second place behind The Bourne Not-Matt-Damon with $27.44 million in receipts. That's not as big as many blockbuster comedy openings like The Hangover Part II, but it's pretty great for a summer that's seen almost no comedies succeed. It has a steep hill to climb to catch Ted, which is by far the biggest comedy of the summer with nearly $210 million (!!!) made so far, but it should at least beat The Dictator, which is currently the second biggest comedy of the summer with about $60 million made so far.

And its in line with the opening [...]

Box Office

What Does the Opening Weekend Failure of 'That's My Boy' Mean?

by | June 18th, 2012

Up until this weekend there were arguably two true movie stars: Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Now there is one (maybe) and it isn't Adam Sandler. A real movie star is not just a very famous person or an actor/actress who seems to always get big parts. Movie stars can open movies by themselves. Movie stars guarantee an $100 million box office regardless of the quality of the film. That was Adam Sandler last June but it isn't him anymore, as That's My Boy finished this past weekend in 5th place, earning only $13 million.

Box Office

'The Watch' Wasn't Watched this Weekend

by | July 30th, 2012

The Watch earned only $13 million this weekend, which is frankly pretty damn bad. It's exactly the same amount as what That's My Boy disappointedly earned its opening weekend. The Olympics might've hurt it a little but apparently it was tracking poorly as is. There just was no buzz surrounding the film. It probably didn't help that only three months ago the movie ending up changing its title out of respect to Trayvon Martin. However, ultimately, this movie had three of the type of stars that should be able to open a movie and none of them were able to woo America. Especially since by all accounts [...]

Box Office

What Does 'Five-Year Engagement's' Box Office Disappointment Suggest About the State of Apatowian Comedies?

by | April 30th, 2012

Five-Year Engagement earned $11.2 million this weekend, which is nearly half what was being predicted. It's also by far the lowest of the recent era of Apatowian films and it seems to be part of slow falling out of favor for his brand of comedies.

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