Box-Office Round Up: 7.13.08

Here’s this weekend’s box office estimates!

1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army $35.8 million
2. Hancock $33.0 million
3. Journey to the Center of the Earth $20.5 million
4. Wall•E $18.5 million
5. Wanted $11.6 million

7. Meet Dave $5.3 million

Now this was an interesting weekend. Hellboy II performed as expected, and is now halfway to making its money back. Huzzah for Guillermo del Toro! The man is an imaginative genius, and completely deserves to make pictures as long as he is on this planet. Journey/Center of the Earth performed as was expected for a movie based on a Jules Verne novel, even though it had a decent review in Variety. The real question is why do we keep making movies based on Jules Verne novels when nobody shows up for them, even if they are in stunning 3D digital? To be fair, $20 million is nothing to sneeze at, but traditional opening weekend math says this picture will barely make back its production costs during its theatrical release, which gives DVD and TV the burden of earning back the cost of prints/advertising. Historically, this is not a sound model for a tentpole. At least they’re doing better than Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy is Eddie Murphy in Meet Dave. I won’t comment on what I thought of the trailer, but with a weekend gross of $5.3 million, America sure did. The only way it could have been a bigger flop is if Fox spent more money on it. It begs the question, why does Eddie Murphy keep making these movies, only to have no one show up to see them? My advice to Mr. Murphy is to get the hell back on a standup tour to find himself again. Marriages and kids and a cancelled Oscar Award (which happened because of a movie like this) could definitely make you lose your edge, so go create a real Eddie Murphy Standup Act. That’s how we fell in love with you in the first place! And it could quite possibly inspire some screenwriter to write a fresh vehicle for your renewed persona.

And that’s the weekend!




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