Movie critics the world over are rejoicing this weekend as audiences rejected the sixth Saw film, which, as many agree, are six films too many. With weekend box office tallies in, Saw VI earned less than $15 million in theaters, half of what Saw V opened to and even less than the original Saw’s entry. (more…)

It’s a sad day in America. Most likely, we’ll mark this day in our calendars as a day to bow our heads in shame, to ponder how normal American citizens gave so much power away to those money-loving studio heads. For me, it’s my own personal nightmare (as far as box office nightmares go)…

Yes, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra overcame incredibly bad buzz and horribly cheesy movie trailers to make $56.2 million in its opening weekend, the fourth-highest August opening ever. This amounts to a per-screen average of over $14,000. (more…)

The Hangover repeated its dominance at the box office this weekend, taking in another $33.4 million; the R-rated comedy is now on pace to rake in approximately $175 million, against a budget of $25-$35 million. The people behind Land of the Lost (biggest flop of the year?) and Terminator Salvation are shaking their heads in shame.

Up earned another $30 million, while The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 debuted in third with an okay $25 million. Eddie Murphy’s Imagine That fell flat with only $5.7 million. (more…)

The Will Ferrell-starring Land of the Lost, considered this wekeend’s “big opener,” flopped hard on Friday, taking in only $7.2 million. The movie, which is budgeted at about $100 plus what must be a pretty large marketing budget, will be lucky to make $20 million for the entire weekend.

Few people are crying over this. (more…)

The answer is no, but not by much. Sony had to be a little nervous when looking at Saturday’s numbers (to get Sunday’s box office estimates), as Angelys & Demons polishes up with only $48 million, only $5 million ahead of near-repeat offender Star Trek. One can only presume that Sony’s estimates were $1-2 million overeager to ensure they could say their film was #1, but regardless, it can lay claim to such a title. (more…)

Ah,Wolverine. Where does one begin? This movie was just plain awful, and the more I think about it, the more I hate it. It’s sad when such a movie exists that I would rather watch X-Men 3 ten times over before seeing this stinker again, and X-Men 3 was no walk in the park.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine continues its downward slide, falling another 44% to earn $14.8 million this weekend. To put it another way, despite opening $10 million higher and a week earlier, its $151 million domestic box office take is only $4 million higher than that of Star Trek, and it will be surpassed and left in the dust midweek. Had Fox and Marvel actually devoted some time to make this movie good, this might not be happening. (more…)

Star Trek, the massive box office winner of the weekend, turned out to be an even bigger contender than first imagined. The movie earned an additional $3 million on Sunday than estimated by its studio Paramount, giving the first signs that this movie truly is benefiting from word of mouth.

The final weekend tally, including the Thursday evening numbers, was $79 million. (more…)

Thank the Gods, Star Trek, the reboot by J.J. Abrams, didn’t implode on itself. This movie was one of the biggest question marks in years in terms of box office potential: it had the look, feel and action of a summer blockbuster, but it was, in the end, Star Trek, a franchise that was considered all but dead just a few years ago after the last film Nemesis failed to break $50 million domestic – as its box office total.

This new Star Trek sailed through that number sometime on Saturday, and will finish out the box office weekend with an estimated $76.5 in box office receipts. Saturday’s numbers were higher than Friday’s, indicating that the picture isn’t completely frontloaded due to a fan boy rush, either – which isn’t all that surprising given the general appeal this picture has. For the first time ever, my casual moviegoing friends, including all of my female friends, want to go see a Star Trek film, and that says something. (more…)

Monsters vs. Aliens, the easy pick for the weekend, took in $17 million on Friday, setting itself up fora $50-55 million box office weekend. Not too bad for a less-than-stellar-looking DreamWorks Animation film.

The big surprise on Friday was The Haunting of Connecticut, the rather crappy horror rip-off starring Virginia Madsen. The haunted house movie scared up close to $10 million on Friday, making me thankful that I saw it for free on Wednesday. Look at $20-25 million for the weekend.

And then there’s John Cena. Poor little boy. Just when he thought his Hollywood career was starting to take off, it crashes and burns. Audiences apparently learned their lesson with The Marine, as Cena’s follow-up, the much-better-looking 12 Rounds, stole less than $2 million from theatergoers on its opening day, meaning it will be lucky to make $5 million over the weekend.

The franchise that never dies has just financed an additional ten films with a three-day opening weekend slaughter of $42 million, leading a pack of other box office successes. The entertaining reboot of Friday the 13th, which went back to roots and offered fans and non-fans – like me – alike enough murders and thrills to meet or exceed expectations, and audiences responded favorably. (more…)