Jaden Smith (pictured) is getting a small taste of what it’s like to walk in dad Will’s action-blockbuster shoes. As expected, the remake of the 1951 sci-fi flick starring Keanu Reeves easily replaced Four Christmases atop the box office leader board with an opening weekend gross of $31 million, according to Sunday’s estimates. Despite mediocre reviews, the film held fairly steady throughout the weekend, falling slightly shy of our $36 million estimate.
The Vince Vaughn-Reese Witherspoon yuletide comedy came in second with $13.3 million, bringing its three-week total to just under $88 million, while Twilight faded to the third spot during its fourth week with just over $8 million. The teen vampire romance managed to reach one milestone, however, grossing a total of $150 million — the amount director Catherine Hardwicke surmised the movie would have to suck in for sequel New Moon to get the go ahead. Obviously, Summit executives saw the writing on the wall weeks ago and have hired Chris Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie) to direct next fall’s follow-up. Rounding out the top five are Disney’s doggie flick Bolt with $7.5 million and Baz Luhrmann’s underperforming Australia with $4.3 million.
The weekend’s other new major release — Nothing Like the Holidays, starring John Leguizamo and Debra Messing — got coal in its stocking with a measly $3.5 million during its first weekend.
Also of note is the Clint Eastwood-starring Gran Torino (rumored to be the actor-director’s last turn in front of the camera). Although it opened in only six theaters (three in New York, three in L.A.), the film scored the best per screen average, $47,333, with a gross of only $284,000.
More box office news:
Box Office Preview: ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ headed for solid debut
‘Four Christmases’ wins slow weekend at the box office
Four Christmases jingles all the way to the bank
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I thought this was a pretty good movie as long as your not expecting a big shiney conclusive ending. They pretty much leave it up to you to decide what would happen next because any idea the movie would throw out would just disappoint people. I did find the kid kind of unbearably annoying. But I guess anybody that obtuse in his thinking would make you want punch his face in.
I thought this was a pretty good movie as long as your not expecting a big shiney conclusive ending. They pretty much leave it up to you to decide what would happen next because any idea the movie would throw out would just disappoint people. I did find the kid kind of unbearably annoying. But I guess anybody that obtuse in his thinking would make you want punch his face in.
They ruined it. They RUINED it! They took a piece of classic art, and turned it into spoiled guacamole. It’s a tree-huggers wet dream: an alien comes to Earth and ’saves’ it from the technologically perverted humans. OH, my gods. Gimme a frakin’ break! I feel like Stan & Kenny in the “Southpark” ep where they went to the theater and watched “The Passion Of The Christ”, then thought it sucked so bad, they wanted their money back, and were willing to go all the way to Mel Gibson’s home to get it. If I knew how to do it, I’d do the same to the COMPLETE GREENIE IDIOTS that were responsible for this garbage.
If you want to watch crap, go see this movie. If you want to see art in action, rent the original on DVD and thank your lucky stars you’ve never seen the ‘remake’.
TFF
Another movie ruined by empty-headed Hollywood environment snobs. Only Hollywood can save the world, and don’t you forget it!
Day the Earth Stood Still was horrible due to the annoying typical kid part..oh I have daddy issues and you are not my mother blah blah blah…plus kathy bates was horrible. Reeves and Jennifer were fine.
The thing that got on my nerves about the movie was the lack of an ending. I mean the movie is not high art. But, christ had they added a 5-10 minute scene to give resolution at least you wouldnt feel like someone took money from your wallet
I’m confused why you continue to diss on Australia, when it has made it into the top 5 for the last 3 weekends. I realize it isn’t hauling in an astounding gross but it’s definitely doing better than EW has been predicting for the last 3 weeks, so maybe giving it a little cred wouldn’t be so bad since EW’s been wrong about it every week.
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Go forth Twilight in your fourth week.
I thought that after the start, I would have been more interested in a bearded Reeves lost up in the mountains for a whole movie. That was the best part of TDTESS.
But, they’d never let him have a beard for a whole movie, because I’m sure it doesn’t play well with focus groups.
The Day the earth stood still was terrible should have waited to rent.
The kid had no purpose in the movie and it didn’t end.
watched it. i wasn’t impressed unfortunately. i had quite high expectations because i saw that the trailer was good. anyway, the only good think about it was keanu and jennifer. the other actors had bad acting and i also wasn’t impressed with kathy bates. the kid was just oK.. effects were great, but it didn’t help much to make the movie worth my time and money.
i meant the only good ‘thing’ about it.. haha typo sorry.
I love it where the entertainment press gets all excited about a big weekend box office tally for a mediocre movie. It’s like they fail to recognize that somethings, there’s nothing else to see, so audiences end up settling for crap.
If I were a movie mogul, I’d make a fortune by putting good movies out during slow weekends, instead of cramming everything into a few weeks in the summer.
Four Christmases still kicking Twilight’s butt. Does this mean we will get a Four Christmases II movie?
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The original movie featured a kind, charming “space man” who came here to warn us that his people had created a race of robot policemen, “who patrol the planets in spaceships like this one”. They gave these robots absolute authority over human aggressive behavior- so the people of that galaxy were forced to live in peace or else be vaporized for their violence. That was the big surprise ending; the message was nothing at all like “Stop fighting among yourselves or we will destroy you” (as many have foolishly interpreted it)- the aliens themselves were harmless, the danger was with the ROBOTS, and ONLY “if you threaten to extend your violence”. As [the real] Klaatu said, “It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet”… so, how did this hour and a half of Political Correct TRASH end up being called “a remake”????
Twilight will have grossed more than Four Christmases so I think your assumption that its kicking Twilight’s butt is totally inaccurate.
Four Christmases 87,972,000
Twilight 150,108,000
Not even close for Four Xmases. Twilight hater
My husband and I went to see Twilight again this weekend. The theater was roughly half full for a 7:30 pm Saturday showing. The same showing for TDTESS was not even a 1/4 full. four Christmases, same thing, maybe 1/3. Some movies have staying power. That’s what makes them good movies. Twilight gets better every time I see it. Don’t ruin it, Summitt.
Whoa, Keanu can still pack ‘em in. Excellent! (Now, let’s get him a really great script.)
Ugh…. soooooo sick of Twilight fans getting so defensive. Here are the facts.
Twilight is NOT performing as well as it was supposed to. Some had likened it to Harry Potter, which is usually over 200 million by now. Yes, it’s still a box office success, but not living up to its hype.
As for Four Christmases, it will continue to be in the top 3 for at least another two weeks and only had half the hype as Twilight.
So, calm down Twilight-ers.
Lastly…. I saw The Day The Earth….. and it was brutal. I can’t believe Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, and John Cleese attached their names to this piece of crap (not surprised Keanu was in it).
Check out “Milk”for a satisfying movie experience.
Ok Rye, I’m not a “Twilight” fan or anything, but I want to set something straight real quick.
Yes there has been an assload of hype for “Twilight” but no one analyst (or really any person with half a brain) thought that the movie would do Harry Potter business. You know how many books JK Rowling has sold? Hundreds of millions of copies around the world. You know how many people have bought the “Twilight” series (all the books sold combined)? Maybe a 10th of that. So it is performing as well as it’s supposed to. Don’t ever give into hype people (unless it is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Batman in it, then that’s ok).
Ok Rye, I’m not a “Twilight” fan or anything, but I want to set something straight real quick.
Yes there has been an assload of hype for “Twilight” but no one analyst (or really any person with half a brain) thought that the movie would do Harry Potter business. You know how many books JK Rowling has sold? Hundreds of millions of copies around the world. You know how many people have bought the “Twilight” series (all the books sold combined)? Maybe a 10th of that. So considering the saturation of both licenses, and how Twilight is performing with much less recognition by people outside of the loop, it’s quite a success. So it is performing as well as it’s supposed to. Don’t ever give into hype people (unless it is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Batman in it, then that’s ok).
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