What started as a close and unpredictable race to box office supremacy wound up an easy win for Nicolas Cage’s latest sci-fi flick, Knowing, which grossed $24.8 mil this weekend, trumping challenges from the hearty laugher I Love You, Man and the Julia Roberts-Clive Owen rom-thrill Duplicity.
While I’m somewhat surprised by the outcome — Knowing fared much better than I, or most other box office prognosticators, expected — in the end the battle wasn’t even very close. Cage scored his third consecutive No. 1 opening in the past year and a half, drawing a diverse crowd that was evenly divided between men and women and about two-thirds over the age of 25. For indie distributor Summit, meanwhile, Knowing’s debut marks a second big win after last fall’s Twilight (which happened to hit DVD this weekend, in case you didn’t hear — yay!).
I Love You, Man was a solid second-place finisher, grossing $18 mil and cementing Paul Rudd’s status as a rising comedy draw. While perhaps a bit lower than hoped, the film’s opening sum is on par with that of Rudd’s last success, Role Models ($19.2 mil), which wound up banking $67.3 mil during its domestic run. With an audience that basically hits “all four quadrants” (young and old, male and female) awarding the film a decent B+ CinemaScore grade, I Love You, Man could have some box office legs in the weeks to come.
The same can’t be said about Duplicity (No. 3), which disappointed with $14.4 mil, despite boasting some pretty big names. It’s hard to compare the film’s performance to that of any recent Julia Roberts release — simply because the woman still often dubbed the biggest female star in the world hasn’t had a lead role in a major movie in years. That said, this opening total falls well short of the $20 mil-to-$40 mil premieres she consistently drew during her heyday from 1997 to 2001. And with a woeful CinemaScore grade of C from a “one quadrant” crowd mostly comprised of older women, Duplicity doesn’t appear to be the comeback hit many hoped it would be.
Race to Witch Mountain (No. 4 with $13 mil) and Watchmen (No. 5 with $6.7 mil) rounded out the top five in a frame whose overall gross declined about 5 percent from a year ago, making this the second “down” weekend in a row. But the slow times shouldn’t last much longer, as Monsters vs. Aliens is set to scare up a fortune starting next weekend.
More Box Office News:
Box Office Preview: I Love You, Man, Duplicity, and Knowing battle for No. 1
Race to Witch Mountain casts a spell at No. 1
Watchmen wins the weekend with $55.7 mil
Madea tops Jonas Brothers for a second box office win
Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail wins big at the box office
Friday the 13th slashes records
EW.com’s Box Office Chart
Comments (1-30) of 37 Add your comment
“Twilight (which happened to hit DVD this weekend, in case you didn’t hear — yay!).”
The fact that you made a plug for Twilight (as EW has been doing for what seems like a year now) AND liked it makes you an idiot.
twilight wasnt even great.
you wanna support a vampire, its called Let The Right One In. best movie of 08
This is truly a crying shame — because I LOVE YOU, MAN is a FAR superior movie than KNOWING. Nicolas Cage was really laughable in this — and so was most of the acting and script.
For my review of both of these movies — and other recent releases — check out the “March Movie Reviews” entry in my blog:
http://movies-tv-entertainment.blogspot.com/
I can see why people went to Knowing, you know exactly what you were gonna get with that movie. I bet it drops by more then 60% next weekend.
I love you, man. will have much longer legs and is pretty funny.
The Julie Roberts and the guy whose publicist did a good job in promoting looks very boring. If the best parts of the movie are in the commercials, there was nothing that made me laugh. I like Julia Roberts enough, and she is always fine in these romantic comedies….but after the Mexican, and Runaway Bride, she should have stopped making these sort of films.
The audience will never love Julia Roberts as much as she has grown to lover herself.
entertainment weekly sure does love twilight… Twilight is everywhere lol haha…
Will took the words right out of my mouth! F@#K twilight and all the unnecessary bulls#!t attention EW pays to it! ENOUGH ALREADY!! The movie sucked and the books are written for middle-school kids!! Grow up EW!!
Me suspects whoever owns EW also owns the company that made Twilight.
MVA is going to dominate next weekend-
1)Monsters VS Aliens
2)Knowing
3)I Love You, Man
4)The Haunting of Conneticut
5)Duplicity
Oh yeah and EW lay off this Twilight crap
Twighlit is for sad lonely girls who cling to the bad boy is reformable fantasy.
That Knowing did so well both boggle sthe mind and doesn’t surprise me all at once. Of course the masses will flock to stupidity. ILYM will hold up much better though as it is a smart, funny movie.
Hopefully Duplicity will hold and do well in the end. Still is short of 100 million even after 3 weeks…wow
Knowing was awful
EW’s bizarre luv of everything Twilight makes me kind of hate their magazine anymore. It’s like they finally lost their last shred of street cred with this total bowdown in trying to appeal to the masses. It’s a shame, because EW used to be the best magazine ever.
I think that more people would want to see a JR romantic comedy. To be honest, I didn’t love Erin Brockovich or any of her other “serious” roles. I’m ready for another movie from her, but not a drama.
knowing was actually good. I was shocked.
Wow, so many good points of observation being made today. I Love You, Man is the best romantic comedy/buddy flick I have ever seen. It was the perfect date night movie for us this weekend. I’ve never seen so many people walking out of the theater laughing and smiling while commenting about the movie. It may not have opened above Knowing but it will definitely finish above it as word of mouth spreads and both men and women discover it is a riot of an adult comedy. Knowing proves that you can’t always know how good a film is based on the trailer alone. Twilight’s success proves that superhyping a bad film can make it alot of money, but when all is said and done, it’s still just a mediocre movie. And yes Monsters versus Aliens will blow up the box office this weekend. Good luck to all trying to find seats at any of the cheaper matinees next weekend!!!
I’m surprised by the results, although I was also surprised to find that “Knowing” was actually very enjoyable.
But here’s what I’m questioning–have you ever noticed that when there’s a movie EW wants to spin as being a disappointment, then a “B” grade is always an indicator that the film is going to bomb. But if the film is something that EW is really behind–let’s say “I Love You, Man,” which I haven’t seen yet–than a B+ grade is considered promising? I’m just saying.
Is Duplicity a thriller? Because from the Trailer it doesn’t look like one at all, just another man and woman hate each other but end up in love in the end. If that’s not right, then shame on the marketing people.
I think most critics hate Nicolas Cage because it’s the thing to do. They can’t get over it.
Also, I Love You, Man trailer didn’t look good to me at all, I didn’t laugh once but now I may have to see it because word of mouth.
I saw Both ILY,M and Knowing …ILY,M was the best thing I have seen since Kocked up and 40 year old Virgin in the Romantic comedy / slash well written out story …and Knowing was pretty good, considering I expected a bad movie ….But I can ILY,M having a deep run like Taken ….F#@%k Twilight …
EW still has Twilight in the special coverage section on top of the web page. How old is that vampire? Why does he still go to high school and pick up on underage girls. Where’s Dateline?
Come on, Rich, when are you going to learn? It’s the movie, not the actor. PEOPLE DON’T GO TO MOVIES JUST BECAUSE SO-AND-SO WAS IN IT. You’d think you would realize this after “Duplicity” came in a disappointing third place, “despite boasting some pretty big names.” Names mean nothing! Just look at Cage. Is he a “big star” who can “open a movie”? Well, his “Knowing” did great… but his last movie, “Bangkok Dangerous”, made a grand total of 15 million. So which is it? He made a about 170 million in “National Treasure” and made about 18 million in “Next”, so which is it? Answer: It’s the movie, not the actor.
Please, Rich, don’t tell me about “Paul Rudd’s status as a rising box office draw.” He’s not a box office draw. Nobody would go to see a crappy-looking movie just because he’s in it. “I Love You, Man” is supposed to be funny, it got good reviews, it did pretty well. That’s it. It’s not because of Rudd.
Rich, please stop basing predictions and commentary on whether an actor is a “big draw” because this is all nonsense. Many scholarly studies have proven there’s no connection between the presence of “stars” and the success of movies. This is why you consistently underestimate the strength of movies that lack stars (look at your past predictions for movies like Mall Cop and Hotel for Dogs, for example).
Please note, that when I say “It’s the Movie, Not the Actor,” I’m not saying that these successful movies are all high art. Look, Mall Cop was obviously a low-brow, low-intelligence movie. But the point is that the people who went to see it weren’t some mysterious legion of underground Kevin James fans. They were just “regular Joes” who thought the idea of a heroic mall cop looked funny. It’s the movie, not the actor.
Good luck with your next round of predictions. I hope you’ll eventually learn.
Knowing was pretty good. I went for the special effects but was drawn in by the story. Wasn’t at all predictable
EW worships Twilight… i saw Twilight today and mmmmm why does EW compare Twilight with Harry Potter???? Harry Potter is in another level… Twilight is mediocre
I’m not surprised Duplicity didn’t do well, it is the most confusing film ever!!
http://hidensneek.com/2009/03/22/separated-at-birth-duplicity/
i haven’t seen duplicity but the trailer bored me to death, but it’s just my opinion right? i don’t think julia roberts has lost her star power, the bottom line is “how good is the movie?” ms roberts needs it in a way ’cause she’s not taking her clothes off on the cover of GQ (that was a bad movie but let’s just leave it at that).
The people who would appreciate “I Love You Man” and “Duplicity” watch at home these days. Why sit in a theater with annoying, dumb, rude people who talk, text, etc., when you can watch on a giant, high def TV with a killer sound system in the comfort of your own home? Unfortunately, only event movies and things you need to see in IMAX get some of that demographic (smart people with money) to the theater.
I’m with you guys. Does EW own stock in the company that produced that heaping mound of “Twilight?” I’m sure the whole editorial team is crying because “Watchmen” was such a big ol’ stinkin’ flopperoo.
I can understand why EW readers are tired of hearing Twilight, but it took a side mention to set you guys off like this? Jesus. Go get some air if you’re that irritable about one measly line.
And jd, stop saying Watchmen is a flop. The sales are lukewarm at best, but it’s not a complete failure, whether by the overview between movie critics and moviegoers, or financial gains.