Sherlock locks up pre-Christmas weekend

Robert Downey Jr. may have won the weekend with his SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS taking the top spot in US Box Office receipts, but the film only drew a paltry $40 million in its opening bow, well behind the pace set by his first Holmes film, which drew over $60 million domestically. Of course, no word on foreign box office receipts yet, and the film is expected to do well in Europe, especially the UK.

Worse off was the third Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, Chipwrecked. Despite boasting more screen time for Jason Lee, who was barely present in the second installment as Dave Seville, the movie took second place with $23.5 million domestically and $14 million in foreign markets for a total of $37.5 million… again well behind previous installments, both of which drew in the $40+ million range on their opening weekends.

Sensing a pattern here?

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL is another story. The film, budgeted at $140 million, drew only $13.6 million this weekend, but only appeared on a paltry 400+ screens. It boasted the healthiest per-screen average of the weekend, drawing over $30K per screen. And with $68.2 million in foreign receipts already, the film hasn’t yet “gone into wide release” in the US and has already made $81.8 million.

So, it’s doing well.

Nothing else broke the $10 million mark, and only last weekendd’s champ, the multi-star rom-com, New Year’s Eve, even came close with $7.4 million. After that, all other films couldn’t even reach $5 million.

Breaking Dawn, Part 1 takes box office by storm

Although it fell shy of the record set by the original TWILIGHT, BREAKING DAWN, PART 1 set the pace for box office last weekend, raking in $138 million in its first weekend of release. Nothing else even came close, so it appears none of the cast will ever need to utilized the services of Zyngle free online dating. Which is nice for them.

Happy Feet 2 did okay, thought, considering the movie casting its shadow over the weekend. The animated sequel debuted drawing $21.2 million. The much-hyped Immortals took third place with $12 million and change and still hasn’t come close to making its $75 million budget back. Adam Sandler’s JACK AND JILL drew $11 million in fourth place, while PUSS IN BOOTS, a spinoff of SHREK, drew $10 million.

Early indicators are that BREAKING DAWN Part 1 will dominate the long Thanksgiving Day weekend as well.

Murphy returning to comedy for grown-ups

If TOWER HEIST does well and Eddie Murphy starts doing slightly edgier material that’s actually funny, I’ll be a relatively happy viewer. From all the previews, it appears Murphy is returning to that 48 Hours template that made him a box office wunderkind in the 1980s.

It’s been quite a while since Murphy has been relevant on the comedy front, however. Between choosing bad projects like BOWFINGER and lots of innocuous family films that were good for what they were, but were not laugh-out-loud funny, Murphy’s appearance in TOWER HEIST looks like it could be part of a major comeback for him, a return that makes him relevant as Hollywood’s erstwhile King of Comedy.

Frankly, I’d welcome it. Too many comic actors have come and gone, ripping off Murphy’s basic act. But no one does Murphy like Murphy himself. It’s time for the master to best his students

Now, am I saying I want him to return to having every other word coming out of his mouth being a profanity? Or that he should wear cool t-shirts from foulmouthshirts.com?

No, not necessarily.

But he’s also been perhaps a bit too cautious in that area of late. If he can capture the witty anger of his youth, without necessarily all of the foul language, that’d be a great mix.

But am I ready for Murphy to return to being a king of comedy? You bet. Long live the king!

Puss In Boots tops Paranormal Activity

Apparently a cat in a hat is scarier that a couple of young girls. Antonio Bandares’ PUSS IN BOOTS animated film scared up around $33 million this weekend in its opening bow, and while Paranormal Activity 3 is still doing well, it wasn’t strong enough to fend off the puddy-tat.

Paranormal Activity 3, however, did cruise to an easy second place win, taking in $19 million on the weekend and likely a strong Halloween Monday on the way.

From the extreme to the extremely disappointing, SF action flick IN TIME finished just barely around $12 million, well below expectations and what they needed to make their budget back. The folks who put this one together will need to be wearing northface jackets to bear the chilly reception they’ll get at their next pitch meeting. Yikes!

Nothing else came near the $10 million weekend box office threshold.

ABC shows mostly doing well

Surprisingly, ABC has the fewest shows in danger of cancellation in the wake of Charlie’s Angels getting the ax. The shows in the most trouble are PAN AM and BODY OF PROOF, but those shows average around 1.8 to 1.9, with PAN AM on a steep decline after a 3.3 in its debut.

While the network is flying high thanks to EX-H20G, PAN AM and BODY OF PROOF follow shows that are much higher-rated and so viewer attrition could spell doom for these shows even if they dip no lower than they are now.

Beware, Harry’s Law and Prime Suspect

If you’re one of the few surviving fans of NBC, the cancellation of FREE AGENTS and THE PLAYBOY CLUB may extend the life of the network’s remaining scripted shows, if only for lack of ready-to-roll replacement shows.

Even so, fans of HARRY’S LAW may be next to grieve the show’s passing; after a comedy-centric first season, the show has once again devolved into a typical David E. Kelly lawyer show that pontificates in favor of left-wing agenda items even when the main lawyers on the show are arguing the other side of a case.

Those boring, pedantic, by-the-numbers speeches sap the show of its comedy vibe and could prove to be the death of it.

Meanwhile, the more appealing PRIME SUSPECT is proving that it’s hard to be an NBC cop drama without LAW AND ORDER in front of the title; the show is averaging a 1.3 to 1.8 on what has traditionally been NBC’s strongest night, and it benefits almost not at all from its strong lead-ins, COMMUNITY, PARKS AND RECREATION, THE OFFICE, and WHITNEY, losing almost a full ratings point most nights behind WHITNEY.

Still, Whitney and Community aren’t completely safe, either, and so the cast probably would do well not to invest in high-ticket items like Julbo sunglasses just yet.

Fringe again on the fringe … of cancellation

The J.J. Abrams sci-fi drama FRINGE seems to be suffering without Peter Bishop on the screen so far this season. The show is drawing steadily in the 1.2 to 1.5 range, which is dangerous territory. The network almost gave up on the show last spring before it rebounded late, saving itself from the ax.

Whether it remains through the season, however, is currently in doubt, and its producers may not like their season’s greetings cards this December, as they may well contain a pink slip for the show.

Next to fall: A Gifted Man?

CBS is perhaps regretting the cancellation of MEDIUM right about now. The network is suffering through ratings of around 1.2 on this year’s replacement for the veteran paranormal drama, and cancellation can’t be far away for A GIFTED MAN.

While the main star is appealing and plays a doctor, he may be searching for a href=”http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/jobsearch/healthcare/healthcare-aides/default.asp?job=nursing+aide”>Nursing Aide Jobs soon unless the show takes a dramatic uptick in the ratings.

Also note that CSI NY and Blue Bloods aren’t doing much better and seem incapable of drawing even a 2.0 on Friday nights.

Angels fall

ABC has finally put everyone out of their misery, letting the cancellation ax fall on the horrendous CHARLIE’S ANGELS remake stinking up prime time on Thursdays. Only three episodes have aired and the network has promised (Lord knows why) that the other five episodes already made will make it to air, but production has been shut down permanently.

The business funding was in place for a thirteen-episode order but with ratings in the 1.1 to 1.3 range, there was simply no reason to draw it out any longer. While the McG silver-screen relaunch did okay box office a few years ago, no one seemed to have an appetite for this version’s lightweight plots and sexed-up portrayals.

And for that, we can all be a little more grateful come Thanksgiving.

Great weekend coming up next weekend

After enduring weeks and weeks of uninspired manure at the box office, next weekend has a great release schedule, the first since late summer. Topping my personal expectations is the latest installment in the pseudo-reality horror franchise, Paranormal Activity 3. I’ve loved the series so far, and this installment promises to look into the backstory of the franchise, the “thing that happened when we were kids” that so emotionally scarred Katie. Should be good for some surveillance camera thrills.

Also debuting next weekend is the latest redux on The Three Musketeers. The twist this time is that the outsider who wants in is a female Musketeer. Should be swashbuckling fun, for those not looking to be scared.

Finally, while its opening on about half the number of screens as its competitors, Rowan Atkinson’s James Bond spoof, Johnny English Reborn, should be good for laughs, though personally he’s never really topped the work he did a couple decades ago on the Blackadder series, or, for Whovians, the Comic Relief spoof he performed in on DOCTOR WHO, scripted by current WHO showrunner Steven Moffat. That was called DOCTOR WHO: “The Curse of Fatal Death,” for those not in the know.

With three solid choices, viewers ought to be pleased for a change with the choices at the box office. I know I’m going to be in line early for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3. I have my save the date cards made out, and everything!

Box Office cuts Footloose

While it appears to be a down weekend for US box office in general, the victor of the battle of the remakes appears to be FOOTLOOSE, and by more than just a little. While the movie just won’t be the same without the Kenny Loggins soundtrack and a young Kevin Bacon at the center of the action, the updated version did well enough to take in over $5.5 million on Friday, setting it up for a weekend on the order of around $15-$17 million. Not great, not terrible, but enough to win the weekend. With a light, $24 million budget, it should be okay.

A step behind was REAL STEEL, now in its second weekend, which drew $4.5 million on Friday and should be comfortably in the range of $12-$13 million.

On the other end of the remake spectrum is Hollywood’s third version of THE THING, which opened to a weak $3.3 million Friday and seems set to just barely clear over $10 million. That’s disappointing enough that it could have producers reaching for antacid and incontinence products to relieve their discomfort.

Nothing else is looking even close to reaching the $10 million weekend bar. But the final numbers are not in yet.

H8R h8ed off the schedule

Producers of the CW reality show H8R better not have long-term mortgages based on the success of their show, but instead opted for houses for rent by owner; the celebrity-confronts-their-hater show had a low-rent feel from the word, “Go,” and was mercifully cut short even though the show promised plenty of new D-list celebrities in “forthcoming episodes.”

Who cares? In the four episodes that reached air before the axe fell, only two actually engaged their haters in a meaningful way that might have had a chance to change their perspective. The rest just showed off the fruits of their fame, which is part of what inspired their haters to hate in the first place.

So, good riddance.