HollywoodIdiocy.com

Shut up and sing! -Laura Ingraham
05 26th, 2008

There are some Orlando vacations in the futures of all the folks involved in making Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The three-day total for Indy 4’s first weekend of release has reached an impressive $101 million domestically. With a Thrusday debut and a Memorial Day Monday added in, the film is set to make big bucks by the end of tonight.

With Monday total not yet in, Spielberg-Lucas-Ford action flick has so far grosses $126 million domestically and $146 million overseas, for a grand total of over $272 million combined; not bad for a movie that had a production budget of $185 million.

Prince Caspian, the second film in the Narnia Chronicles, based on the series of children’s stories by C.S. Lewis, did well enough to retain second place, but at $23 million, saw a huge, 58-percent dropoff from its debut week. Boasting a production budget of $200 million, Prince Caspian’s two-week total is $96 million domestically, and $22 million overseas, for a disappointing two-week total of only $118 million. This could make it difficult for the sequel to make its money back prior to DVD release.

That’s not a problem for Iron Man, which held on to the third spot in the box office race with an additional $20 million domestically. In release not for over three weeks, Iron man has taken in $257 million domestically and $228 million oveseas, for a staggering total of just inter $486 million; considering the film’s relatively slim $140 million budget, Iron Man stands now shoulder-to-shoulder with Spider-Man as one of Marvel Studios’ most profitable franchises.

What Happens in Vegas made just over $9 million in fourth place and then there was a huge dropoff as Speed Racer couldn’t even draw $4 million to take fifth place. Speed Races has only barely topped $36 million, contrasted to its $120 million budget, guaranteeing its stink-bomb status in this summer movie season; even with foreign box office added in, the film has barely made half of its investment back, at $61 million, and with business dropping like a rock, the best hope for producers to make their money back on Speed Racer is DVD/Blu-Ray sales.

This coming weekend is likely to be the least competitive of May, as Sex and the City and the thriller The Strangers are the only two new entries; both flicks seem unlikely to unseat Indy 4, and depending on the dynamics of the weekend, could potentially have trouble unseating Prince Caspian and Iron Man from the Top 3 spots as well.



05 19th, 2008

Anyone with decent bathroom lighting can see that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has the goods to burst to a powerful debut in the weekend box office, but some folks weren’t sure the film would best the ultra-powerful Iron Man, now in its third week of release.

The good news for Hollywood is that Prince Caspian did beat out Iron Man to get a rock-solid grip on first place, but Iron Man did quite well, too, for its third week of release. Estimates are that Prince Caspian debuted at $56.5 million for first place, while Iron Man showed good staying power by taknig in an additional $31.2 million, bringing its domestic take to $222.4 million, and a startling $378.5 million combined between domestic and foreign box office totals.

Bouyed by good word of mouth, What Happens In Vegas took third place with a $13.8 million weekend, and the stink-bomb that is Speed Racer sank to a depressing fourth-place in its second week of release, luring in only $7.6 million. Speed Racer has a huge $120 million budget and thus far hasn’t even topped $30 million. As Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog might say, Speed Racer is a very warm, exciting movie… for me to poop on! (Apologies to Triumph creator Robert Smigel and Conan O’Brien.)