The global love of superpowered young men hasn't even begun to decline as the star-less Chronicle, about three teenagers who develop uncanny powers opened at #1 for Superbowl weekend. It almost doubled its production budget on opening weekend. Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe had to settle for second place with The Woman in Black but that's probably because he's no longer the most powerful wizard on earth.
Chronicle is unkind to cars.
BAKERS DOZEN (Estimates)
01 CHRONICLE $22 new
02 THE WOMAN IN BLACK $21 new
03 THE GREY $9.5 (cum. $34.7)
04 BIG MIRACLE $8.5 new
05 UNDERWORLD AWAKENING $5.6 (cum. $54.3)
06 ONE FOR THE MONEY $5.2 (cum. $19.6)
07 RED TAILS $5 ($41.3)
08 THE DESCENDANTS $4.6 (cum. $65.5)
09 MAN ON A LEDGE $4.5 (cum. $14.7)
10 EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE $3.9 (cum. $26.7)
11 CONTRABAND $3.4 (cum. $26.7) (cum. $62.1)
12 THE ARTIST $2.5 (cum. $20.5)
13 BEAUTY & THE BEAST 3D $2.4 rerelease
Someone's wearing lifts... Janet McTeer is 6'1". Daniel Radcliffe is 5'5"
Talking Points
• It's a good weekend for Janet McTeer, huh? Not only did she finally feel some major industry love again post Tumbleweeds (1999) with her Albert Nobbs Oscar nomination, but she's co-starring in The Woman in Black. What's more Albert Nobbs held up well in limited release, according to IndieWire suggesting it has more life in it yet. Will it expand further now?
• The Descendants may soon surpass Sideways to become Alexander Payne's biggest hit yet. It's just 6 million behind it now.
• A Separation has crossed the 1 million mark which is a big deal these days for a foreign film. Hopefully they'll keep expanding since they've just been adding a tiny number of screens each week.
• The Artist is slowing down a bit in wide release but it's already tap danced its way clear of being called "lowest grossing Best Picture winner ever" (should it win) since it's a bigger hit than The Hurt Locker. That said anything that wins this year beyond The Help is going to end up in the 10 lowest grossers list. The Atlantic did some tallying and adjusting for inflation a year ago and they claim that these are the lowest grossing Best Pictures ever. All of them are superpower free (unless you count Javier Bardem's "Chigurh" as a supernatural evil force which maybe you can):
- The Hurt Locker (2009) $15
- All The Kings Men (1949) $60
- Hamlet (1948) $61
- An American in Paris (1951) $67
- Crash (2005) $67
- Marty (1955) $70
- No Country For Old Men (2007) $85
- lt Happened One Night (1934) $86
- The Last Emperor (1987) $89
- The Great Ziegfeld (1936) $95
What did you see this weekend?
Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 5:55PM 