Jacob Hall
As expected, the fifth and final film of the 'Twilight' series opened huge. In fact, 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2' had the second biggest opening of the franchise and when you consider how huge these things tend to open, that's a big accomplishment. However, this was not just a victorious weekend for Twi-hards -- just about every film in the top ten had something to cheer about.
Whoever first pitched 'Wreck-It Ralph' certainly got a nice big bonus check from Disney today. A cute hook that appeals to adults and kids + positive reviews = one of the biggest openings in weeks. And hey! 'Flight' didn't do too shabby either! Wait...are this good box office numbers? Does this mean the holiday movie season has officially arrived? Yes. Yes it has.
There is really only one way to describe the opening weekend for 'Cloud Atlas' and 'Silent Hill: Revelation' and that word is "Ouch." But they weren't alone: this was a bad week for just about every movie not called 'Argo.'
'Taken' was the surprise hit of 2009, a January dump that inexplicably made nearly $150 million in the United States and transformed Liam Neeson into an instant action star. Three years later, 'Taken 2' has arrived in theaters on a primo release date and with an advertising campaign that probably cost more than the entire first movie. Well, it looks like the hype was worth it. The first film may have been a sleeper, but the second adventure of Liam Neeson's kidnap-prone family has opened like a true blockbuster.
It's expected that box office numbers go up on Sunday afternoon. By that point, the estimates tend to be pretty accurate and if there is a difference come Monday morning, it's negligible. Not so today. Three new releases are nearly deadlocked as I write this and we won't know until sometime tomorrow who will actually be one top. We shall update accordingly. Anyway, here's where we stand right now.
This was a rough week at the box office, guys, If we had an decency whatsoever, we'd call it a day and simply not report just how poorly every movie did these past three days, but alas: the world must keep spinning. Summer is over, the Fall is upon us and we've entered the weakest part of the year for both new releases and box office grosses. Let's just get this over with, shall we?