Black Sheep @ The Box Office

Three weeks running now and INCEPTION is still number one at the box office, fending off three wide newcomers that all failed mostly in their own right.  The Christopher Nolan blockbuster just barely lost the number one spot on Friday to the Steve Carell/Paul Rudd comedy, DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS.  It was not able to hold on to its lead though and finishes the weekend as Carell's lowest summer opening weekend since he became a star in 2005 with THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN.  The widest release in the Top 10 on 3705 screens, CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE, manages to piddle that screen time away with a puny average of $3400.  Perhaps even more sad though is Zac Efron's attempt to prove himself as a bankable, serious actor with CHARLIE ST. CLOUD, actually opening beneath the doggy/feline disaster.  Despite losing nearly 50% of it's audience this weekend, SALT held up well during the week for a healthy $70 million gross after ten days in theatres.  And just below the Top 10 yet again, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT expands to almost 850 screens, brining in $3.5 million and a solid average of $4090.  A Top 10 slot would have been nice exposure for it but it's doing, uh, all right, all the same.  The big indie success this week though was the Robert Duvall black comedy, GET LOW, which pulled in an average of over $22K on just 4 screens.  

NEXT WEEK: Will Ferrell teams up with Mark Wahlberg and the director of STEP BROTHERS for cop comedy, THE OTHER GUYS on 3400+ screens.  Black Sheep will be catching the advance screening and getting back to you on STEP UP 3D, which opens on 2200 screens.  Paramount ensemble crime comedy, MIDDLE MEN, opens on a limited 200 screens.  And 2009 holdover, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED rolls out slowly on to 12 screens.  Black Sheep Reviews had the chance to chat with Miss Creed herself, Gemma Arterton this week.  Look for the interview next weekend!

Source: Box Office Mojo

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office

There isn't much of excitement to report on at this week's box officer.  Friday essentially decided whether or not SALT and Angelina Jolie would have the muscle to take down Christopher Nolan's powerhouse, INCEPTION.  It did not.  Still, the start is a good $9 million more than THE BOURNE IDENTITY did in its first weekend.  Their averages were about the same as well and, seeing as SALT so clearly wants to be the female Bourne, the start is a good one.  Overseas dollars will make the decision but if they follow suit, a sequel will be made.  INCEPTION meanwhile had the second smallest second week dip all year.  (The record belongs to THE TOOTH FAIRY oddly enough).  At nearly $145 million in just two weeks, INCEPTION is poised to surpass BATMAN BEGINS as Nolan's second biggest hit behind THE DARK KNIGHT.  And finally, it could still change after final numbers are in Monday, but estimates have THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT bringing in almost $2.7 million on just 200 screens, placing it at number eleven.  Hopefully, the kids will be more than all right and find themselves in the Top 10 next week.  Oh, and RAMONA AND BEEZUS bombed in 8th place .. in case anyone cares.

NEXT WEEK: Pretty boy Zac Efron hopes to expand his acting chops and audience with CHARLIE ST. CLOUD on 2500 screens.  Also appearing on 2500 screens is the American remake of the French film, DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS with Steve Carrell.  And debuting on a whopping 3700 screens is the long awaited sequel, CATS AND DOGS 2: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE.  How does this happen?

Source: Box Office Mojo

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SALT

Written by Kurt Wimmer

Directed by Philip Noyce

Starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor

Evelyn Salt: I'm not who you think I am.

The tagline for SALT poses the question, “Who is Salt?” and after sitting through the incredibly fast-paced spy thriller, I can honestly say that I have no idea who this Salt chick is really.  I can say that the movie that is named for her is riddled with plot holes but when the heroine is as hot and adept at avoiding those holes as Angelina Jolie is, I don’t think it really matters.

When I see a Jolie action film, I’m not looking for anything particularly challenging in terms of depth.  This bodes well for SALT as what little depth director Philip Noyce tries to infuse into the film is shaky at best.  Jolie is Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative who has done incredible things for her country in her time with the agency.  As to what country’s interests she actually serves, well, her loyalties are a little gray there.  When a Russian defector walks into the CIA building and announces that a Russian operative named Evelyn Salt is going to kill the Russian president, her credibility is shot despite her achievements.  She couldn’t possibly be a Russian spy, right?  Wrong.  She could actually be part of a decades-old Russian project that trained spies as children and then implanted them into the United States to lie dormant until the time came years later for them to do what they were always programmed to do.  Like I said earlier, as long as Jolie is running around, being her bad-ass, awesome self and narrowly avoiding defeat while she jumps from one moving vehicle to the next, I can accept a plot as insipid as this one.

Jolie makes SALT.  She doesn’t make it into any sort of masterpiece but her commitment to the character, from the numerous stunts she is reported to carry out herself to her intoxicating Russian accent, elevates what would have certainly been a tired rehash of the Bourne films into a similar franchise for the ladies.

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Black Sheep @ The Box Office

Box office experts were estimating a total weekend haul of somewhere between $50 and $60 million for Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION before the weekend started.  It came in at the high end of that estimate but I'm frankly surprised it didn't pull in more considering how everyone how everyone has seemingly been looking forward to this film all summer.  Good word of mouth, and it does have that, should ensure scant declines in the weeks to follow.  It may not have broken any records but Nolan will certainly see INCEPTION go on to become his biggest non-caped crusader earner.  And there is certainly credit due for proving that intelligent blockbusters can find a place in a season where we're all supposed to leave our brains at home.  Be sure to read the Black Sheep INCEPTION review now that you've certainly all seen it.

I know what none of you did see this weekend, THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE.  Thank goodness for Pixar's TOY STORY 3 picking up the weight this summer because, after coming up short last month with PRINCE OF PERSIA, Disney has done it again.  This Jerry Bruckheimer (read: supposedly easy summer sell) production is one of the lowest bows of his career.  It was pretty clear THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE was in trouble when Disney announced on the day of release that tickets would be 2 for 1 through opening weekend.  Anything to get them into the seats, I guess.  Imagine how low the figures would be if they didn't.

A few hot indie titles continued to claw at the Top 10, just barely missing out on the glory.  This week's big success in the touching, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.  The Lisa Cholodenko modern family crowd pleaser added 31 screens and saw its gross increase by 108%, pulling in a stellar $27K per screen average in its second week.  The hilarious indie comedy, CYRUS, is losing a little traction as it expands wider but still pulled in close to $1.1 million, dropping off just 16%.  And THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE slipped by 27% in its second week, after adding 38 screens.  I guess no matter how popular the books are in North America, it is still a stretch to get an audience to a Swedish film.

NEXT WEEK: What is apparently supposed to be the best family film of all time, or so the trailers playing on TV tell me incessantly, RAMONA AND BEEZUS hits 2700 screens.  Am I supposed to know who these people are?  No matter really because I don't have a family to bring to the movies.  I will be taking my weekend with a little SALT instead.  The Angelina Jolie action flick will debut on over 3400 screens.

Source: Box Office Mojo

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