Liam Neeson, Wolf and Worthington Conquerer – Biff Bam Pop’s Box Office Wrap-up Report, Weekend of January 27th, 2012
A solid weekend for Liam Neeson, a most unlikely action hero, while two films underperformed, just not exactly how I expected. Here’s how things turned out at the box office this weekend.
The Grey, featuring Liam Neeson vs a pack of wolves, topped the box office with $20 million, exactly as predicted. It’s slightly lower than his other staring roles in action flicks (Taken and Unknown), but the results are nothing to scoff at. We’ll see if The Grey can stay strong going into next weekend.
Debuting in third place with 11.7 million is One For The Money, staring Katherine Heigl. It’s a bit of an unexpected showing, as I thought the film would make about three million less. However, the film, based on a bestseller by Janet Evanovich definitely found a bit of an audience, at least this week. I wouldn’t expect it to hold up or find an audience in the coming weeks though, so it will be interesting to see what route Heigl’s career takes after this. Is she someone that can still open a film?
The final debut this weekend comes from Man On A Ledge, staring Sam Worthington. The film seriously underperformed, barely showing up in fifth place with with an abysmal $8.3 million. The film has plenty of advertising and Worthington should be a bankeable star, but it seems as though he’s not the draw in his other films (ie Clash Of The Titans); special effects are. Look for Man On A Ledge on VOD or DVD shelves sooner than later.
As for the rest of the top five, Underworld: Awakening dropped to second place, bringing in $12.5 million, just two million less than predicted, while Red Tails landed in fourth with $10.4 million.
So, to recap, here were our predictions:
1) The Grey – $20.5 million
2) Underworld: Awakening – 14.5 million
3) Man On A Ledge – $13 million
4) Red Tails – $12.5 million
5) One For The Money – $8 million
And here’s how the weekend turned out:
1) The Grey – $20 million
2) Underworld: Awakening – 12.5 million
3) One For The Money – $11.7 million
4) Red Tails – $10.4 million
5) Man On A Ledge – $8.3 million
Next week sees the release of the Daniel Radcliffe-staring horror film The Woman In Black, and Chronicle, a new superhero flick. Check back on Friday to see how we predict those movies will debut!
Farewell Star Wars: The Old Republic, I knew you all too well.
Oh Star Wars: The Old Republic…How I anxiously awaited your arrival. I bought your pre-order and waited for that magical day when I could download you and dive deep into your world. And dive I did, playing for hours and hours and enjoying myself while doing so. But something happened on my way from level 1 to level 24…
Gentlemen Broncos in Saturday at the Movies
Gentlemen Broncos is one of those awesome sci-fi movies about science fiction that is simply overlooked. The trial of a young unknown author, the plagiarism of his greatest work, good vs. evil, battle stags and yeast wars; YUP. Struggling sci-fi writers, this is a movie dedicated to you.
Like other Hess films (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) Gentlemen Broncos is non-descript, with a weird worn out kitsch character treatment; and this one is really weird – like, weird in a way that will make you afraid to use hand cream.
But if like me, you have ever romanticized the life of a successful writer or struggled to write a story; if you’ve voraciously read yellow TOR paperbacks; if you remain obsessively loyal to the campy origins of sci fi, you’re probably going to love Gentlemen Broncos.
Now Hear This: The Fine Art of Sampling
I love doing a bit of digging when I hear a track I love, or discover a new artist who excites me. Something that always blows me away is sampling in music. I love that an artist can hear one song, and then somehow reinvent it as another.
It might be a little premature to say, but I think that “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye featuring Kimbra is going to be the track we all remember from 2012 – like Adele’s “Set Fire To The Rain” in 2011, or The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” from 1997.
Liam Neeson vs Sam Worthington vs…Katherine Heigl – Biff Bam Pop’s Box Office Predictions, Weekend of January 27th, 2012
Liam Neeson returns in another action flick, Sam Worthington tries to prove his innocence and Katherine Heigl goes brunette – it’s an interesting grouping of new film at the box office this weekend, and I’m fairly certain one of them will unseat last week’s champ from the top spot. Here are our predictions:
