ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Marley Still #1 and Races Past $100M Comments

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Marley Still #1 and Races Past $100M

by Gitesh Pandya | January 04, 2009

Summary

Moviegoers caught up on those holiday films they didn't see over Christmas weekend as the top seven films finished in the exact same slots as last weekend with the dog drama Marley & Me leading the pack once again and smashing through the $100M mark too. Most holdovers in the top ten saw drops of 20-35% as Friday's semi-holiday gave ticket buyers some extra time off. Plus with no new films entering wide release attention remained on the assortment of star-driven films already in the multiplexes. Back to Article

(1-21 of 21 posts) | Reply

tomwaitsjr writes:
on Jan 04 2009 07:21 PM

I wonder if Revolutionary Road is going to win the "feeling suicidal" prize. . .

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 07:40 PM

In reply to this comment (#2229579)
LOL yes it was very hard to sit through, but I still thought it was a very good film. I also REALLY liked The Wrestler, it will probably go down as a "sports" classic along the lines of ROCKY. I am going to try to see Grand Torino and Frost/Nixon this week. Also can you really call Valkyrie a box office success?!? Sure the film didn't tank like some expected it to, but I don't think you can call it a success. Like the films budget was around the 80 to 90 million and UA spent 70 million on ads, so they roughly spent 150-160 million on a film that will only make probably around 85 million in the US, and don't studios only get like half of the ticket sales? I am sure they will make money world wide, but I kind of think the film is still a failure box office wise in the US. It was an actual good movie though besides some corny scenes (the hail hitler scene), some corny lines, some lack of character development for side characters like his wife in the film, and the film was shot digitally so it ended up not having a very good look- I am still not sold on Digital, the only person I think who knows how to use it is David Fincher and maybe Robert Rodriguez.

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ARTaylor writes:
on Jan 04 2009 08:05 PM

Saw Yes Man. Funny but certainly no Ace Ventura or Liar Liar. Probably will see Valkyrie. What else would I see since this month looks pretty slow. Paul Blart is about the only thing I think looks interesting in any fashion.

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ledawg1138 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 08:19 PM

"Marley & Me" is number 1 at the box-office. "Marley & Me" is number 1 at the box-office. "Bedtime Stories" is 2 at the box-office. "Bedtime Stories" is 2 at the box-office. Ughh, deja vu. Ughh, deja vu.

Dudes and dudettes, I can't believe "Marley & Me" dared to use the lamest tagline ever.

"You'll laugh... you'll cry."

C'mon! It's better than "His karma is huge" from "The Love Guru".

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Utopian Evolution writes:
on Jan 04 2009 08:19 PM

funny how they show a picture of Eva Mendes in The Spirit and mention nothing about it ... haha ... that movie was horrible anyways. I still have yet to see Marley and Me ... though I don't think I will. Valkyrie I think is the only one i'll catch this weekend ... bleh

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thereign writes:
on Jan 04 2009 09:14 PM

Thanks for the reassurance on my sanity levels, Utopian...I thought I was going crazy, seeing a picture of Eva Mendes from The Spirit, but seeing no mention of the flick(which was indeed abominable).

Whew!

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nogard46 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 09:50 PM

you got it all figured out huh? Lets call UA/MGM and tell them they have to hire some guy on RT name jokerboy to run their finances from now on.

Valkyries got legs and it will ending up making close to $100 mil in the US. I have no idea how you came up with $70 mil in ads, did they run like a half an hour Superbowl Ad or something that I wasnt aware of. With a name recognition like Cruise, a movie doesnt need ads, all he has to do is stay sane and do the typical talk show circuit and its a guaranteed win. And with his international fame, the movie will do great overseas.

speaking of legs, man Twilights doing gangbusters at the theatres! I told everyone it was going to be huge! And with the movie releases slowing down, watch for Twilight to pick up even more viewership. Its what happened to Titanic.

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nogard46 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 09:55 PM

yikes the Spirit flopped so bad the writer couldn't even come up with anything to write about the Eva Mendez photo! Well atleast it didint bomb as bad as Delgo.

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TheCaptain of TeamLoyalty writes:
on Jan 04 2009 10:09 PM

Good to see that people are going to see Marley and ME.

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wordweaver12 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 11:08 PM

Just for a second, let me shake off every layer of maturity on my skin, climb down my moral horse, adopt a more playful persona and say that.........

...........................MARLEY & ME IS NUMBER 1 AGAIN SO BRAD PITT CAN
S U C K IT and S U C K IT HARD!!!

Thanks!!

:-)

(Reply to this)

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 11:30 PM

In reply to this comment (#2229960)
Well thank you Nogard, I am very flattered. I forgot where I read that it said they spent 70 million in ads (slashfilm I think), and it is perfectly understandable. The movie has nothing but bad buzz up until people saw it and said it was an actual good film. UA and MGM knew that they had to start convince people and fast, and they did most of that convincing at the last minute of course. They were scared that Cruise's name couldn't sell the movie and well they should have been. People love to hate the guy and lets be honest a lot of people do which to me is unfair, and UA did his lash staring vehicle Lions for Lambs which TANKED at the box office despite also having Robert Redford and Merryl Streep. They had to really convince people it would be good, and I think they did because the last minute ads and the trailers were good- remember the first trailer from way back that everyone made fun of because it was so bad. I am not sure it will make 100 million but I think it will get around that but I just really think it will hit 85 to 90 mil. Also don't forget how much they will have to spend in ads over seas. So a movie with Cruise now a days definitely needs good ads to sell.

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wordweaver12 writes:
on Jan 04 2009 11:43 PM

In reply to this comment (#2230181)
I feel bad for Tom though. I mean, he's not the greatest actor in the world and I might not agree with some of his views but he doesn't deserve the resentment he has been subjected too.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Jan 05 2009 12:13 AM

In reply to this comment (#2230200)
Oh I do to totally and I think he gets way too much heat. I think he is fine in Valkyrie for the most part even though there were some laughable scenes like the hail hitler but I blame that a little on direction for not changing that scene or some lines Cruise had to deliver. Its like his role in Last Samurai where he is fine but has some bad moments in the film. He is a fine actor, I don't love him but I think he's good- I do LOVE Collateral and Magnolia though.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Jan 05 2009 12:23 AM

and I thought Minority Report was really good.

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wordweaver12 writes:
on Jan 05 2009 01:12 AM

@ Jokerboy, LOL @ the laughable hail Hitler scene...lol!!

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niall1 writes:
on Jan 05 2009 07:46 AM

In reply to this comment (#2230234)
k tom cruise can be a GREAT actor when the material suits him..born on the fourth of july is a great movie and HE basically was that movie, eyes wide shut, vanilla sky, minority report, magnolia like jokerboy said, and even something like risky business..imo, he can really kill it in a role and he takes risks..you never see a pure star like him look for films like eyes wide shut to do or even vanilla sky..but he always takes risks with his roles and most of the time hes either good or great but at least he takes the risk of playing a nazi with an eye patch and playing the role with no attempt at an accent..its BRAVE..id like to see any other actor try and do that and not be scared of the backlash..

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Jan 05 2009 10:36 AM

" but at least he takes the risk of playing a nazi with an eye patch and playing the role with no attempt at an accent..its BRAVE..id like to see any other actor try and do that and not be scared of the backlash.. "

Yah, telling Tom Cruise to try an accent other than American is beneath contempt. However, some day, there will be another bold actor who will not need to use an accent, like Marceau Marceau.

IF he were really brave, he'd have put a pirate skull and crossbones on the eyepatch, maybe even staple gunned a live parrot to his shoulder.

Tom Cruise cares not of Backlash. Why? Because he's proud to be an ***. What other then a true macho man runs around TV insulting psych patients and depressed pregnant women. How brave of him. . .

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Jan 05 2009 11:50 AM

Cruise is the man, glad to see it doing all right for him. Nice to see all four of the indi films doing well, I really want to see them all and will get the chance to see Gran Torino this weekend when it expandes. Going to Yes Man wed. as it is the only thing left in town that intrests me that I haven't seen.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Jan 05 2009 12:10 PM

In reply to this comment (#2230677)
Yeah I liked Eyes Wide Shut, I thought he was good in that- the only reason I think that movie gets so much hate is because it was Kubrick's last film and it wasn't great (it was a little boring at times). Yeah he was alright in Vanilla Sky, I think that film gets too much crap but I down right hated the ending- but I loved the scenes where it had Tom Cruise wearing that mask.

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vitajex writes:
on Jan 05 2009 01:27 PM

"The Spirit" came in at #13, with $3,270,000 for the weekend. Total gross of $17.7M so far.

I kinda saw it coming.

Interesting point from an article I read last week about Disney pulling out of the Narnia trilogy:
How many people think 'Prince Caspian' would have cleaned up this Christmas? Disney really dropped the ball this time...

(Reply to this)

moviebuff#1 writes:
on Jan 06 2009 09:41 AM

I totally agree. People are walking in happy because Leo and Kate reunited but are going to actually walk out feeling miserable, dark and just flat out depressed.

(Reply to this)

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