Weekend Box Office: Movie-goers move in with THE ROOMMATE to iffy results
It was never going to be a great weekend for movies. In the weakest weekend of the year, the least grossing weekend since September 10 – 12 of 2010, and the second least grossing weekend since October 31 – November 2 of 2008 (wrap your mind around that), movie-goers were treated to new fare that included a shoddy SINGLE WHITE FEMALE retread, a film that’s main draw was that it was executive produced by a famous director, and an indie flick that has already been hailed by Movieline as “the most hated movie of the year.” Is it any surprise the returns were dismal? Oh, also, some sort of sporting event was going on, too.
In this veritable crapstorm of bad choices, THE ROOMMATE reigned supreme, coming in at first place with $15.6 million. Congratulations? If anything, the film gave people a good scare – and by “a good scare,” I mean a kick to the head regarding the holes in MPAA code. Over at Cinematical, Scott Weinberg turned his rage at some surprising anti-kitten violence in the film into a well-thought out challenge to the MPAA in regards to including animal violence in their ratings. If crappy horror movies can spawn change in the system, well, thank God for crappy horror movies. Did you see THE ROOMMATE this weekend? What were your thoughts on it?
In second place, SANCTUM (executive produced by James Cameron, in case you missed it in every single ad the film ran) made $9.2 million. I’m hard-pressed to get jazzed for any cave-exploration film that isn’t THE DESCENT, but that’s just me.
There were, of course, some bright spots in the box office, the least of which being the outstanding performance of indie COLD WEATHER. Showing in just one theater, the film pulled in $15,100, giving it a per theater average over twice as high as any other film in the lineup. Good indie film is not dead. In somewhat related news, the heinous and horrible WAITING FOR FOREVER opened in three theaters and made just over $10K. I’m flummoxed as to who saw this movie, especially after its overwhelmingly negative reviews and the nauseating blanket marketing of it that covered every bus shelter in Los Angeles.
Think I hate everything? Well, this week, I sort of do. However, the one recent release I took in during this week of wacky catch-up-from-Sundance time was NO STRINGS ATTACHED, a dirty and wacky rom-com that I found myself guffawing at like a challenged donkey. Still hanging tight in the top ten? Three Best Picture nominees – BLACK SWAN, THE KING’S SPEECH, and TRUE GRIT. That’s enough to make me forget that YOGI BEAR is closing in on the $100 million mark.
What did you see this weekend? Am I being too harsh? Give it to me straight.
Source Box Office Mojo
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