ORIGINAL TEXT (from 6/7/09): Buoyed no doubt by repeat business and premium 3-D ticket prices, Disney/Pixar’s Up lifted past the bona fide surprise hit The Hangover to be the first film of the summer to hold at No. 1 for two straight weeks at the box office. Well, maybe. Early estimates from Hollywood.com Box Office have Up grossing an estimated $44.2 million to The Hangover‘s $43.3 million, a less than $1 mil difference that gives the R-rated comedy a chance to push to the top spot once actual figures are released tomorrow. Regardless of the final numbers, Up‘s estimated total gross of $137 million places it firmly in the upper echelon of Pixar earners.
Even if The Hangover doesn’t pop enough of Up‘s balloons to become No. 1, stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis as well as director Todd Phillips (Old School) have a lot to celebrate. Not only did the film pull in an outstanding “A” CinemaScore rating, the craziest-bachelor-party-ever dude-fest managed to draw in just about as many women as it did men. That bodes well for the film’s staying power through the rest of the month, where its stiffest comedy competition will be the high-concept, ancient times Jack Black/Michael Cera flick Year One in two weeks.
And if Land of the Lost‘s box office fate is anything to go by, Black and Cera should be concerned. Will Ferrell’s high-concept comedy under-performed, grossing just $19.5 million for third place — nowhere near the star’s best opening weekends. Worse yet, the film earned a dismal C+ CinemaScore average; audiences ages 35 to 49, ostensibly the age group that would best remember the original 1970s kids TV series on which the film is based, gave it a D+. Ouch.
My Life in Ruins, star Nia Vardalos’ return to movies after a five-year absence, opened to just $3.2 million on 1,100 screens — which, actually, is slightly better than My Big Fat Greek Wedding‘s first weekend in wide release, but it’s probably best not to expect Greek lightning to strike twice. By contrast, the indie road dramedy Away We Go weathered mixed reviews to bank an estimated $143,000 on just four screens, for an outstanding $36,000 per-screen average.
Meanwhile, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian took fourth place with $14.6 million, a solid 40 percent drop for a $127.3 million three-week total. Star Trek continued its fantastic run, dropping just 33 percent with $8.4 million for fifth place and $222 million overall. Sam Raimi’s horror-fest disappointed again, dropping 54 percent in its second week for a 7th place finish of $7.3 million (its cumulative total is $28.5 million). And Angels & Demons — which slipped to 8th with $6.5 million in U.S. box office for a $116 million stateside total — broke past $400 million in global earnings, making it the highest grossing film worldwide for 2009.
More from EW:
‘The Hangover’ hits a $16.5 mil jackpot on Friday
‘The Hangover’ makes me wonder if I care about kittens more than humans
‘Drag Me to Hell’: Why didn’t it do better?
Maya Rudolph: Brilliant and beautiful in ‘Away We Go’
Box office preview: ‘Hangover,’ ‘Land’ battle for second place
Mini Doc Jensen: ‘Lost’ meets ‘Land of the Lost’
Feel really bad for Will Ferrell, but he really shouldn’t be in kids movies. Rated “R” is his thing. Anchorman, Old School, Talladega Nights.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009/06/07/heidi-pratt-sent-to-hospital-after-being-in-isolation-on-im-a-celebrity/
Holy crap!!! Angels and Demons has made $400 Million worldwide!!!
How is “The Hangover” a “surprise” when everyone has been saying for months that it would be a hit? Not to mention that here in L.A. it has massive, massive amounts of advertising compared to any other film. Kudos to Coop, Ed and Zach – well deserved! But certainly no “surprise.”
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Hangover was hysterical – I laughed from beginning to end, and I am a woman!
“The Hangover” was amazingly funny. And I don’t know why so many “experts” predicted it will come in third this weekend. Just about everyone I know wanted to see this movie and all the Friday evening showings at my local theater were sold out. “Land of the Lost” was not and it once again shows how over-rated Will Ferrell really is. Just like “Semi-Pro,” there was advertising everywhere, Ferrell made tons of guest appearances and, once again, the movie failed. Give it a rest, Mr. Ferrell!!!!
I was hoping “Star Trek” would stay at least #4 so I could make $300M. Doesn’t seem likely now but still the best movie of the summer (and year) so far. And I guess I’ll jump on the bandwagon – Terminator indeed is a flop and hope McG stops getting the keys to franchises.
I still think Will Ferrell is funny as f***, it’s just that his movies generally suck.
Adam: I disagree. Elf was amazing. An instant classic. And Ferrell was brilliant in it. I don’t like the Ferrell movies where he is clearly calling the shots. Benefits from a good director, as does anyone, I guess.
I, too, am mystefied as to why The Hangover is considered a ‘surprise’ hit, considering all of the great advance reviews and buzz. This column also needs an editor – Sam Raimi’s movie is never actually named when it is referred to.
Will Ferrell has always been completely one-note, and it has finally caught up with him. Sort of a latter-day Jim Carrey, but even worse.
glad to see up continue to perform well. the movie is excellent! up and star trek are easily the best 2 movies of the year at this point
I hate it when Greek “lighting” doesn’t strike twice.
Why is The Hangover being declared the “surprise hit of the summer” when every movie critic show and entertainment program has been singing its praises for the past 3 months. Everywhere you turn in entertainment you hear the fanboy battle cry; “it’s the sleeper hit of the summer.” Let’s lower the expectations a little bit until all is said and done. It opened to 17 million friday which should have made it the clear number one this weekend and yet it had big enough drops that it ended up number two. Legs could be a problem for this film as all the hysterics in the world still couldn’t keep this film afloat in the top position. That lofty high mark went to Disney’s Up for a 2nd week.
Land of the Lost is one of the great big Summer misfires in quite some time. Although it appears people on LSD do like it.
http://blog.entertainmenttodayandbeyond.com/
LOL i didn’t even know Angels & Demons was out. D:
Even though Land of the Lost did poorly (come on, it even looked dumb), Year One looks hilarious.