Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.
It took no one by surprise, but “The Incredible Hulk” landed at number one on the box office charts, beating out last week’s winner,”Kung Fu Panda.” It raked in a better than expected $54.5 million, although that is less than what its five year-old predecessor did. The new “Hulk” will most likely go on to best the previous movie’s total box office on the strength of word-of-mouth. “Hulk” received mostly positive reviews, which is a definite improvement over the critics’ reaction to the Ang Lee version.
M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” was welcomed to a $30.5 million opening, quite a change of pace from “Lady in the Water.” Don’t expect stunning numbers in the following weeks though. M. Night movies are always thrillers with a big twist at the end, and when the twist is revealed, people don’t want to go see the movie if they’ve already heard about it. Plus, the reviews were downright dreadful from both critics and audiences alike. Movie rating websites have been flooded with negative feedback about the movie all weekend long.
In other news, “Panda” and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” did as expected in their second week, dropping 44.2% and 57.3%, respectively. “Sex and the City” has been falling quickly down the charts, losing 53.9% in is third week and placing $5 million below the movie ahead of it, the fourth-week “Indiana Jones.” “Iron Man” continues to stun at the box office, dropping just one place and 24.8%. To see the full chart, click here.
Next week will feature the clash of the comedic titans: Mike Myers v.s. Steve Carell. Myers’ “The Love Guru” has been plagued by a lack of interest from the public; excessive plugging on “American Idol” and the MTV Movie Awards was more repulsive than intriguing. Carell’s “Get Smart,” on the other hand, has utilized smart promotions in movie theaters and commercials. Plus, Anne Hathaway and Dwayne Johnson are definite draws. The final nail in the “The Love Guru” coffin is that it is opening in 2,700 theaters, more than 1,000 less theaters in which “Get Smart” will be playing in.
Expected Top 5:
1) “Get Smart”- $40 million
2) “The Incredible Hulk”
3)”The Love Guru”- $25 million
4)”Kung Fu Panda”
5)”The Happening”
