Monday Movie Box Office Recap - Labor Day edition....

Surprise, Labor Day weekend was quite slow for box office totals letting Tropic Thunder managed to remain at the top for the third week in a row. It was followed by newcomer Babylon A.D. and The Dark Knight came in third with a little under ten million, bringing its box office total to just over $500 million and a new record for the box office history books. As of now, this movie could come close or shatter Titanic’s record for $600 million. The House Bunny and Traitor also faired nicely even with the lackluster numbers at the box office.


I finally caught Pineapple Express this weekend, which finds itself in ninth place, and I have to say I thought it was truly hysterical. It successful blurred the lines between stoner comedy and 80’s cop/action/druggie movie. Ironically, I also caught Hard to Kill for the first time this weekend and it made me appreciate “Express” even more. Personally, I need to be entertained or educated while watching a film and this movie was straight up entertainment. Car chases, explosions, weed paranoia, corrupt cops, slacker losers, ninjas and a cursing Ed Begley Jr.! Really there isn’t much more you can ask for from the movie studios nowadays. In a weird way, I found the almost clicheness of the film refreshing. It reminded me of buddy/crime flicks like Tango & Cash, The Big Lebowski and even Die Hard.
Let’s not get it twisted the premise, characters and events in this movie are ridiculous, but that’s what makes it amazing. When a film jumps the shark within the first 10 minutes, my hats off to it. I found it fresher than “Tropic Thunder” which I also liked and I thought the breakout actors had much more fleshed out roles in this film. Danny McBride, as always is a scene stealer and James Franco always succeeds as an affable stoner. Seth Rogen was like Dan Ackroyd and John Goodman’s first born in this film and Craig Robinson is finally given the screen time he deserves in a good movie I really can’t find a flaw with it. If you like movies that make you laugh and don’t explain how people can survive multiple explosions, you will LOVE Pineapple Express.

Here is the rest of the Box Office Top ten, courtesy of Box Office Mojo.
1. Tropic Thunder - $11.5 million
2. Babylon A.D. - $9.6 million
3. The Dark Knight - $8.6 million
4. The House Bunny - $8.3 million
5. Traitor - $7.8 million
6. Death Race - $6.3 million
7. Disaster Movie - $5.8 million
8. Mamma Mia! - $4.4 million
9. Pineapple Express - $3.5 million
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - $2.8 million

And lastly, some sad movie news. "King of the Voiceovers" Don LaFontaine has passed away at the age of 68. He died from complications to an illness he was suffering and his survived by his wife and children.