Monday Movie Box Office Recap....

So this weekend was a bit bizarre for me. Friday night, I found myself at a party, rubbing elbows with the likes of Mark Ronson, Q-Tip, Mike Meyers, Zack Posen, Heather Graham, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco and Justin Theroux, to name a few. It was a birthday party for a friend on this amazing roof deck in Chelsea, where the views were not the best, but the weather + deck, added a very nice ending to a beyond stressful week. I wish I could tell you something crazy happened, but I believe the craziest thing that did happen is a friend and I breaking into an apartment to use the potty. The celebs were actually the more behaved members of the group, since a good amount of the crowd were the professional party hoppers. I tell this story not to name drop, but to just embrace how different it is to live in New York City and see things most people do not have the chance to. It's also nice to know that celebs can just go out with us commoners and enjoy themselves just as much, in fact sometimes even more. Other than that, I spent the weekend watching some screeners of movies, none that were good enough to mention, and falling in love with Annie Hall once again. Let’s find out what the rest of the country was doing and check out the box office totals.

This weekend pinned Universal’s remake of “The Incredible Hulk” and M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening”, against each other. This would be the first time this summer that two sci-fi/ action based blockbusters were fighting for the number one spot. My predictions came true and ”The Hulk” came in first place, while The Happening only managed to win a bronze medal in this week’s battle of the box office stars, with Kung Fu Panda maintaining its grip on the box office coming in second place. In regards to the “Hulk” vs. “Happening”, not sure which one proved a better movie or just better advertising? “Hulk” first had to fight off that “didn’t this movie come out like 5 years ago?” talk about the Eric Bana version.. We were bombarded last week with “Hulk” trailers, which featured the successful Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr., himself. We were also “informed” that Marvel’s other super heroes, like Captain America, might be found in the “Hulk”, since Universal and Marvel wants to make sure that all their super hero movies now link together so the franchises can continue and continue. Each movie has at least one anticipated sequel, but the gossip mill is saying that star of “Hulk”Edward Norton was not happy with the movieand has yet to sign on for the sequels, unlike the director and the rest of the cast. Shyamalan’s “The Happening” fared well considering the large amounts of bad press the movie received and the even larger amounts of poor reviews. The movie received so much negative attention that the director himself came out before it was released and said heintentionally made it in proper “B movie fashion”, which seems like a little of a cover up to me. Anyways, “Zohan” came in fourth place and “Indiana Jones” came in fifth, to round out the top five. “Sex and the City” and “What Happens in Vegas” are still proving strong competitors and “Iron Man” is still bringing in millions each weekend, even though it’s already been in theaters for over a month.


Here is the rest of the Box Office Top ten, courtesy of Box Office Mojo.
1. The Incredible Hulk - $54.5 million
2. Kung Fu Panda - $34 million
3. The Happening - $30.5 million
4. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan - $16.4 million
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $13.5 million
6. Sex and the City: The Movie - $10 million
7. Iron Man - $5 million
8. The Strangers - $4 million
9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - $3 million
10. What Happens in Vegas - $1.7 million

Next week’s box office battle is going to be incredibly interesting and will pit two of the highest grossing comedians, Mike Meyers and Steve Carrell against each other for the first time. I am going to break down the battle on Wednesday of this week!

ENJOY!