“The Dark Knight Rises” Continues to Crush the Competition

After quickly disposing of The Watch and Step Up Revolution last weekend, The Dark Knight Rises took out two more new releases as it crushed the competition with $36.4 million in its third weekend. That brought its domestic total to a big $354 million and I see at least another $80-100 million to come… Unfortunately with Knight continuing to do so well, the remake of Total Recall and the third film in the Wimpy Kid series faltered. Opening to $26 million, the uber-expensive remake of Recall with Collin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel landed under expectations and will have a real hard time making even half its production cost back. (I’m not surprised. I saw the film and give it a “C+” grade. It’s a humorless pointless remake that isn’t even fun or campy like the original. Beckinsale does kick some serious ass though and Farrell is pretty delish)… Luckily for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the family film had a low production cost and its opening of $14.7 million wasn’t too bad. It just isn’t likely to match the success of its predecessors…. For more on all these numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here and check out the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 1 The Dark Knight Rises WB $36,440,000 -41.3% 4,242 -162 $8,590 $354,638,000 $250 3
2 N Total Recall (2012) Sony $26,000,000 – 3,601 – $7,220 $26,000,000 $125 1
3 N Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Fox $14,700,000 – 3,391 – $4,335 $14,700,000 $22 1
4 2 Ice Age: Continental Drift Fox $8,400,000 -37.1% 3,542 -327 $2,372 $131,863,000 – 4
5 3 The Watch Fox $6,350,000 -50.2% 3,168 – $2,004 $25,363,000 $68 2
6 5 Ted Uni. $5,479,000 -25.5% 2,767 -362 $1,980 $203,414,000 $50 6
7 4 Step Up Revolution Sum. $5,300,000 -54.8% 2,606 +39 $2,034 $23,097,000 $33 2
8 6 The Amazing Spider-Man Sony $4,300,000 -35.8% 2,425 -735 $1,773 $250,640,000 $230 5
9 7 Brave BV $2,890,000 -32.9% 2,110 -441 $1,370 $223,324,000 $185 7
10 8 Magic Mike WB $1,380,000 -47.3% 1,202 -873 $1,148 $110,894,000 $7 6

A Little Advice for Hollywood…

With news that Hollywood is amping up remakes of Conan the Barbarian starring a random from Baywatch, a 5th Fast & Furious movie, a new Hawaii Five-O series and another go round with Alvin and the Chipmunks, it’s become abundantly clear that the entertainment world is in need of some serious new ideas. Now, for every reboot that works like Star Trek, there’s a massive failure like Land of the Lost. So, I think La La Land needs to be a little more selective in its projects and the stars they throw together hoping for a hit. With that said, here’s a couple tidbits of advice that might help you out, Hollywood…

~Stop trying to make these people movie stars: Jessica Biel, Dane Cook, and sad as I am to say it Jennifer Aniston. Jen, I love ya, but it’s time to return to the small screen like your other best friends. I don’t think any of us will be able to suffer through The Bounty Hunter…

~ Don’t let the success of one Jersey Shore lead to mass production of more reality spinoffs with its “stars”. It’s hard enough to handle Snookie, The Situation, etc. once a week…  Seriously, MTV, you are to blame for Speidi, Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge. ‘Nuff Said.

~Speaking of spinoffs, stop with all the crime procedurals spinoffs. We have 3 CSI’s, 3 Law & Orders, 2 NCIS‘s and now a second Criminal Minds is on the way… enough is enough.

~Don’t re-release Avatar in the summer. Hasn’t this cash cow Pocahontas in space rip off sucked the public’s bank account dry already? Is the 12 minutes of extra footage really gonna be that amazing?

~Stop with the corporate cookie cutter committee movie making already. It only produces results like The Wolfman, The Ugly Truth and Cop Out.

~Don’t go forward with the proposed Gilligan’s Island movie? I mean really? How on Earth can that work?

~Cast Betty White in everything. She rescued The Proposal, is a national treasure and will be the oldest host of SNL in May! The kids even love her.

~ Find the original and daring ideas for new TV shows that push the envelope like Glee, Damages, Nurse Jackie, and Lost.

~ Enough with Kristen Stewart. Not only is she a bad actress (have you seen the god awful Twilight films?), but she is a just a pill on talk shows and the red carpet. She seems ungrateful for her success and I just don’t get the appeal. Also, she clearly has no box office weight outside of the Twilight series (witness her box office duds The Yellow Hankerchief and Adventureland, etc.)

And there you have it, just a few suggestions for the future of Hollywood. Do you agree? What else would you recommend? Sound off below.