Limitless leads a Lackluster Weekend

Perhaps it was the rain, the impending war, or March Madness that made is such a lackluster weekend at the Box Office. However, I blame the lackluster new releases for another down weekend at the movies. Opening best of the three new entries was Bradley Cooper’s ridiculous “take a pill and all your problems will be solved” drama Limitless (my grade: C) which took in a decent $19 million holding off Rango in its third week and Battle LA which dropped a big 59% in week two. Coming in fourth was the best reviewed film of the new movies, Matthew McConaughy’s The Lincoln Lawyer, (I’m seeing it later today and will update my grade later) which grabbed $13.4 million while the utterly dreadful homophobic offensive and plain unfunny new “comedy” Paul (my grade: F) rounded out the top five with $13.1 million…. There was good news farther down the chart as the wonderful art house release Jane Eyre (my grade: A-) which grabbed a big per screen average ($18,385) to land in the top 20 despite only being in 26 theatres…. For more 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	N	Limitless	Rela.	$19,000,000	-	2,756	-	$6,894	$19,000,000	$27	1
2	2	Rango	Par.	$15,315,000	-32.2%	3,843	-80	$3,985	$92,577,000	$135	3
3	1	Battle: Los Angeles	Sony	$14,600,000	-59.0%	3,417	-	$4,273	$60,602,000	$70	2
4	N	The Lincoln Lawyer	LGF	$13,400,000	-	2,707	-	$4,950	$13,400,000	$40	1
5	N	Paul	Uni.	$13,155,000	-	2,802	-	$4,695	$13,155,000	$40	1
6	3	Red Riding Hood	WB	$7,255,000	-48.2%	3,030	-	$2,394	$25,962,000	$42	2
7	4	The Adjustment Bureau	Uni.	$5,932,000	-48.9%	2,660	-187	$2,230	$48,779,000	$62	3
8	5	Mars Needs Moms	BV	$5,317,000	-23.1%	3,117	-	$1,706	$15,401,000	$150	2
9	6	Beastly	CBS	$3,260,000	-35.1%	1,810	-149	$1,801	$22,245,000	$17	3
10	7	Hall Pass	WB (NL)	$2,600,000	-48.1%	1,905	-650	$1,365	$39,590,000	$36	4

Leapin’ Lizards~ Johnny Depp’s Rango rules the Box Office

Apparently, Johnny Depp can rule the box office in any shape or form, say as a lizard, a mad hatter or a pirate… however, not so much as Angelina Jolie’s potential lover. After suffering the disappointment of a lackluster showing from his last film The Tourist with Jolie, Depp is back on top with his new animated film Rango in which he plays a lizard, or a gecko to be more precise, as the movie took in a big $38 million over the weekend. That easily led the way despite a decent showing from the sci-fi romantic thriller The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt which nabbed second place and nearly $21 million. That was an especially good showing considering the film has been on the release schedule 4 times over the last year or so (never a good sign). Also opening was the Vanessa Hudgens/Alex Pettyfer romance Beastly in third with a better than expected $10 million, and the comedy Take Me Home Tonight which tanked in 11th place garnering only $3.5 million. Take a look at the new box office top ten below and for more info, head to Box Office Mojo here.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Rango	Par.	$38,000,000	-	3,917	-	$9,701	$38,000,000	$135	1
2	N	The Adjustment Bureau	Uni.	$20,945,000	-	2,840	-	$7,375	$20,945,000	-	1
3	N	Beastly	CBS	$10,115,000	-	1,952	-	$5,182	$10,115,000	$17	1
4	1	Hall Pass	WB (NL)	$9,015,000	-33.4%	2,950	-	$3,056	$27,001,000	$36	2
5	2	Gnomeo and Juliet	BV	$6,912,000	-48.4%	2,984	-53	$2,316	$83,694,000	-	4
6	3	Unknown	WB	$6,620,000	-47.3%	2,913	-130	$2,273	$53,129,000	$30	3
7	8	The King’s Speech	Wein.	$6,501,000	-11.4%	2,240	-146	$2,902	$123,817,000	$15	15
8	5	Just Go With It	Sony	$6,500,000	-38.3%	2,920	-624	$2,226	$88,200,000	$80	4
9	4	I Am Number Four	BV	$5,702,000	-48.2%	2,903	-253	$1,964	$46,440,000	$60	3
10	6	Justin Bieber: Never Say Never	Par.	$4,325,000	-53.9%	2,254	-556	$1,919	$68,876,000	$13	4

Johnny Depp is a Lizard!

Ok, that headline is a little deceiving… Johnny Depp is actually a chameleon… in his next movie, that is. While Depp is currently in theatres in the underwhelming and underperforming (yet somehow Golden Globe nominated) film The Tourist, you can see him next getting all animated for Rango. The film centers on a chameleon and would-be-hero in a western town that must step up to evil doers and save his critter folk friends. The film is helmed by his Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski and will hit theatres on March 4, 2011. For more on the film, head here and check out the new trailer below.

Rango