Despite reviews that bordered on the poisonous, Doug Liman’s run of success continued over the weekend when his latest movie, the sci-fi flick Jumper, leapt ahead of the competition to land at number one at the US box office.
The teleportation-based thriller, which reunited Star Wars co-stars Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson, opened – like all new films over the weekend – on Thursday, and so had posted a $33.8 million gross by Sunday night, putting it comfortably ahead of surprise second-place film, Step Up 2 The Streets (and yes, we know there should be a colon in there, but tell that to the filmmakers).
While Jumper is unlikely to repeat the grosses of Liman’s last two movies, The Bourne Identity or Mr & Mrs Smith, it should end up with around $70-80 million and, who knows, may even trouble the $100 million mark.
Out of the four other releases, Step Up 2’s (we’re not going to use its full name; it’s far too embarrassing) opening weekend outstripped its 2006 predecessor over four days, but actually came in under with its three-day gross of $19.66 million. Nevertheless, we’re sure that the urban dance series is now a bona fide franchise – expect Step Up 3 this time next year.
Darker-than-usual kids’ fantasy, The Spiderwick Chronicles, showed once again that not every film in this genre can be a Potter or a Narnia, but its third-place showing with $19.08 million ($21.4 million over four days) is highly respectable, indeed. Now it’s up to word of mouth.
And we’re hoping that word of mouth kicks in on the other new release, the excellent romantic comedy, Definitely Maybe, which didn’t get much love from crowds despite opening on Valentine’s Day. The Ryan Reynolds-starring comedy, which is funny, smart and romantic and possibly the best of its kind in many a year, pulled in only $9.65 million over three days, and $12.8 million over four. Here’s hoping it picks up, because it’s so rare that we see a rom-com that doesn’t make us want to claw our eyes out while watching it.
Speaking of which, last week’s number one, the Matthew McConaughey-Kate Hudson rom-com-cum-action-adventure, Fool’s Gold, dropped down to fourth with a $13 million three-day gross for a $42 million total thus far. It only dropped 39.4%, though, so definitely has a chance of passing $70 million.
Elsewhere, there were tiny drop-offs for the near-unstoppable Juno (now $124 million and counting) and The Bucket List ($81 million), while There Will Be Blood finally drained out of the top 10. Expect it to pop back in there in the next couple of weeks, after Daniel Day-Lewis drinks all the other candidates’ milkshakes in the Best Actor Oscar race.
Oh, and one more thing – and this is quite a sad footnote, this. George A. Romero, the great horror director, saw his latest zombie movie, Diary Of The Dead, limp to an abject opening in limited release. With a weak per-screen average of $5,357 (considering the number of theatres showing the movie; just 42), the well-reviewed zombie flick grossed just $225,000. We’re astonished – we know that Romero’s last movie, Land Of The Dead, didn’t curry favour with fans, but for hardcore horror nuts and geeks to desert one of the true greats leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Let’s hope it finds an audience on DVD, where its premise – the movie is constructed from found footage of a zombie attack, a la Cloverfield – might make more sense.
Next week’s big release is the multiple POV thriller, Vantage Point, while Jack Black’s Be Kind Rewind gets a small opening on just 800 screens. Smart teen comedy Charlie Bartlett also puts himself out there while, if there’s any justice in this world, Larry The Cable Guy’s Witless Protection will be ignored by all and sundry.