"National Treasure" shines at crowded box office
Garondo Marondo
office for the second time this year on Sunday with "National
Treasure: Book of Secrets," a sequel to the biggest movie of his
career.
The action-adventure led a crowded field of high-powered newcomers to
sell an estimated $45.5 million worth of tickets since opening Friday,
distributor Walt Disney Pictures said.
The three-day sum, which was in line with expectations, compares with
a $35 million launch for 2004's "National Treasure," which went on to
make $173 million. Cage spent two weeks at No. 1 in February with
"Ghost Rider," which started with $45 million on its way to $116
million.
Last weekend's champion, the Will Smith sci-fi thriller "I Am Legend,"
slipped to No. 2 with $34.2 million, taking the 10-day haul for the
Warner Bros. release to $137.5 million.
The Twentieth Century Fox kids movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks," was
also down one spot, to No. 3 with $29 million, and a 10-day total of
$84.7 million.
New releases took four of the next five places, but none cracked the
$10 million mark: the fact-based political comedy "Charlie Wilson's
War" at No. 4 with $9.6 million, the Johnny Depp musical "Sweeney
Todd" at No. 5 with $9.35 million, the Hilary Swank romance "P.S. I
Love You" at No. 6 with a modest $6.5 million, and the musical biopic
spoof "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" at No. 8 with a disappointing
$4.1 million.
Additionally, the teen comedy "Juno" rose one place to No. 10 in its
third weekend of limited release with $3.4 million. The Fox
Searchlight release, starring Canadian actress Ellen Page, has earned
$6.4 million to date.
Along with the bloody musical adaptation "Sweeney Todd" and "Charlie
Wilson's War," which stars Oscar laureates Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts
and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a stranger-than-fiction tale of
political intrigue, "Juno" is an early awards-season favorite.
Walt Disney Pictures is a unit of Walt Disney Co. Warner Bros.
Pictures, which also released "P.S. I Love You," is a unit of Time
Warner Inc. Fox and Fox Searchlight are units of News Corp.
"Sweeney Todd" was released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount
Pictures, both units of Viacom Inc. "Charlie Wilson's War" was
released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co's NBC
Universal. "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" was released by Columbia
Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Eric Beech)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071223/film_nm/boxoffice_dc;_ylt=AqIczFgCHU97dmhtx8CBuntxFb8C
moviePig
Wow. Steep dollar-drop for I AM LEGEND. Less-than-compelling w.o.m.
you'd have to figure. It'll be interesting to see whether BOOK OF
SECRETS does similarly, or, follows its predecessor's strong multi-
week stretch against a tide of tepid reviews (...from critics who'd
forgotten how to recognize fun, imo).
--
- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com
Garondo Marondo
However AM LEGEND did perform above average all week. Personally, I
won't see it because of the dog.
nick
>
> - Show quoted text -
I don't like seeing animals die in movies either though I'll probably
fit in an I Am Legend showing somewhere down the line.
The success of National Treasure: Book of Secrets took me by surprise
because the first one wasn't that good. I didn't think it was the
kind of thing that had a built-in audience. But maybe there's an
audience out there for unironic square movies that Hollywood hasn't
done a good job of tapping into, and no one plays eccentric everyman
likeability better than Nicholas Cage.
moviePig
(Re LEGEND, it's no spoiler you guys haven't stated to say that you
don't "see" the dog...) NATIONAL TREASURE wasn't that good... but it
didn't suck bad, and. importantly, sent you home with as crowd-
pleasing an ending as Hollywood formula allows. I was pleasantly
surprised, and happy to recommend it to all my friends who can't stand
the movies I "really like". Naturally, though, the sequel has less
opportunity for that 'pleasant surprise'...
(Who else plays Sincere, Eccentric, Everyman? Doesn't Cage have a
copyright?)
Derek Janssen
>>
>>The success of National Treasure: Book of Secrets took me by surprise
>>because the first one wasn't that good. I didn't think it was the
>>kind of thing that had a built-in audience. But maybe there's an
>>audience out there for unironic square movies that Hollywood hasn't
>>done a good job of tapping into, and no one plays eccentric everyman
>>likeability better than Nicholas Cage.
> NATIONAL TREASURE wasn't that good... but it
> didn't suck bad, and. importantly, sent you home with as crowd-
> pleasing an ending as Hollywood formula allows. I was pleasantly
> surprised, and happy to recommend it to all my friends who can't stand
> the movies I "really like". Naturally, though, the sequel has less
> opportunity for that 'pleasant surprise'...
>
> (Who else plays Sincere, Eccentric, Everyman? Doesn't Cage have a
> copyright?)
The first movie only existed because Ron Howard hadn't done his DaVinci
Code movie yet, and even a knockoff seemed ripe for the taking.
By accident or design, it turned out to be even MORE fun than its
progenitor for not taking itself seriously, and throwing the codes and
cliffhangers at the audience for a "Why the heck not?"--And ended up
being so harmlessly PG-safe, the kids got hooked on it, and it became
Disney's *other* new hope for a family-friendly Bruck-buster franchise...
I had one 9-yo. relative who was lining up to see it, and watched the
trailer insisting on finding out whether Comic-Relief Hacker Guy was
back in the story.
Derek Janssen (it's Disney, take it for granted that they don't mess
with sequel franchises)
eja...@verizon.net
nick
Something Meant to Be Funny Everytime He Opens His Mouth. I have a
third grade nephew who's enthused about seeing the sequel so I'll be
catching it some time this Christmas season. As family friendly
viewing, it holds more promise than Alvin and the Chipmunks.
nick
knows how to pull that stuff off and really does have an old school
old style movie star rapport with his audience, even in something as
inconsequential as Ghost Rider (I mean, try to imagine National
Treasure with, oh, Kevin Costner). You can feel it when you see his
movies at the theater with a big audience (which wasn't the case with
Wicker Man, which had about two people in attendance). But I can see
why Pirates of the Caribbean is franchise fodder but something as
playfully escapist as NT, like I said, I'm surprised at the box office
numbers.
Derek Janssen
>>(Re LEGEND, it's no spoiler you guys haven't stated to say that you
>>don't "see" the dog...) NATIONAL TREASURE wasn't that good... but it
>>didn't suck bad, and. importantly, sent you home with as crowd-
>>pleasing an ending as Hollywood formula allows. I was pleasantly
>>surprised, and happy to recommend it to all my friends who can't stand
>>the movies I "really like". Naturally, though, the sequel has less
>>opportunity for that 'pleasant surprise'...
>
> I did find it's squareness appealing, mainly because Nicholas Cage
> knows how to pull that stuff off and really does have an old school
> old style movie star rapport with his audience, even in something as
> inconsequential as Ghost Rider (I mean, try to imagine National
> Treasure with, oh, Kevin Costner).
FTM, just try to imagine Costner in "Ghost Rider". OR "Raising Arizona".
There're some roles out there that you *need* a natural Elvis voice and
hound-dog look to play.
Derek Janssen
eja...@verizon.net
Captain Infinity
Garondo Marondo wrote:
>However AM LEGEND did perform above average all week. Personally, I
>won't see it because of the dog.
Just pretend you're blind; I'm sure they'll let you bring your dog in if
they think it's a seeing-eye dog.
But you'd better rush to your seat quickly before they have time to wonder
why a blind man is going to the movies.
**
Captain Infinity
Invid Fan
<a8dbdadb-cc3d-4fee...@1g2000hsl.googlegroups.com>, nick
<nickmacp...@aol.com> wrote:
> I did find it's squareness appealing, mainly because Nicholas Cage
> knows how to pull that stuff off and really does have an old school
> old style movie star rapport with his audience, even in something as
> inconsequential as Ghost Rider (I mean, try to imagine National
> Treasure with, oh, Kevin Costner). You can feel it when you see his
> movies at the theater with a big audience (which wasn't the case with
> Wicker Man, which had about two people in attendance). But I can see
> why Pirates of the Caribbean is franchise fodder but something as
> playfully escapist as NT, like I said, I'm surprised at the box office
> numbers.
I wonder if this will bring back "Treasure Hunters", the "Amazing Race"
clone which piggy backed on National Treasure by having all the clues
be based on US history building to some fake treasure. It bombed, for
good reason, but a revamped version might be fun...
--
Chris Mack "Refugee, total shit. That's how I've always seen us.
'Invid Fan' Not a help, you'll admit, to agreement between us."
-'Deal/No Deal', CHESS
moviePig
Or try to imagine Cage as MR. BROOKS. I think all of this illustrates
well that Kevin Costner is basically evil...
Russell Watson
Ther's a blind guy who regularly attends movies at the AMC that I go
to most of the time. He's got the shades, the white cane to tap with,
but no dog. He brings (or I should say is brought by) a female
companion who sits with him and whispers visual cues to go with the
dialogue so that he has an idea what is going when nobody's talking.
They are very unobtrusive (and I have admit here that the first time
they came into a movie I was seeing I thought "Oh, great, we get the
fucking travelogue version courtesy of 'Blind Lemon's' date") and he
seems to enjoy himself immensely.
MFalc1
>
> - Show quoted text -
Anyone see the trailer for the next Will Smith movie (where Smith
plays a down-at-the-heels superhero who, in one dumb CGI gag, throws a
shark from Santa Monica beach into the ocean and knocks over a
sailboat)?
Looked like something developed for Damon Wayans in the 90s.
Mark L. Falconer-film and video links at
http://hometown.aol.com/mfalc1/links.html
Recent film/DVD releases seen:
JUNO ***
THE KITE RUNNER ***
NATIONAL TREASURE 2 **
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY ****
MFalc1
>
> The success of National Treasure: �Book of Secrets took me by surprise
> because the first one wasn't that good. � I didn't think it was the
> kind of thing that had a built-in audience. �But maybe there's an
> audience out there for unironic square movies that Hollywood hasn't
> done a good job of tapping into, and no one plays eccentric everyman
> likeability better than Nicholas Cage
It's a slight improvement over the first because Helen Mirren and Ed
Harris
manage to liven things up in their paycheck roles.
But Jon Turtletaub could have the following inscription on his
headstone:
HIS MOVIES WERE OKAY FOR WHAT THEY WERE.
Garondo Marondo
wrote:
I've actually seen a blind woman with a seeing eye dog at a theatre,
he/she slept most of the film.
Captain Infinity
Garondo Marondo wrote:
>I've actually seen a blind woman with a seeing eye dog at a theatre,
>he/she slept most of the film.
Why would a blind pre-operative transsexual woman bother going to the
theater if he/she is just going to sleep through the film? It makes no
sense! I tells ya, Garbonzo, your world gets wackier every day!
**
Captain Infinity
Alric Knebel
What about the dog bothers you?
--
_________________
Alric Knebel
http://www.ironeyefortress.com/C-SPAN_loon.html
http://www.ironeyefortress.com
moviePig
Somewhere in heaven, Old Yeller's thinking you're a Grinch...
Alric Knebel
I found that scene very touching. I was on the verge of tears. Not
only was the dog his only companion, it was the last living link to his
family life prior to the epidemic. I felt all I was supposed to feel at
that moment, and I don't see how this is different from any other film
which depicts loss.
moviePig
Hitchcock claimed to have learned the hard way that audiences wouldn't
forgive him if he killed the kid. I think that, even for today's
audiences, some of that presumed diplomatic immunity extends to Fido.
(Fwiw, Matheson's sub-plot was even more wrenching...)
Alric Knebel
There's an interview with Matheson on the most recent release of THE
LAST MAN ON EARTH. He said about his novel, "It didn't seem like a
classic to me when I wrote it." I haven't bothered to check to see if
he's still alive, but I bet he'd be amused at the sudden resurgence in
interest for his book. My son was over yesterday and told me his
roommate has a copy of it, and after my son saw the movie, and with the
novel so handy, he was thinking of reading it. And I'm thinking of
reading it again myself. I can't remember but one or two things about it.