After a summer of mostly lackluster debuts, Toy Story 3 demolished the competition this weekend, setting a Pixar opening record of $109M. Surprise powerhouse The Kung Fu Kid finished a distant second ($29M | $106.2M), well ahead of the mediocre and disappointing The A-Team ($13.7M | $49.7M). The unexpectedly funny Get Him to the Greek showed good legs in its third weekend ($6.1M | $47.8M) while Shrek Forever After continues to print money against all sound judgement ($5.5M | $222.9M).
Box Office Review: What Slump?
Weekend Movie Guide: Will There Be a Hex on Toy Story?
It isn't like we needed a Toy Story 3, but there's no doubt it will be awesome. Pixar's perfect string of massive commercial and critical hits continues with seemingly no end in sight. Barring the last minute addition of a full-frontal nude scene from Megan Fox, expect Jonah Hex to sink quickly to the bottom of the box-office charts. Who exactly is interested in seeing this movie? It still astonishes me how deeply the influence of religious weirdos runs in our society. In 8: The Mormon Proposition we see how a small group of devout lunatics prevents gay Californians from equally participating in society. People who supported Prop 8 hate America.
Movie Review: Up
Every time Pixar releases a new film, one wonders, "Is this the one that breaks the long string of phenomenal critical and commercial success?" I mean, surely a film studio can't continue to release inventive, profitable movies ad infinitum, right? It's just too implausible; even the very brilliant have slumps. Christ, the gold standard that is the Coen Brothers made the god-awful The Ladykillers, didn't they?! And yet...Pixar keeps churning out absolutely top-notch work and -- against all probability -- Up may just be their best film yet.

