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Arts & Entertainment

Box Office Review: More Grim Economic News

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What exactly is the appeal of this drag queen again? | Photo courtesy of Lions Gate

On Saturday night -- following yet another brilliant concert by Lisa Hannigan at the Troubadour -- my friends and I headed over to Pink's for a late-night "Mulholland Drive" dog. We ended up speaking to a couple from Covina who had just attended a screening of Madea Goes to Jail. That couple is now dead, as should all of those be who made the awful Madea this week's box office champ ($41.1M). The thrilling Taken was a very distant second ($11.4M/$95.1M) just ahead of the surging and splendid Coraline ($11M/$53.3M).

He Just Wants To Do You enjoyed a good post-Valentine's weekend ($8.5M/$70M) while Slumdog Bazillionaire surged with an influx of new theaters ($8M/$98M). After that it was the mildly scary Friday the 13th ($7.8M/$55M), the craven and evil Shopaholic ($7M/$27.6M), the moronic Fat Mall Cop ($7M/$121.3M), the should-have-had-tons-of-nudity Fired Up! ($6M) and the generically diverting The International ($4.4M/$17M). The limited release crowd made no dents whatsoever at the box office this weekend. Sad.

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