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Box Office Review: 'The Rock' Now Bankable...Crap!
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Listen! Do you smell something? | Photo courtesy of Disney
In the latest blow to Western civilization, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Escape...er, Race to Witch Mountain knocked off the epic and ambitious Watchmen to capture the weekend box-office crown. The entirely unnecessary re-make tallied an impressive $25M to easily vanquish the quickly-fading superhero flick ($18M/$86M). Another re-make, The Last House on the Left slashed its way to a successful $14.6M debut, well ahead of Taken which continued to hang around in its seventh week ($6.6M/$126.8M). The awful Tyler Perry in Drag hauled in another $5.1M ($83.2M) just edging the wonderful Slumdog Millionaire ($5M/$132.6M).
The unfunny Kevin James Vehicle continued leeching money from the moronic masses ($3.1M/$137.7M) besting two infinitely superior films: He Just Wants to Do You ($2.9M/$89M) and Coraline ($2.6M/$69.1M). Miss March rounded out the top 10 with a disappointing bow of $2.3M. The limited release crowd was led by Sunshine Cleaning which opened to a boffo average of $53,500 per theater. Tokyo Sonata also performed well ($15,000 per) while Brothers at War had a mediocre first weekend ($5000). The decision to re-release Costa-Gavras' Z on the occasion of its 40th anniversary proved to be a very good (e.g. profitable) idea. ($10,500).
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