The horror-suspense movie Saw IV handily won the weekend’s movie box office competition, selling $32 million worth of tickets. The appeal of the series depends on the ingenious ways in which a serial killer dispatches his victims. In short, it is basically decadent but rather compelling, as it delivers what the audiences are expecting, in unexpected ways.
The Steve Carell comedy Dan in Real Life, from Disney’s Touchstone imprint, came in second, at $12.1 million. The rest of the top five were, in order, 30 Days of Night (which experienced a two-thirds drop from its opening weekend the week before), The Game Plan, and Why Did I Get Married?
Depressing, antiwar Oscar pursuers did poorly. Michael Clayton came in sixth, with $5 million, and Rendition ran eleventh, bringing in just $2.3 mil.
The Darjeeling Limited and Elizabeth: The Golden Age both finished outside the top ten. Darjeeling‘s performance should be seen as particularly disappointing given that it moved to wide release over the weekend but rose only three places, with its per-theater take dropping by nearly two-thirds.
The independent film Bella earned $1.3 million in a very limited release in its opening weekend, finishing seventeenth. Its per-theater take was over $8,000, a very healthy number. Only Saw IV and the limited release thriller Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (directed by Sidney Lumet), topped that per-theater number.
Yes, that’s my worry too, re: Across the Universe. My big problem with seeing Darjeeling is that it seems so . . . unnecessary for me, having already seen Anderson’s other movies, all of which tend to be shaggy dog stories, with interesting, quirky characters doing nothing important with their lives and instead being intensely concerned about finding meaning for themselves. My response is inevitably to think, “Get up off your butt and do something worth doing, and you won’t have time to think about whether people like you as much as you think they should!” That’s just a personal reaction, of course, but it greatly impedes my rush to the theater to see Anderson’s latest.
S.T., those Kinks songs were the tipping point for me to see the movie. If you liked Wes Anderson’s prior movies, you’ll probably like this one. As for Across the Universe, I haven’t seen it, fearing that it might turn out to be the 21st Century version of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (the movie)
I haven’t yet, though it’s on the To Do list, and knowing that two songs from one of the best Kinks albums are in the film moves it up a couple of notches.
Have you seen Across the Universe yet? My son really liked it.
S.T., I’m wondering if you have seen the Darjeeling Limited & what your thoughts were about it. It was the first movie I seen in a theater since the Simpsons Movie (& the 3rd movie in 2 yrs.). I have seen Wes Anderson’s previous movies & I do enjoy them, even thought they have that “precocious child” vibe about them. I did like the movie & anybody who included two songs from the Kinks’ 1970 Lola v. Powerman and the Moneygoround Part I album can’t be all bad.