Sunday August 28, 2011
Hollywood B.O.: Dog Days of August, More than Hurricane Irene, Keep Theaters Empty
The line from Variety and Box Office Mojo is that Hurricane Irene kept folks home and that's why the box office this weekend was so lousy. I find more to blame with recent August releases.
Here, for example, are the no. 1 movies for the current weekend, the 34th weekend, from 2005 to 2010:
- 2005: The 40-Year-Old Virgin *
- 2006: Invincible
- 2007: Superbad *
- 2008: Tropic Thunder *
- 2009: Inglourious Basterds
- 2010: The Expendables *
* second weekend of release
With the exception of last year's aptly titled “Expendables,” these are all good movies that I could see again right now.
This year? The no. 1 movie for the 34th weekend is the third weekend of “The Help,” the controversial, starry-eyed, 50-year-old view of racism that women can't seem to get enough of. But it only grossed $14 mil. It was no. 1 because this is what's been wide-released in the last two weeks:
- Spy Kids: All the Time in the World
- Conan the Barbarian
- Fright Night
- One Day
- Colombiana
- Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
- Our Idiot Brother
“Fright Night” has good critical numbers (88% among top critics), as does “Our Idiot Brother (67%). The others are all certified rotten. Some extremely so: ”Conan“'s 23%; ”One Day“'s 27%. ”Spy Kids"'s 27%.
Here are the helpless totals.
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