“Knocked Up ” team is superbig again with $31 million, “Invasion” never even hits the beach
By Damara Popoola
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/19/07 — The comedy film team of Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen (“Knocked Up,” “40-Year-OldVirgin”) appears to be headed towards another $100 million-plus film as the neurotic, boozing teens in “Superbad” flew to top slot at the box office opening weekend with estimates of $30 million.
Apatow, who has also been writer or producer of two Jim Carrey movies and three Will Ferrell films including the $148 million-grossing “Talledega Nights: Ricky Bobby,” and pal Rogen beat out all with the R-rated comedy. Their movies can hardly be called surprises anymore, as their farces seem to capture teen/young adult angst in a way that works.
What didn’t work and did surprise this weekend was “Invasion” starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, with Joel Silver at the helm. Even with a proven winner like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” at its core, it only grossed $6 million on its opening weekend – not even the $10 million that was hoped for.
Then again, it should not have surprised anyone who read the reviews, where the critics rarely gave “Invasion” anything above the grade of “C” while the wags on Rotten Tomatoes said they ended up “rooting for the aliens.”
Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker’s latest buddy film “Rush Hour 3” came in second as expected with $22 million on its second weekend while Matt Damon’s three-quel “The Bourne Ultimatum” is showing legs with a $19 million weekend.
The other wide release is the misguided MGM/Weinstein historical epic “The Last Legion” starring an impressive cast including Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Colin Firth and Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai, but only grossed an estimated $2.5 million this past weekend.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s eco-doc “The 11th Hour” got off to a decent start, though only in four theaters in the country, it should do about $56,000 for its opening to packed houses. However, it doesn’t match Leo pal Al Gore’s four screen opening of “An Inconvenient Truth,” which did $285,000 on its premiere weekend.
Another global warming eco-doc “Artic Tale,” narrated by Queen Latifah, remains cold, in spite of all Starbuck’s effort to promote the polar bear pic. It should do about $220,000 for the weekend at over 200 theaters.\
WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES, AUGUST 17-19, 2007
Rank. Movie Title (Distributor) Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #
1. Superbad (Sony / Columbia) $31.2 million | 2,948 | $31.2 million | 1
2. Rush Hour 3 (New Line) $21.8 million | 3,778 | $88.2 million | 2
3. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) $19.0 million | 3,701 | $163.8 million | 3
4. The Simpsons Movie (Fox) $6.7 million | 3,162 | $165.1 million | 4
5. The Invasion (Warner Bros.) $6.0 million | 2,776 | $6.0 million | 1
Studio estimates from boxofficemojo
