Apparently people wanted to see the last man on earth battle fast walking zombies this weekend! Even Alvin And The Chipmunks made scads of money. While I was snowed in (thanks to arctic wrath at my home in the gulag) – the rest of the you were in the theaters enjoying a picture show. We are made aware of the numbers thanks to our friends at comingsoon:
In one of the most astounding weekends since the summer, two movies opened and far exceeded all expectations, predictions and studio tracking as Will Smith opened his latest sci-fi action flick I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) in December with an estimated gross of $76.5 million in regular and IMAX theatres, an average of over $21,000 per theater, setting a new opening record for Smith as well as the new record for December. Even more surprising might be the success of Alvin and the Chipmunks (Fox) in finding a huge family audience to the tune of $45 million, becoming one of the top 8 openers for the month of December as well.
I did not expect Legend to beat The Golden Compass – but It was not even a contest. I have yet to see this film, but plan to do so; I love post apocalyptic movies and try my best to watch as many as possible. This is a great news day for Will Smith, it has been a dry $pell for films as of late, and he helmed this ship to a land of bounty. One thing is now true, Will Smith is a more bankable star in the post apocalyptic genre than Kevin Costner. We must however, give props to Costner for loving the genre enough to make Waterworld and The Postman. What we need is a Kevin Costner post apocalyptic production, starring Will Smith – make it so!
The word on the street is that Alvin And The Chipmunks is a big bag of shit. I really liked the cartoon as a youngster and personally plan to avoid this film. I appreciate Jason Lee and the Chipmunks too much to watch them destroy their reputations in one fell swop. With a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 25% I do not think I will give this one the benefit of the doubt. The commercials for this film were terrible to me, I am honestly surprised that this film made so much cash. Then again, I liked the Chipmunks as a kid, perhaps their appeal is just as strong with this generation. When the children want to see something, the parents have to go; the nag factor wins again.
The Golden Compass is really taking a beating. Part of me wonders if it relates to all the religious controversy, but it’s more likely because it’s a movie about kids that ride around on polar bears.
Considering the way the movie ends, TGC is going to look like a real waste of time if/when it doesn’t get sequels.
as i have said in the previous post on the golden compass. that fact that it came out on the weekend b4 finals (last weekend) for all the college students here in the states. i dont know how much of a demographic colleges students account for, but i know its quite a bit. and the fact that i am legend came out (this past weekend) just right after finals are done, which was usually this past friday. i for one did not go anywhere the weekend of golden compass due to studying, but after finals (i am legend weekend) was ready to go watch a movie. altho i did not get a chance to go, but i was prepared to go, just like most college students who were done with school. beer and a movie is always nice.
I think IAL did well of its own back, nothing to do with Batman.
Theres alot of hype for this flick, people who dont usually bother with cinema have been talking to me about IAL, Will Smiths a huge draw, we want to see more of him!
I was wishing that there was a scene in Legend with Will Smith roasting Alvin and the Chimpmunks, so he and his dog can have something to eat in post apocalyptic New York.
I can pretty much guarantee that batman had nothing to do with I Am Legends success. the internet movie fan makes up a much smaller percentage of movie goers than i think some of you seem to believe. i read many movie sites every day and was still surprised when batman showed up before my midnight showing of I Am Legend on thursday night.
Will Smith is simply the coolest, most likable and bankable human on the planet. that is all.
as for those chipmunks, damn what the hell happened there.
All the hype about the Batman footage helped IAL a little, methinks. Only a little, since Big Willie is the most reliable draw in Hollywood right now.
lol…”still to BEAT the Return of the King’s opening gross is something special”
im thinking the Dark Knight trailers may have had something to do with Legends crazy numbers….
still to be Return of the King’s opening pull is something special
I’m not surprised at the success of I Am Legend, as Will Smith tends to be pretty solid in most all of his roles.
As far as Alvin and the Chipmunks, as a father I can tell you that with the limited number of movies that you can (with good conscience) take a kid to, we jump at movies like this. It’s not that they are artistic masterpieces or anything, but the time that we can spend together in a movie theater, not cringing at the content, is worth the price of admission. And that’s even at today’s ticket prices.
I’m not surprise to see Alvin and the Chipmunks making bank at the box office. I don’t why but people are willing to pay to see old cartoon characters brought back to life in live action. Remember Garfield and Scooby Do? The movie suck but people still went out and see it. With the success of Alvin and the Chipmunks, it would only mean a sequel is on its way. (sigh)
I think I Am Legend deserved this type of opening.Good for Will.The guy’s(In my opinion)a great acter,and this will make his already bankable persona all the more popular.
For opening weekend cash I did not expect Legend to win.
If you asked me a month ago, I probably would have thought that compass would still be on top this weekend.
I am very bad at guessing how much a movie will make. More often than not I over/under estimate. I assume the world will buy tickets according to my preferences; this is not usually the case.
You didn’t expect I Am Legend to beat The Golden Compass. This surprises me, Compass was pretty much DOA after last week.