Like Ricky Bobby says if you are not first you are last. Many sites this weekend are claiming triumph of KungFu Panda taking the top spot over You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. My response to that is “well duh”
Cinematical sheds a little light on the situation:
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan wasn’t able to claim the weekend’s top spot over Dreamworks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, but a) no one was really expecting it to do that, and b) Zohan’s $40 million opening weekend is at least par for Sandler
Now the mantra of “Never Underestimate the Family Film” reigns supreme here. The broader audience in this case is not limited simply to age.
Adam Sandler is an acquired taste in the last half decade. He hasn’t surprised us in a long time and while I would like to see him stem out into inspired dramatic roles, but he does what he does well and it brings in the bucks. A $40m opening weekend is hardly considered a defeat. Also, as silly as Zohan looked, I won’t fall to Doug’s Squash fucking shortsightedness and underestimate a genre. I never would have placed it in the #1 spot, however I did expect it to beat back Sex and the City and Indiana Jones.
So the Panda did Mess with the Zohan, but at least it was a good fight.
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
Roguepirate
What might be more interesting is that this is the first time this year that 2 movies that grossed under $1 million has made it into the top 10.
8 - What Happens In Vegas… - $3.4M
9 - Baby Mama - $779k
10 - Made of Honor - $775k
Before this weekend, The Visitor cracked #10 (23 May 2008) making $940k
Before that was Disturbia making $523k (8 June 2007) about a year ago.
Are the movies not as good? Are people poorer? or is it just nothing?
Jun 9th, 2008
Rodney
I think it is simply that in the summer season you get more extremes. Big movies taking ALL the money and a the rest picking up the scraps.
Jun 9th, 2008
sfsilver
And never underestimate the power of a really well made film. Panda was not on my radar screen, I had disliked the last few Dreamworks animation projects and wasn’t even planning to see it. Then came the overwhelmingly positive reviews and word of mouth. I saw it Sunday and I really liked it. One of the most entertaining films so far this year and the animation is stunning, gorgeous and the action and fight sequences are top notch.
Jun 9th, 2008
Dan
Come on, it’s Jack Black voicing an overweight, lazy, sarcastic, self-deprecating, panda who happens to know kung fu??? How did anyone think that this didn’t have GENIUS written all over it?
Jun 9th, 2008
Mike Mai
kung fu panda is actually pretty good. just saw it last night.
Jun 9th, 2008
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