Hollywood Deep

With $18 million and a second first-place finish, “Superbad” joined “Pirates” and “Spidey” as the only three movies to win back-to-back weekends this summer. With a new total of nearly $70 million dollars, the flick will soon join über-producer Judd Apatow’s “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” as certified $100 million hits.

Holding strong in its fourth week, meanwhile, was “The Bourne Ultimatum,” in second place with a hefty $12.4 million. Not only is the film the highest grossing in the popular series, it’s a sure bet to cross $200 million by next weekend — around the same time, incidentally, that “Ratatouille” will cross the magical line as well. How’s this for record breaking? “Bourne” and “Ratatouille” will be the sixth and seventh films of the summer to hit that mark. With four movies smashing their way past $300 million and three more on their way to scoring $200 million-plus, the summer box office climbed over $4 billion dollars for the first time in history, breaking the all-time record of $3.95 billion set in 2004. It helps, of course, when you have a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, a “Spider-Man” flick, and a “Shrek” extravaganza to start off the season (all opened within three weeks of each other in May), but equally important, it seems, is who’s bringing up the rear.

While the disappointing “Rush Hour 3″ takes third place with $12.3 million (it’ll wind up earning about half as much as “Rush Hour 2″), the surprising “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” soared to a fourth-place finish of $10.1 million. While that total is impressive considering the film has no major stars or big action hooks, it further illustrates how out of step America sometimes is with the rest of the world. “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” has already racked up nearly $200 million worldwide.

The “Apatow way” (KNOCKED UP, SUPERBAD) seems to be the best way to go, which is to actually write FUNNY movies, and have funny people star in them on a low budget, as opposed to “star” names and big budgets which sometimes don’t really work out all that well (EVAN ALMIGHTY, STARDUST, THE INVASION). SUPERBAD continued its dominance at the box-office this past weekend, despite the arrival of 6 new movies (3 of which didn’t even crack the top 10: SEPTEMBER DAWN, ILLEGAL TENDER and RESURRECTING THE CHAMP).

It has proved to be an amazing summer for movie box office. More then ever before, in record breaking numbers, the people have flocked to movie theaters. With all the mediums available today, the internet, cell phone viewing, pay per view, and home delivered DVDs, the event of going to the movies in the summer, remains king. Just when we all thought “the night out at the movies”, kicked ass this summer, and the film industry is alive and well, as the summer season comes to a close.
…DEEP!

“Mr. Bean’s Holiday”, a surprise at #4 in North America, and killing worldwide

The Box Office Top Five

#1 “Superbad” ($18 million)
#2 “The Bourne Ultimatum” ($12.4 million)
#3 “Rush Hour 3″ ($12.3 million)
#4 “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” ($10.1 million)
#5 “War” ($10 million)

Full Box Office Chart

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