Hollywood Deep

“The Rock” was solid at the box office this weekend. Once again, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, proved he can carry a movie and open it big. “The Game Plan”, a surprise No. 1 in theaters this weekend, took in $22.7 million. The Walt Disney Company’s football film exceeded most analysts’ expectations by about $9 million and was Johnson’s second straight No. 1 film. His previous was last year’s “Gridiron Gang”, which opened to $14 million. So “The Rock” in a family football movie formula works, and it works big time. Look for Disney to produce a steady stream of “The Rock” football movies, in the coming years. Like any major movie studio, Disney will run this winning formula into the ground, as long as it’s generating #1 weekends.

It’s funny that “The Rock” was never much of a football player in real life. Dwayne Johnson played for the University of Miami Hurricanes football team in the early 90’s. He was actually part of a Miami National Championship football team in 1991. I followed his football career being an alumni of U Miami, and a big football fan. Johnson was a decent defensive lineman, he had the tools but not the desire to make it the NFL. So he increased his steroid dosage and joined Vince McMahon’s WWF and WWE professional wrestling circus, and he became its champion and a huge star. Now he’s a very bankable movie star, after failing as an action adventure star, he’s found a niche making family movies. The American dream I guess, run off and join the circus and parlay that into becoming a movie star. Say what you want about professional wrestling and Vince McMahon, they have the most loyal fans in the entertainment industry. Every show they put on for the last 50 or so years has gone through the roof. “The Rock” is another example that wrestling fans are alive and well, and not going anywhere. The only drawback for Johnson is that he’s stuck with the stupid nickname “The Rock” for ever. Most people don’t even know who Dwayne Johnson is, and that he’s a movie star. I suppose Dwayne could have worse problems.

“Game Plan” beat out “The Kingdom” starring Jamie Foxx, which met most projections with $17.7 million. The R-rated film, about a terrorist attack on an American base in Saudi Arabia.

I’d always like to open at $50 million, but we’re pleased with the numbers,” says Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal Pictures, which released Kingdom. “This is challenging subject matter, the kind that depends on people telling their friends they should see. And I’m confident they will.”

I worked on “The Kingdom” for a few weeks in Arizona last year. In my short time on the project, I found it to be a first class production, and they spent plenty of money. Director Peter Berg, who I found to be a borderline lunatic, and his production team pretty much had the run of Phoenix Arizona and its surrounding areas, and used it as it’s backlot. They closed down Highways and airports and did what ever they wanted, taking over the city for about 6 months. It was a hard job, dealing with conditions and the scope of the movie, a lot of times everyone involved were not on the same page. The movie got done however, also shooting in the Middle East. Completing the production schedule was a big accomplishment on this one, and the final product is a pretty good movie.

Several films did solid business in limited release. “The Darjeeling Limited” raked in $140,000 on two screens in New York, while “Into the Wild” did $668,000 in 33 theaters for a healthy $20,271 per-theater average. And “Across the Universe”, a musical comprised of Beatles songs, took 10th place with $2.1 million in 339 theaters. As the awards season approaches look for some of these films to take the forefront.
…Going DEEP!

Weekend Box Office
1. The Game Plan $22.7M
2. The Kingdom $17.7M
3. Resident Evil: Extinction $8M
4. Good Luck Chuck $6.3M
5. 3:10 to Yuma $4.16M

View full Weekend Box Office chart

“The Game Plan” movie trailer

Technorati Tags: “The Rock”, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “The Game Plan”, The Walt Disney Company, “Gridiron Gang”, Disney, University of Miami Hurricanes, Miami National Championship, U Miami, Vince McMahon, WWF, WWE, professional wrestling, “The Kingdom”, Jamie Foxx, R-rated film, Saudi Arabia, Nikki Rocco, Universal Pictures, Arizona, Peter Berg, Phoenix Arizona, “The Darjeeling Limited”, New York, “Into the Wild”, “Across the Universe”, Beatles, “The Game Plan” movie trailer