Underworld 2 took it with 8 million. Inkheart bombed.The only really successful expansion was Slumdog Millionaire, which finished fifth, despite being in only 1400 theaters. Nine of the films below it were in more theaters!
Oscar nominee Frost/Nixon took in less than a million despite expanding to 1000 theaters. That's less per screen ($730) than Inkheart.
Audiences also showed no love for The Reader, another Oscar nominee, but an arthouse frown-fest ($900 per screen).
Two of the Oscar also-rans did much better: The Wrestler ($1700 per screen), and Revolutionary Road ($1400)
Everyone I talked to in the past few days has commented to me that all of the wrong pictures are nominated for Best Picture, except for Slumdog Millionaire. Everyone asks me: why not Gran Torino? The Dark Knight? (94% positive reviews) WALL-E? (96%) The Wrestler? (98%)
They have a point. Here are the top five 2008 films on IMDb, and those ratings completely support what I have been hearing:
- The Dark Knight 9.0
- Slumdog Millionaire 8.7 (Nominated)
- The Wrestler 8.6
- WALL·E 8.6
- Gran Torino 8.5
But I don't really have a problem with the four nominees not on that list, because they appear just below them in the rankings. Here's the rest of the list (asterisks by Oscar's best picture nomineees):
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 8.4 *
- Let the Right One In 8.2
- Doubt 8.2
- Frost/Nixon 8.2 *
- Milk 8.2 *
- Changeling 8.1
- In Bruges 8.1
- Iron Man 8.0
- The Reader 8.0 *
- Taken 8.0
So it's not like the Academy let in some complete mediocrities, as they have in previous years with films like Michael Clayton and The Cider House Rules. Hey, things could be much worse. One year back in the 70s, the nominees included Airport and Love Story!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Daily Box Office for Friday, January 23, 2009
Daily Box Office for Friday, January 23, 2009
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