The box office is a fickle and funny thing. It rules on high as the sole judge of the movie industry really. It is a gentle lover, and yet a harsh mistress at the same time (I have no idea why I’m spouting that stupid analogy). We all know that the last few weeks have been hard at the old box office for Hollywood… but a couple of movies with some VERY big names attached have really bombed harshly.
It’s not that any of these films were expected to be blockbusters by any stretch of the imagination… but when you have a solid premise for a film (which all of these have) with some major and talented star power attached (which all these have) you hope for at least respectable numbers. But no… the box office was truly a harsh mistress this week:
1) Gone Baby Gone - Opening Weekend of $6 million
A fantastic cast, critics are raving about it, and some people are already whispering the word “Oscar” about the film and it’s first time director (Ben Affleck), and yet… no one bothered to see it.
2) Rendition - Opening Weekend of $4.1 million
Reese Witherspoon in her first real role since winning her Oscar and Jake Gyllenhaal in a movie with a relevant topic (that no one really wants to hear about). Man, I don’t know if $4.1 million was enough to even pay Jake’s hairstylist alone.
3) Things We Lost In The Fire - Opening Weekend of $1.6 million
Two leads, two Oscar winners. Zero money. Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro failed to catch anyone’s attention. I know the marketing was bad for the film… but come on… $1.6 million? Wow.
Oh yeah, there were other failures this week for sure… but these three all had major names with seemingly solid ideas behind them. Enough to at least expect double digits. But no one cared. Personally I just think everyone is staying at home watching the Transformers DVD.
