Harry Potter held off a fair haired princess to eke out a win over the weekend.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows made $50.3 M, bringing its ten day total to $220 M.  If you count the entire Thanksgiving weekend (Wednesday through Sunday) the five day total was over $76 M, making it the fourth best Thanksgiving total on record.

It was hardly an easy task. Disney’s new princess caper Tangled performed very well, and made $49.1 M for the weekend;  $69 M over the five days.  This Thanksgiving opening take is second only to Toy Story 2, back in 1999.  When actual grosses come in on Monday, Tangled very well could top the box office.  It also got the first “A+”  from Cinemascore for the entire year. Audiences absolutely loved it.

Megamind is still performing very well.  It only dropped 19% in its fourth weekend for an additional $12.8 M.  It has now made $130 M, finally matching its reported budget. The Cher/Christina Aguilera musical Burlesque played well to audiences, and received a surprising “A-” from Cinemascore exit polls.  It placed fourth with $11.8 M ($17.2  M five-day total).

Denzel Washington’s Unstoppable was just a tad behind, in fifth place. Another new release, Love and Other Drugs, came in sixth with $9.8 M.  It should be noted that the film played on about a thousand fewer screens than the top three films this week.  Faster (starring Dwayne Johnson) came in just behind it.

Continue Reading →

The Harry Potter franchise enjoyed its biggest opening weekend ever, as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 bowed at the box office with $125.1M.  That included midnight totals ($24M) from Thursday.  The film made $61M on Friday (factoring in the midnight totals).

That is a great total, but it did fall short of Twilight: New Moon’s opening day total of $72.7 last November.

The film was well received by audiences, and received an “A” according to a Cinemascore poll. The franchise’s previous best opening weekend total was $102.7M back in 2005, with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Deathly Hallows can now boast the sixth best opening weekend of all time, and the fifth best opening day ever. It also had an outstanding per/screen average of about $30,000.

Coming in at a very distant second was Megamind, now in its third week of release.  The film made $16M, and has now made just shy of $110M over its entire run. Unstoppable dropped about 42%, but managed another $13.1M.  Its two week total is $41.9M.  It will have  a steep climb to reach its $100M budget total.

Continue Reading →

It was  surprising to find out that Unstoppable was indeed stoppable at the box office over the weekend.  The movie did extraordinarily well with critics and audiences alike, so its modest (but solid) take of $23.5 Million was a bit of a head scratcher. The Denzel Washington/Chris Pine action thriller is the fifth collaboration between director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington.

Megamind was the big winner of the weekend once again, adding another $30 Million to its two week total for a cumulative take of $89.8 M.  It dropped about 35% from its opening weekend, which is typical.  Megamind and Unstoppable both had per screen averages of around $7,000, which were the best of the top five this weekend.

The road comedy Due Date came in at third place with $15 Million.  Despite taking a 52% tumble from last weekend, the film is poised to break even with its budget. It has made $59 Million in two weeks, and its budget was $65 Million.

Skyline wasn’t screened for critics, and it has received some of the most scathing reviews of the year, but it still was able to scrape up $11.6 Million, good enough to place in fourth.

Continue Reading →

On Saturday morning, it looked like Megamind was going head to head with Due Date.  Both films made around $12M on Friday evening, but Megamind built on its momentum and added another $20 M to its total on Saturday, bringing its full weekend total to $47.7M.  This came from a mixture of 2D and 3D venues.

That is still a bit lower than Despicable Me ($56.4M)  made on its opening weekend, though. Incidentally, Paramount has had a number one movie three of the last  four weekends (Paranormal Activity 2, Jackass 3D and now Megamind.)

That is  not to say that Due Date didn’t have a great weekend.  It’s total of $33.5 M was good enough to break the November record for best opening for an R-rated comedy. The Robert Downey Jr./Zach Galifianakis comedy didn’t so fare so well when it came to critics, but audiences seemed to enjoy the movie.

Tyler Perry continues to be box office gold for Lionsgate.  His latest movie For Colored Girls was not widely screened for critics, but it managed an impressive $20.1 M anyway.  This is the first time Perry has released a R-rated film.  The weekend total is a bit lower than what his films typically earn, but it is a good, solid number.

Continue Reading →

Megamind is the latest animated 3D offering from DreamWorks Animation studios. It  is cute and  clever, but it has the disadvantage of coming out after Despicable Me, another animated film that was released earlier this year. Ultimately, that leaves Megamind feeling a bit stale and not particularly original, but it should provide for a fine family night out at the movies.

Will Ferrell is well cast as the voice of Megamind, a villain who has gone toe to toe with his nemesis “Metro Man” (voiced by Brad Pitt) for decades. They have been vying for bragging rights over Metro City, the place they both call home.

A charming opening sequence shows a flashback of  the two characters as infants, when they were sent to earth (separately) from other planets. Metro Man is embraced as a gift from the gods by his surrogate parents, and is blessed with the chiseled good looks of a movie star.  He grows up  adored and admired by all who come in contact with him.

In stark contrast, Megamind grows up misunderstood and under-appreciated in a prison, saddled with a bulbous head and blue coloring.  His only friend is a minion (David Cross) who is sent to earth with him. Megamind was not always a villain; it is only after getting beat down time after time by his peers that he embraces his inner evil. It becomes his coping mechanism of sorts.

Continue Reading →

Yesterday, we brought you 3 awesomely hilarious clips from next weekend’s big animated release, Megamind, and if you didn’t think that was enough, we have 3 more for you.

We have more than enough faith in most things super hero these days, but when the film is opening against Skyline and Due Date, expect it to either blow everything out of the water, or get left behind in a race between Hangover fans and sci-fi fans.

Megamind has enough name credit behind itself to make a big enough splash, but fighting names like Robert Downey Jr. and a bunch of explosions, it may be a tough sell for November.

If you’re still teetering on which movie to spend your $10 on, check out some great new clips for the film after the jump, and be sure to make your decision by November 5th.

Continue Reading →

Feel like the superhero hasn’t gotten enough play this year? Neither have we. Sure, Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, and countless other genre films hit theaters this year, but those were all months ago, so let’s look to the now. And there’s nothing more “now” than Dreamwork’s Megamind.

Starring an gigantic voice cast of Will Ferrell, David Cross, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt, the film takes the classic “good vs. evil” idea to a whole new place as the villain actually becomes the hero in this zany sci fi animated film.

We’ve got a bunch of new clips that we’ll be bringing you over the next week, starting with three pretty funny ones today. Be sure to check them out after the jump, and catch Megamind in theaters on November 5th.

Continue Reading →

Every good super hero tale needs an even better origin story. Well, the same goes for super villain tales, and that’s quite clear as the release date for Dreamworks’ twist on the classic “Good vs. Evil” battle in Megamind starring Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt.

With Madagascar director Tom McGrath taking the helm and a very impressive voice cast including Ferrell, Pitt, Tina Fey, David Cross, and Jonah Hill, there is very little stopping this film from becoming the next Incredibles, which is exactly what Dreamworks is hoping for.

Nickelodeon also has faith in the film, as they’ve released the first five minutes of the film online, which gives us an inside look at the origin of both Metro Man and Megamind. Of course there are allusions to other great comic tales, just done with that Will Ferrell style of humor.

Check out the first five minutes after the jump and catch Megamind in theaters and 3D on November 5th.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• Remember that awesome trailer mash up between The Matrix and Scott Pilgrim? Here’s an even better one featuring The Big Liebowski.

• A new trailer for Jedi Junkies hits the web, and while it may feature Olivia Munn, we still think it’s pretty cool.

• You’ve heard the rumor for a while, but now it’s here. Introducing Target’s Facebook gift cards.

• We love Chris Klein and we hated The Legend of Chun-Li so this video of every line he has in the film is pretty damned hilarious.

• In conjunction with the rising popularity (not population) of Zombies, who isn’t surprised to see Zombie Jerky make it’s way to the US?

• They may not be for sale, but these Portal book ends are already on our office Christmas list.

Continue Reading →

Every year, it’s fun to see the new and original concepts cranked out by major studios. Some of them are sleeper ideas that turn out to be huge, such as District 9 or Hot Tub Time Machine, but then there is an idea that two separate studios end up tackling at the same time. Back in 2006, The Illusionist and The Prestige, two different films about classic magicians and prestidigitator, came out within months of one another and it looks like we’ll be seeing the same thing happen this year.

Hitting theaters in July, Universal is releasing their next major animated film about two super villains duking it out for world supremacy in Despicable Me, starring Jason Segel and Steve Carell. Now, animation giant Dreamworks is throwing their hat into the same ring with their super villain flick, Megamind.

The latter stars Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill, with Madagascar director Tom McGrath behind the wheel. The first trailer just got it’s release, and we’ve got it to show you. Who will be the victor between Universal’s Despicable Me and Dreamworks’ Megamind? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Check out the first trailer for Megamind, hitting theaters on November 5th, after the jump.

Continue Reading →