Musical Belts Out Record Opening

Animated flick wins weekend box office

(NEWSER) - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa had the year's best opening for an animated family flick, pulling in $63.5 million to win the weekend box office, Variety reports. R-rated gross-out comedy Role Models, meanwhile, surprised by taking second place with $19.3 million. The remaining top five: High School Musical 3: Senior Year ($9.3 million), Changeling ($7.3 million) and Zack and Miri Make a Porno ($6.5 million). More»

(NEWSER) - Saw VI axed the competition in the final weekend before Halloween by scaring up $32.1 million—falling short of Saw III’s debut weekend, but notching the highest opening of the fall season. Steve Carrell’s quirky dramedy, Dan in Real Life, took second with $12 million, Variety reports. More»

Ticket sales were down, and these movies help explain why

(NEWSER) - This was not a banner year for Hollywood, with domestic box office revenue down 4%, breaking a string of record highs. These films were part of the reason why. The Hollywood Reporter compiled a list of 2011's biggest flops, and there were some doozies—we've listed some of the standouts below. As you're looking at the numbers, remember that grosses are split with theaters, and that the budgets don't include marketing, so films that appear to have broken even are actually big losers. More»

Latest 'Twilight' apparently has staying power

(NEWSER) - Despite the fact that it's downright terrible and may also cause you to have a seizure , the latest Twilight movie apparently isn't going anywhere. Breaking Dawn grabbed the No. 1 box office spot for the third straight weekend , the LA Times reports, pulling in another $16.9 million. In the 17 days it's been out, the movie has grossed $247.3 million in North America; the third Twilight installment made slightly more during the same period in 2009. More»

'Muppets' hit No. 2 with $42M

(NEWSER) - Breaking Dawn was busily sucking the life out of the box office for a second weekend, taking in another $62.3 million between Wednesday and today. That performance brings its total to $221.3 million, reports the LA Times. But Twilight wasn't the only draw at the box office, with The Muppets pulling in a hefty $42 million over the holiday weekend. Arthur Christmas took third place with $17 million; Hugo grabbed fourth with $15.4 million. More»