Comedy tops box office, curbing Twilight sensation

Variety Nov 30, 08 5:06 PM CST
(Newser)
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Four Christmases iced the competition over the long Thanksgiving weekend and raked in $46.7 million, Variety reports. Box office numbers stayed strong overall—up 2% to 3% over last year's holiday—as Twilight ($39.5 million), Bolt ($36 million), and Quantum of Solace ($28.1 million) filled out the top four. Highly-anticipated Australia banked $20 million and came in a disappointing fifth.
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Film gets year's fourth biggest premier

Entertainment Weekly Nov 23, 08 4:04 PM CST
(Newser)
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Twilight sucked the box office dry this weekend by banking nearly $71 million and claiming top spot, Entertainment Weekly reports. That makes it the best-grossing film by a female director and among the top 30 premieres of all time. Filling out the weekend's top five: Quantum of Solace , $27.4 million; Bolt , $27 million; Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa , $16 million; and Role Models , $7.2 million.
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Teen vampire flick breaks box office records

MTV Nov 23, 08 10:00 AM CST
(Newser)
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Even as the cash registers were still clanging on Twilight's monstrous opening weekend, the teen vampire flick's producers confirmed that a sequel is on, says MTV News. New Moon, the second book in Stephanie Meyer's series, is now officially set to be adapted for the big screen. Twilight is on track to hit $60 million this weekend, and looks likely to become the highest-grossing female-directed flick, and vampire film, of all time.
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Spy franchise shows no signs of fading

Variety Nov 16, 08 5:00 PM CST
(Newser)
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Quantum of Solace continued its Friday momentum and shattered the record for the best Bond weekend opening, Variety reports. Solace banked $70.4 million, topping Die Another Day 's $47 million debut. Rounding out the weekend's top five: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ($36.1 million), Role Models ($11.7 million), High School Musical 3: Senior Year ($5.9 million), and Changeling ($4.2 million).
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Pol wants share of Dark Knight revenues for citizens of oil town

Variety Nov 12, 08 2:51 PM CST
(Newser)
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The mayor of Batman, Turkey, is threatening to sue Warner Brothers for a share of the nearly $1 billion The Dark Knight has generated. The unauthorized name use has wreaked psychological havoc in the Anatolian oil city by driving up unsolved murders and female suicides, Huseyin Kalkan tells Variety —though he didn’t explain why the action comes 70 years after the hero’s comic-book debut.
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Animated flick wins weekend box office

Variety Nov 9, 08 4:27 PM CST
(Newser)
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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).
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Season's hopes on vampire's back

MarketWatch Nov 8, 08 3:23 PM CST
(Newser)
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The holiday season’s best hope for a blockbuster is a teen vampire romance flick from an obscure studio, MarketWatch reports. With Harry Potter pushed to next summer, this holiday season is pretty much bereft of a proven franchise. But Twilight , based on Stephenie Meyer’s mega-selling books, has the potential to fill the void and seems poised for a huge opening weekend on Nov. 21.
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Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Saw V round out top 3

Variety Nov 2, 08 5:21 PM CST
(Newser)
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High School Musical 3 strutted its way to the top of the box office despite Halloween’s usual decimation of Friday ticket sales, Variety reports. Now in its second week, the teenage singalong bagged $15 million this weekend, with Zack and Miri Make a Porno opening to $10.7 million. The Halloween-friendly Saw V came in third with $10.1 million.
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Runner-up Saw V far ahead of rest of the field

Variety Oct 26, 08 6:19 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Sweetness and gore dominated the box office this week, reports Variety . High School Musical 3 bopped off with $42 million, having the best opening ever for a musical. Runner-up Saw V , with $30.5 million, still chopped the rest of the field down to size. The box office take was up 30% from a year ago, the studios estimate, because there was little overlap between the audiences for the top-earners.
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Wahlberg shoot-em-up takes top spot with $18 million

Variety Oct 19, 08 4:51 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Max Payne beat up Bees and a Chihuahua at the box office this weekend and grabbed the top spot, Variety reports. The Mark Wahlberg action flick raked in $18 million to Chihuahua ’s $11.2 million and The Secret Life of Bees' $11.1 million. Rounding out the top five were Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic W. with $10.6 million, and thriller Eagle Eye with $7.3 million.
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Religulous has surprisingly successful showing

Variety Oct 5, 08 5:39 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Beverly Hills Chihuahua hotdogged to the top of the box office heap for a $29 million treat this weekend, Variety reports. Bill Maher's Religulous doc banked a surprising $3.5 million on only 502 screens, while bigger flicks rounded out the top five: Eagle Eye took second with $17.7 million, followed by Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist with $12 million, Nights in Rodanthe with $7.3 million, and Appaloosa with $5 million.
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Spike Lee's new war film barely breaks Top 10

Variety Sep 28, 08 8:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Eagle Eye flew into first at the weekend box office by grossing $29.2 million, Variety reports. The Diane Lane-Richard Gere romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe swooned into second place with $13.6 million, while Lakeview Terrace ranked a neighborly third by banking $7 million. Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna opened with a disappointing $3.5 million, barely clearing the top ten.
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Samuel L. Jackson thriller beats Coen brothers for top spot

Variety Sep 21, 08 6:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Samuel L. Jackson thriller Lakeview Terrace debuted at number one over a soft box office weekend, Variety reports. Banking $15.6 million, it ousted Burn After Reading ($11.3 million) and outpaced My Best Friend’s Girl ($8.3 million), Igor ($8 million), and Righteous Kill ($7.7 million). Ricky Gervais laffer Ghost Town notched only eighth with $5.2 million despite good reviews.
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Comedy thriller records biggest opening ever for Coen brothers

Variety Sep 14, 08 4:57 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The Coen brothers' Burn After Reading led an unexpectedly strong box office