Category: Announcement

#1 The Purge from Universal opened at #1 with a gross of $34.1 million in 2,536 theaters.  Budget was $3 million.

#2 Fast & Furious 6 from Universal fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $19.6 million (-44.2%) in 3,771 theaters (+85).  Total gross to date is $202.8 million.  Budget was $160 million.

#3 Now You See Me from Lionsgate fell from #2 to #3 with a gross of $19 million (-35.1%) in 3,020 theaters (+95).  Budget was $75 million.

#4 The Internship from 20^th Century Fox opened at #4 with a gross of $17.3 million in 3,366 theaters.  Budget was $58 million.

#5 Epic from 20^th Century Fox held at #5 with a gross of $11.9 million (-28.5%) in 3,594 theaters (-300).  Total gross to date is $83.9 million.  Budget was $100 million.

#6 Star Trek Into Darkness from Paramount fell from #4 to #6 with a gross of $11.4 million (-31.9%) in 3,152 theaters (-433).  Total gross to date is $199.9 million.  Budget was $190 million.

#7 After Earth from Sony/Columbia fell from #3 to #7 with a gross of $10.7 million (-61.1%) in 3,401 theaters.  Total gross to date is $46.1 million.  Budget was $130 million.

#8 The Hangover Part III from Warner Bros. fell from #6 to #8 with a gross of $7.3 million (-55.2%) in 3,242 theaters (-323).  Total gross to date is $102.3 million.  Budget was $103 million.

#9 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista fell from #7 to #9 with a gross of $5.8 million (-31.8%) in 2,351 theaters (-544).  Total gross to date is $394.3 million.  Budget was $200 million.

#10 The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros. fell from #8 to #10 with a gross of $4.2 million (-35.2%) in 2,160 theaters (-475).  Total gross to date is $136.2 million.  Budget was $105 million.

#11 Mud from Roadside Attractions fell from #10 to #11 with a gross of $1.1 million (-5.7%) in 580 theaters (-1).  Total gross to date is $18.5 million.  Budget was unknown.

#12 Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani from Eros fell from #9 to #12 with a gross of $803 thousand (-48.8%) in 161 theaters.  Total gross to date is $2.9 million.  Budget was unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $143.3 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

The year is 2022. In the United States, unemployment is less than 1% and crime is at it’s lowest rate ever. The reason for this is that the powers-that-be (known here as the New Founding Fathers) have passed an act called The Purge which allows anyone and everyone a 12-hour open period of letting out any sort of pent-up aggression in all sorts of violent acts without any sort of legal consequences.

Purge night is about to take place and our focus is on the Sandin family. The Sandins live in an affluent neighborhood with a house that’s a little bigger than the rest made that way because James Sandin (the father) sells home security systems that are designed to fortify homes for The Purge. James’ wife, Mary, is a typical housewife who just wants the best for her family. Their children, Charlie and Zoey, question aspects of The Purge. 7:00 rolls around and it’s now time for the Sandins to place their home into lockdown mode. Charlie sees a bloody stranger come near their house (through home security cameras), takes compassion on him and lets down the security system to take him in, much to the alarm of his parents. After they’ve taken the stranger in, a group of masked, privileged youth approach the house and threaten to tear it apart in order to get to their prey, vowing to kill the Sandins as well as long as they are in their way.

That’s the premise to The Purge from writer and director James DeMonaco, who prior to this has worked as a producer and writer on the Crash TV series as well as having written such films as the re-make of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Negotiator. It’s an utterly ridiculous concept, yet the same could be said for other science and speculative fiction works as well. The real trick here is how well do you sell it and still make it convincing and as it is, The Purge is very much a mixed bag, though to it’s credit, it certainly does spur some lively conversation after viewing it.

The concept itself one could basically see as government sanctioned national disaster that acts as a catharsis to it’s citizenry after the fact. But where it falls apart is that it’s assuming that all of the citizens are going to go about their business normally after the Purge takes place. During televised segments shown during the film, the question is put out there that The Purge is designed to eliminate the less desirable elements out of society (i.e. the homeless, criminals, the poor) and most of the film (at least for this setting) backs that up, especially after the Bloody Stranger and his pursuers are introduced, but to DeMonaco’s credit, he does manage to twist this a bit by the film’s end, but it’s still not enough to make up for some of the basic concept shortcomings.

This takes the assumption that everyone automatically “behaves” for the rest of the year, but obviously that wouldn’t be the case. As the rules of The Purge are explained right before it takes place (thanks to an Emergency Broadcast System message), all emergency services are suspended and only a certain level of weaponry is allowed to be used. That level of weaponry is pretty vague, though based off of what we see here it looks to be it’s highest form is guns. Crime is at it’s lowest rate, but considering human behavior, there would still have to be some high level stuff taking place, and one just has to wonder what is there going on in the world that takes care of that. What are the long-range consequences to The Purge? Do people plan for this? How do those that survive these acts then see their neighbors after the fact? These things are lightly touched on in the movie, but because DeMonaco has centered this around one well-to-do neighborhood, it becomes more of a diatribe against gun-control and social conservatives more than anything else. Is that his point? It’s really hard to say, especially after an event late in the film that shifts things around a bit. The final message could be just as simple as there are no quick and simple solutions to any problem, but based on how this story is told, it doesn’t come off quite that way. This concept is just really too big to be satisfying in your basic home invasion terror film.

Now I have to say though, for the most part, the home invasion aspect of the film is pretty well made, only falling apart in areas where characters just disappear for a time (this happens both with the Bloody Stranger- that’s how he’s known in the movie- and the daughter Zoey) only to reappear when the story calls for them to be relevant. The performances are pretty good. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey play James and Mary Sandin and they’re certainly solid, as our the performances by Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane who play Charlie and Zoey. Their work is good, they’re just hamstrung by a script that’s trying to do way too much within a very short time frame. Rhys Wakefield plays the Polite Stranger (that’s how it’s listed in the credits) who’s the leader of the mob who invades the Sandin home. It’s a terrifically creepy performance and puts me in the mind of the protagonists from Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. As good as this performance is though, it also leads to another of the film’s problems. This group that invades the Sandin home is masked and the only one who reveals himself is Wakefield’s character, the rest behave as this sort of hive-mind mob and none of the others have any sort of voice in the movie. It’s almost like he’s controlling a cult that has it’s own agenda and would this be something that would be allowed in this new world order? Again, another question that’s just too big for something that’s made as a home invasion thriller.

Technically, The Purge is certainly well-made, features some solid performances and some genuinely creepy moments. It is a ridiculous concept that will certainly leave some just laughing at it by it’s end and have others arguing it based on their own political leanings. That to me anyway is the film’s strongest aftereffect; the pure discussion that will come from it, though it doesn’t necessarily translate to a satisfying film experience. The Purge, in comparison to other summer films, is a low-budgeted film and so far has done very well for itself on it’s first weekend. That certainly leaves me to believe that a sequel could be in store- I’d actually embrace that idea if a potential sequel would look at this idea from an altogether different point of view and further flesh out it’s core concept.

#1 Fast & Furious 6 from Universal held at #1 with a gross of $35.2 million (-63.9%) in 3,686 theaters.  Total gross to date is $171 million.  Budget was $160 million.

#2 Now You See Me from Lionsgate opened at #2 with a gross of $29.3 million in 2,925 theaters.  Budget was $75 million.

#3 After Earth from Sony/Columbia opened at #3 with a gross of $27.5 million in 3,401 theaters.  Budget was $130 million.

#4 Star Trek Into Darkness from Paramount fell from #3 to #4 with a gross of $16.8 million (-55%) in 3,585 theaters (-322).  Total gross to date is $181.5 million.  Budget was $190 million.

#5 Epic from 20^th Century Fox fell from #4 to #5 with a gross of $16.6 million (-50.4%) in 3,894 theaters (+12).  Total gross to date is $65.4 million.  Budget was $100 million.

#6 The Hangover Part III from Warner Bros. fell from #2 to #6 with a gross of $16.4 million (-60.7%) in 3,565 theaters (+10).  Total gross to date is $88.5 million.  Budget was $103 million.

#7 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista fell from #5 to #7 with a gross of $8.4 million (-56.3%) in 2,895 theaters (-529).  Total gross to date is $385.2 million.  Budget was $200 million.

#8 The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros. fell from #6 to #8 with a gross of $6.5 million (-51.9%) in 2,635 theaters (-455).  Total gross to date is $128.5 million.  Budget was $105 million.

#9 Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani from Eros opened at #9 with a gross of $1.6 million in 161 theaters.  Budget was unknown.

#10 Mud from Roadside Attractions fell from #7 to #10 with a gross of $1.2 million (-37.7%) in 581 theaters (-131).  Total gross to date is $16.8 million.  Budget was unknown.

#11 The Croods from 20^th Century Fox fell from #9 to #11 with a gross of $666 thousand (-45.4%) in 506 theaters (-502).  Total gross to date is $180.6 million.  Budget was $135 million.

#12 Frances Ha from Paramount rose from #13 to #12 with a gross of $530 thousand (-3.5%) in 132 theaters (+72).  Total gross to date is $1.6 million.  Budget was unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $160.7 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

#1 Fast & Furious 6 from Universal opened at #1 with a gross of $97.4 million in 3,658 theaters.  Budget was $160 million.

#2 The Hangover Part III from Warner Bros. opened at #2 with a gross of $41.7 million in 3,555 theaters.  Total gross to date is $53.5 million.  Budget was $103 million.

#3 Star Trek Into Darkness from Paramount fell from #1 to #3 with a gross of $37.3 million (-46.9%) in 3,907 theaters (+39).  Total gross to date is $146.1 million.  Budget was $190 million.

#4 Epic from 20^th Century Fox opened at #4 with a gross of $33.5 million in 3,882 theaters.  Budget was $100 million.

#5 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista fell from #2 to #5 with a gross of $19.3 million (-46%) in 3,424 theaters (-813).  Total gross to date is $367.4 million.  Budget was $200 million.

#6 The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros. fell from #3 to #6 with a gross of $13.5 million (-43.4%) in 3,090 theaters (-460).  Total gross to date is $114.3 million.  Budget was $105 million.

#7 Mud from Roadside Attractions rose from #8 to #7 with a gross of $1.9 million (-13.1%) in 712 theaters (-248).  Total gross to date is $14.5 million.  Budget was unknown.

#8 42 from Warner Bros. fell from #6 to #8 with a gross of $1.3 million (-55.2%) in 915 theaters (-1,465).  Total gross to date is $14.5 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#9 The Croods from 20^th Century Fox fell from #5 to #9 with a gross of $1.2 million (-59.7%) in 1,008 theaters (-1,365).  Total gross to date is $179.2 million.  Budget was $135 million.

#10 Oblivion from Universal fell from #7 to #10 with a gross of $870 thousand (-62.8%) in 572 theaters (-1,505).  Total gross to date is $87.3 million.  Budget was $120 million.

#11 Oz The Great and Powerful from Buena Vista held at #11 with a gross of $652 thousand (-25.2%) in 401 theaters (-134).  Total gross to date is $232.2 million.  Budget was $215 million.

#12 Pain and Gain from Paramount fell from #4 to #12 with a gross of $643 thousand (-80.1%) in 1,003 theaters (-1,426).  Total gross to date is $48.6 million.  Budget was $26 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $249.3 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Owen Shaw is a ruthless criminal mastermind who has been running roughshod through Europe, committing his own brand of “vehicular warfare” in pursuit of a computer chip that can cause a communications blackout for entire countries. In pursuit of Shaw is Federal Agent Luke Hobbs and his newly-minted partner Riley Hicks. With his investigation, Hobbs has found similarities between Shaw’s methods and that of the team put together by Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor, who Hobbs previously encountered in Rio de Janeiro. But something else has been discovered as well; Toretto’s former lover, Letty, who was believed to be dead, has been seen as part of Shaw’s crew. Now, Hobbs has tracked down Dom Toretto and has made him the offer to both find Letty and gain full pardons for his crew in exchange for their help in taking down Shaw.

That’s the nutshell premise to Fast & Furious 6, the obvious sixth film in the Fast & Furious franchise, from director Justin Lin, marking his fourth time at the helm of this series. Now I’ve mentioned this before (and surely well again) that just talking about this series brings a standard set of eye-rolling with some moviegoers. And while I love this series, and really enjoyed this film, I still don’t expect that to change the minds of those that look upon it in a downward direction. With Fast Five this venerable series changed it’s direction from being solely about the underground street racing culture to taking on heist film elements. That direction change continues further with Fast & Furious 6, going from heist film to out-and-out over-the-top crime action, but still maintaining elements that it’s known for. As I said, I love the series, and thought Fast Five was about as good as it gets with this. Fast & Furious 6 is still quite a bit of fun for it’s fans, though I do think it drops down a bit from it’s prior iteration.

The constant though that keeps this entertaining comes down to two things; a very entertaining cast of anti-hero characters who it’s audience have grown quite comfortable with and high-speed action that just gets upped a notch with each film. Both are certainly very apparent here, though I think the characters get a little short-changed while the action gets upped dramatically, especially during the film’s back third. Now keep in mind, when I’m talking about the characters here, I certainly know that we’re not talking about Oscar-calibre depth, I’m well aware of that, it’s just that the stakes for this crew seemed a little more grounded in the prior film that it does here. Conversely, the climactic action gets upped so much more that it seems like it’s more at home in a Japanese anime film than a live-action film. It’s all still quite a bit of fun, but it didn’t quite hit me with the same balance that Fast Five did.

The film still looks fantastic and even though the action scenes stretch credibility in whole new manners, they’re still very entertaining to watch. I don’t think of these movies as being high art by any means, but they’re certainly high state-of-the-art in their technical aspects.

Returning from the previous movies, we have Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Godot, Elsa Pataky and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. There’s an obvious chemistry at work here and it certainly goes a far way in projecting this franchise’s definition of family. As I said, those of us who are fans of the series are comfortable with these players and the characters they play. They don’t really rock the boat a whole lot here, though there are a couple of little surprises.

New players this time around include Gina Carano, Joe Taslim and Luke Evans. Carano plays Hobbs’ new partner, Riley Hicks. Prior to this film, Carano is best known for her MMA talents and her starring role in Stephen Soderbergh’s Haywire. I think the absolute world of Carano, she’s always fun to watch and she doesn’t disappoint here at all, though with such a large cast, she doesn’t get the chance to be as showy as what she was in Haywire but still, she’s a welcome addition. Joe Taslim plays Jah, a member of Shaw’s crew. Prior to this movie, Taslim was best known for being in the Indonesian action thriller, The Raid: Redemption and I certainly thought it was cool to see his addition here and he certainly gets a chance to show his action chops in a nice scene with Gibson and Kang. Luke Evans plays Owen Shaw, the main villain of the piece and before this movie, he’s been in such films as The Three Musketeers, Immortals and The Raven. Most recently, Evans was in the Anchor Bay/WWE co-production No One Lives in which he played quite the twisted character, so he’s no stranger to a villainous role. Evans is pretty darn good here and I get more impressed with him each time I see him. This won’t win him any awards, but still he commands the screen and can certainly hold his own with the leads.

I really did have a good time with Fast & Furious 6 though as I said above, I don’t think it quite hits the same balance that Fast Five had. I’d mentioned the short-changing of the characters and part of that short-changing includes just how large this cast is, and added to that was that Shaw’s crew was pretty much, as it’s termed by Tyrese Gibson’s Roman character, the “evil-twin” version of Toretto’s crew. On one side, that’s really cool to see but on the other side, that puts this film as having just as many characters as a Tolkien adaptation but with only 130 minutes to deal with them all. Now again, I’m not expecting award-winning stuff here, but still something that grounds this more. It’s still a lot of fun, there’s a lot of thrills, but it’s not quite as “on” as what the prior film was. By the film’s end though, we’re left in a place that can return the series to it’s roots, and that may not necessarily be a bad thing at this point in the series, especially after the little teaser of what’s to come right as the credits get ready to roll. Even with my own issues with the film, I’d still recommend Fast & Furious 6 pretty highly, especially if you’re already a fan of the series. As I understand it right now, the seventh film in the series is already on the books for coming out next year, but this time around in the hands of director James Wan, who’s best known for the first Saw movie. It will certainly be interesting to see what comes next.

#1 Star Trek Into Darkness from Paramount opened at #1 with a gross of $70.2 million in 3,868 theaters.  Total gross to date is $83.7 million.  Budget was $190 million.

#2 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $35.8 million (-50.7%) in 4,237 theaters (-16).  Total gross to date is $337.7 million.  Budget was $200 million.

#3 The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros. fell from #2 to #3 with a gross of $23.9 million (-52.2%) in 3,550 theaters (+15).  Total gross to date is $90.7 million.  Budget was $105 million.

#4 Pain and Gain from Paramount fell from #3 to #4 with a gross of $3.2 million (-35.3%) in 2,429 theaters (-874).  Total gross to date is $46.7 million.  Budget was $26 million.

#5 The Croods from 20^th Century Fox rose from #7 to #5 with a gross of $3 million (-16.2%) in 2,373 theaters (-277).  Total gross to date is $177 million.  Budget was $135 million.

#6 42 from Warner Bros. fell from #5 to #6 with a gross of $2.8 million (-38.7%) in 2,380 theaters (-550).  Total gross to date is $88.8 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#7 Oblivion from Universal fell from #6 to #7 with a gross of $2.3 million (-43.2%) in 2,077 theaters (-693).  Total gross to date is $85.6 million.  Budget was $120 million.

#8 Mud from Roadside Attractions held at #8 with a gross of $2.2 million (-12.2%) in 960 theaters (+108).  Total gross to date is $11.7 million.  Budget was unknown.

#9 Tyler Perry Presents Peeples from Lionsgate fell from #4 to #9 with a gross of $2.1 million (-53.2%) in 2,041 theaters.  Total gross to date is $7.9 million.  Budget was $15 million.

#10 The Big Wedding from Lionsgate fell from #9 to #10 with a gross of $1.2 million (-51.4%) in 1,443 theaters (-855).  Total gross to date is $20.3 million.  Budget was $35 million.

#11 Oz The Great and Powerful from Buena Vista fell from #10 to #11 with a gross of $871 thousand (-19.2%) in 535 theaters (-239).  Total gross to date is $231.4 million.  Budget was $215 million.

#12 G.I. Joe: Retaliation from Paramount rose from #15 to #12 with a gross of $580 thousand (-4.5%) in 409 theaters (-341).  Total gross to date is $120.5 million.  Budget was $130 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $148.3 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise have successfully prevented the destruction of a developing world, but at a cost; violating the Prime Directive of the Federation and exposing their ship to the primitive culture of the planet. While the right and wrong of this action is being explored, a greater threat is developing. A major Federation London-based installation has just been destroyed in a massive act of terrorism committed by a rogue Federation operative named John Harrison. Now, it’s up to Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise to find and kill Harrison before further acts of terrorism can occur.

That is a real loose description to the premise of Star Trek Into Darkness, the follow-up film to 2009’s massively successful Star Trek from director J.J. Abrams. Abrams is back at the helm for this sequel and to say that I was impressed and satisfied with this film would be an understatement.

When Abrams first re-booted the franchise in 2009, I thought he did it 100% right; he took the classic characters that Star Trek is best known for (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, et al) and brought them back to the start of their careers, keeping familiar Star Trek tropes and giving them a new kick but still remaining true to it’s source. That plan is continued with Star Trek Into Darkness with further exploration of the relationship between Kirk and Spock as well as the rest of their crew, though it is somewhat lighter this time around than it was in 2009. There’s plenty of little easter eggs here for the long-time Trek fan (like myself) and some new takes with other facets of Trek lore, which I really can’t go into because that would involve some pretty big spoilers and honestly, I have no desire to spoil anything with this review.

The film absolutely looks fantastic from all facets; production design, cinematography, and the look of the cast. In 2009, I was pleased as can be to see the classic original series uniforms brought back and they’re still in play here, helping to give this a bright and colorful look, which sort of spits in the face of what the popular trend is now in the depiction of classic genre characters on the big screen and further… it still works. Composer Michael Giacchino is back with an excellent score that continues it’s original theme, punctuates the action in the right places and still pays homage to the original. I chose to see this movie in 3D and I thought it was pretty impressive 3D my own self. It’s immersive and in-your-face and at least for me added a little more to the world on-screen. Now with that said, I don’t think it’s necessary to see the movie in 3D to fully appreciate it, but I certainly enjoyed it.

The only complaint that I have about the film at all is just in the title. The addition of “Into Darkness” just seems there to be a marketing tool to tell newcomers to the series that this is going to plunge the series into a realistic grittiness that they want to embrace. But there’s nothing here that at least to me seemed to say that on say the same level of a Batman movie. This version of the classic characters are still very much in a formative stage with this film and by it’s end, it’s now capable to advance to new territory or at least new territory for this version of the characters. There is still very much hope and optimism here. It may not be enough to suit some fans, but for me, I thought it was satisfying and I can’t wait to see the next film.

A large part of the anticipation is due to this excellent cast. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin are all back reprising their characters from the original, as is Bruce Greenwood. One of my favorite moments in the whole movie occurs midway through the film and just features an exchange of dialogue between Kirk, Spock and McCoy and right at that moment, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban cemented the deal for me. they weren’t just new actors taking on the parts, they were the characters that I know and love.

New to this film are Alice Eve and Peter Weller and I think both are pretty terrific in their parts, but I don’t want to say more without spoiling things. Benedict Cumberbatch plays John Harrison and for me, this is my first exposure to Cumberbatch as I still have yet to see the Sherlock series. I was extremely impressed with this young actor and just think he’s destined to bigger things down the road. When J.J. Abrams makes the seventh Star Wars movie, he’d be wise to do something with Cumberbatch in that as well.

There’s certainly a lot of debate out there right now of whether or not this is “true” Star Trek and looking over the reviews section in the IMDB website, I see a lot of disappointment from long-time fans of the series. Well, I’m a long-time fan of the series as well and this works for me. It takes a classic series and gives it a bright new sheen while adding in a few new aspects (most notably, the Spock/Uhura relationship). By the end of Star Trek Into Darkness we’re left in a place where this series now has an opportunity to move beyond it’s initial starting point from being more Earth-centric and characters still in the process of gelling together. I’m eager to see what happens next. Very much recommended.

#1 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista held at #1 with a gross of $72.5 million (-58.4%) in 4,253 theaters.  Total gross to date is $284.9 million.  Budget was $200 million.

#2 The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros. opened at #2 with a gross of $50.1 million in 3,535 theaters.  Budget was $105 million.

#3 Pain and Gain from Paramount fell from #2 to #3 with a gross of $5 million (-33.4%) in 3,303 theaters (+16).  Total gross to date is $41.6 million.  Budget was $26 million.

#4 Tyler Perry Presents Peeples from Lionsgate opened at #4 with a gross of $4.6 million in 2,041 theaters.  Budget was $15 million.

#5 42 from Warner Bros. fell from #3 to #5 with a gross of $4.58 million (-24.2%) in 2,930 theaters (-415).  Total gross to date is $84.7 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#6 Oblivion from Universal fell from #4 to #6 with a gross of $4.1 million (-27.1%) in 2,770 theaters (-660).  Total gross to date is $81.9 million.  Budget was $120 million.

#7 The Croods from 20^th Century Fox fell from #5 to #7 with a gross of $3.6 million (-14.1%) in 2,650 theaters (-265).  Total gross to date is $173.2 million.  Budget was $135 million.

#8 Mud from Roadside Attractions fell from #7 to #8 with a gross of $2.5 million (+17.3%) in 852 theaters (+276).  Total gross to date is $8.6 million.  Budget was unknown.

#9 The Big Wedding from Lionsgate fell from #6 to #9 with a gross of $2.49 million (-35.8%) in 2,298 theaters (-335).  Total gross to date is $18.3 million.  Budget was $35 million.

#10 Oz The Great and Powerful from Buena Vista fell from #8 to #10 with a gross of $1.1 million (-49%) in 774 theaters (-386).  Total gross to date is $230.3 million.  Budget was $215 million.

#11 Olympus Has Fallen from FilmDistrict rose from #12 to #11 with a gross of $741 thousand (-37.9%) in 836 theaters (-796).  Total gross to date is $96.6 million.  Budget was $70 million.

#12 The Place Beyond the Pines from Focus Features fell from #10 to #12 with a gross of $705 thousand (-44.9%) in 669 theaters (-493).  Total gross to date is $20 million.  Budget was $15 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $152.1 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

#1 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista opened at #1 with a gross of $174.1 million in 4,253 theaters.  Budget was $200 million.

#2 Pain and Gain from Paramount fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $7.5 million (-62.9%) in 3,287 theaters (+10).  Total gross to date is $33.8 million.  Budget was $26 million.

#3 42 from Warner Bros. held at #3 with a gross of $6.1 million (-43.2%) in 3,345 theaters (-60).  Total gross to date is $78.2 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#4 Oblivion from Universal fell from #2 to #4 with a gross of $5.6 million (-68.3%) in 3,430 theaters (-362).  Total gross to date is $75.8 million.  Budget was $120 million.

#5 The Croods from 20^th Century Fox held at #5 with a gross of $4.2 million (-37.5%) in 2,915 theaters (-368).  Total gross to date is $168.7 million.  Budget was $135 million.

#6 The Big Wedding from Lionsgate fell from #4 to #6 with a gross of $3.9 million (-48.9%) in 2,633 theaters.  Total gross to date is $14.2 million.  Budget was $35 million.

#7 Mud from Roadside Attractions rose from #11 to #7 with a gross of $2.2 million (-2.5%) in 576 theaters (+213).  Total gross to date is $5.2 million.  Budget was unknown.

#8 Oz The Great and Powerful from Buena Vista rose from #13 to #8 with a gross of $2.1 million (+16.7%) in 1,160 theaters (-450).  Total gross to date is $228.9 million.  Budget was $215 million.

#9 Scary Movie 5 from Weinstein Company fell from #7 to #9 with a gross of $1.4 million (-58%) in 1,857 theaters (-876).  Total gross to date is $29.6 million.  Budget was $20 million.

#10 The Place Beyond the Pines from Focus Features fell from #9 to #10 with a gross of $1.28 million (-53.1%) in 1,162 theaters (-422).  Total gross to date is $18.7 million.  Budget was $15 million.

#11 G.I. Joe: Retaliation from Paramount fell from #6 to #11 with a gross of $1.27 million (-65.7%) in 1,804 theaters (-903).  Total gross to date is $118.8 million.  Budget was $130 million.

#12 Olympus Has Fallen from FilmDistrict fell from #8 to #12 with a gross of $1.2 million (-58.3%) in 1,632 theaters (-702).  Total gross to date is $95.4 million.  Budget was $70 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $210.9 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

In the wake of the epic alien battle in New York with the Avengers, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, is snow suffering from anxiety attacks. Stark’s eyes have been open to what kind of world he’s now in, and as such, he’s become a constant workhorse in making sure that the person most important to him, Pepper Potts, is protected. In the midst of this, the world is now facing a new threat in the form of an international terrorist called The Mandarin. Stark’s best friend, James Rhodes, has assumed a new identity as the Iron Patriot and for now remains the first line of defense against The Mandarin. In addition, Aldrich Killian, the head of a new company called AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) wants to enter into a partnership with Stark for his own mysterious means.

That’s a broad description to the premise to Iron Man 3, the first movie to follow in the wake of Marvel’s Avengers movie and so expectations are extremely high for this, maybe so high that no movie right in the wake can hope to meet them. I thought this was certainly watchable, but it’s flavor is quite a bit different from it’s predecessors in the Marvel movies. If I was looking at this as a comic book, this feels like a fill-in issue created to give the regular creative team a break, and the fill-in doesn’t quite reach what you’re used to.

And that’s exactly what it is, Jon Favreau is no longer at the helm of the film and this time it falls into the hands of co-writer and director Shane Black. Now Black is certainly no stranger to high-power action films, having written films like Lethal Weapon, The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight as well as having directed and written Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Robert Downey Jr. in the lead of that film. These are certainly entertaining movies, and all have a distinct flavor to them that’s been identified with Shane Black. Unfortunately for Iron Man 3, it feels more like a Shane Black movie than it does part of the Marvel series with an over-reliance on action movie cliches and dialogue that feels more written than actually spoken.

There’s a lot of comedic moments in the film, and while there’s nothing really wrong with doing that, doing it in a Marvel movie seems to me anyway to soft-pedal a lot of the threat. Everybody in the film (or most everybody anyway) seems to have the same sort of snarky flavor that just doesn’t lend themselves to taking any of what’s happening that overtly serious. There’s action movie cliches all around, with to me the most egregious being the use of the high-opera type of ending with hero versus villain and the girl in-between atop a very high structure. This cliche has been around forever, but first used in comic book films way back in Tim Burton’s first Batman movie, and used again and again since. I expect a bit better of the Marvel movies than to rely on this old chestnut.

Now to be fair, the action sequences and visual effects are really, really nice and certainly the part of the movie that still makes it very watchable. The only thing that I’m not really that thrilled with is the new design of the Iron Man armor that’s dominantly used in the film. Call me a traditionalist if you like, but I like the distinct look of the red and gold armor and this new version that’s mostly gold and chrome, just feels a little softer and ring true to the comics. It’s not the only armor used in the film and there’s a lot of versions here though that do owe to previous comic appearances and it’s a nice little easter egg for fans, but I don’t think it’s quite enough.

As far as the cast goes, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau all return reprising their parts from the prior movies. They certainly do what’s asked of them here so there’s no real complaints. The standout for me is Paltrow who actually gets to do a few action bits that are pretty entertaining.

New to this film are Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen (another scientist who works for AIM- again, there’s way more to her than just that), Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin and James Badge Dale as Savin, a bodyguard to Killian. Guy Pearce is smarm personified to a point of being cartoony, but to his credit, I think he actually excels in the action scenes that he’s in. The biggest disappointment to me though is Kingsley as The Mandarin and it’s for a couple of reasons that aren’t entirely Kingsley’s fault. Beware, I’m going to go into a couple of spoiler moments here, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph and proceed to the next. In the comics, The Mandarin is to Iron Man as say The Joker is to Batman or Lex Luthor is to Superman. The way Kingsley performs this character it doesn’t really quite have that much threat to especially with his vocal performance which sounds like it’s part Asian, part European and part Minnesotan. I don’t have any idea about why this was the chosen way to go with his voice, but it just doesn’t convey any sort of threat at all. In addition, there is a huge twist to The Mandarin here that just totally betrays the concept of the character as he’s been seen in the comics, so much so that it reduces the character to a joke and leads to another dialogue scene between Kingsley and Downey that again just deadens the movie.

I chose to see this in 3D and basically the 3D here is just OK and not at all complimentary to the film. Originally, I’ve been dodging all of the 3D versions of the Marvel movies because they’ve been added as an afterthought (at least to me), but I figured by this time maybe the film had finally been shot with 3D in mind. It’s just not the case here and if you choose to see this, then don’t even bother with it.

As with the other Marvel movies, there is an additional scene at the end of the credits and while this one doesn’t exactly look like it’s building towards anything what it does do is add a little further continuity between the movies which considering what they’ve originally sought to build here, is something that they’re going to have to stick with for these films.

As I said at the start of this, expectations are certainly high for this movie and maybe they’re so high that there might not be anyway that they could ever be met. After I saw The Avengers, I walked out of the theatre just with an incredible high and so you naturally want every Marvel movie to follow to at least come close to giving you that same feeling. Unfortunately, Iron Man 3 just doesn’t do it. Oh, I still think it’s watchable and it certainly does have it’s moments particularly with some great effects and action scenes, but it’s cliche-ridden script and jokey nature just don’t give this film any sense of threat whatsoever. I could see that with some distance, watching Iron Man 3 again might be a different and more enjoyable experience, but after this initial viewing, I don’t much have a desire to do that any time soon.