JET LI - WAR -- IT'S NOT GOOD FOR MUCH

Lionsgate's War, starring Jet Li and Jason Statham, which many analysts had expected would be the primary contender for box-office honors, went down to ignominious defeat, taking in just $10 million in 2,277 theaters. Although the martial-arts saga was not screened for critics in the U.S., they entered the fray over the weekend and administered some devastating blows. For example, Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe wrote: "You could fill a small junkyard with the films Jet Li and Jason Statham have made separately. Perhaps to cut down on waste, they've teamed up for a single trip to the dumpster." And Peter Hartlaub in the San Francisco Chronicle warned that people from his fair city hoping to catch a few glimpses of it in a big movie should be aware that "San Francisco looks like Vancouver" (where most of the exterior scenes were actually shot).

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers:
1. Superbad, $18 million; 2. The Bourne Ultimatum, $12.4 million; 3. Rush Hour 3, $12.3 million; 4. Mr. Bean's Holiday, $10.1 million; 5. War, $10 million; 6. The Nanny Diaries, $7.8 million; 7. The Simpsons Movie, $4.4 million; 8. Stardust, $4 million; 9. Hairspray, $3.5 million; 10. The Invasion, $3.1 million.

27/08/2007