ALIENS - DREAMWORKS GETS ITS 3D PAYOFF

DREAMWORKS GETS ITS 3D PAYOFF

Monsters and aliens laid siege to the box office over the weekend, carrying away a $58.2-million loot. What's more, they proved that the 2D universe can be easily overtaken. Some 58 percent of that loot came from 28 percent of the theaters. And analysts immediately began speculating what the total gross would have been if DreamWorks Animation had been able to open Monsters vs. Aliens in the 4,000 theaters that it had planned on. Although reports last week had indicated that some theater chains were rushing to install more digital 3D projectors and that the film would open on more than 2,000 screens, the Associated Press reported Sunday that the final count of 3D screens was 1,550 (although Reuters pegged the figure at 2,080). In any case, the movie pushed the overall box office into the stratosphere, as its total came to 40 percent above that for the comparable week a year ago. Coming in a strong second was the debut of The Haunting in Connecticut , which grossed about $23 million. A third film, 12 Rounds , from World Wrestling Entertainment, hit the mat hard as it grossed an estimated $5.3 million to place seventh. The film, which was not previewed for critics, received caustic notices from those who went to see it over the weekend. Nathan Lee in the New York Times called it "an extremely frantic movie in which nothing of interest happens." Quite a few reviews said that the real problem was that wrestler John Cena lacks any acting chops. Maitland McDonagh in the Hollywood Reporter commented that Cena's "stolid seriousness sucks the life right out of any scene in which he's required to speak. It's a bad sign when you repeatedly wish a runaway trolley would silence the hero." But Gary Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times called it "escapist fun" and added that "it's not hard to get swept up in the crash-and-explode craziness of it all."

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers 1. Monsters vs. Aliens , $58.2 million; 2. The Haunting in Connecticut, $23 million; 3. Knowing , $14.7 million; 4. I Love You, Man, $12.6 million; 5. Duplicity , $7.6 million; 6. Race to Witch Mountain , $5.6 million; 7. 12 Rounds , $5.3 million; 8. Watchmen , $2.755 million; 9. Taken , $2.75 million; 10. The Last House on the Left , $2.6 million.

30/03/2009