NBC - FUNNY PEOPLE LAYS AN EGG

FUNNY PEOPLE LAYS AN EGG

Several critics on Friday indicated that Funny People isn't very funny. The same could be said for its box office results. Although it topped the box office, it earned only an estimated $23.4 million, making it the worst opening for a No. 1 film this year. Several reports suggested that it ended Judd Apatow's reputation as the comedy producer with the golden touch. It also represented another hard hit to Universal Studios, which has failed to produce a hit film all summer and, with corporate sibling NBC, continues to tax the resources of parent GE. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had been expected to increase business with its release on IMAX screens, ended up with $17.7 million -- at the low end of forecasts. Disney's G-Force , which debuted in first place a week ago, dropped to third place with $17.1 million. Perhaps the greatest disappointment, however, was 20th Century Fox's Aliens in the Attic , which opened with just $7.8 million, less than half what had been predicted for it. On the other hand, The Hangover earned another $5.1 million over the weekend to bring its total to $255.8 million, making it the third-highest-grossing movie this year. Overall, the box office was down a whopping 22 percent from the same weekend a year ago and bringing the total for the year below that of 2008. Attendance is down 4.4 percent after a striking rise at the beginning of the year.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo 1. Funny People, $23.4 million; 2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, $17.7 million; 3. G-Force , $17.1 million; 4. The Ugly Truth, $13 million; 5. Aliens in the Attic, $7.8 million; 6. Orphan, $7.3 million; 7. Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs, $5.3 million; 8. The Hangover, $5.1 million; 9. The Proposal, $4.8 million.

03/08/2009