KEVIN JAMES - KING JAMES RULES BOX OFFICE

KING JAMES RULES BOX OFFICE

Dumbfounding box-office prognosticators, Paul Blart Mall Cop , starring Kevin James ( King of Queens ), opened in first place with $33.8 million in ticket sales over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The film's take, which far exceeded predictions, helped lead the box office into record territory for a January weekend again. Total revenue was up a whopping 29 percent from the same weekend a year ago, according to Media by Numbers, with revenue for the month now up 25 percent over last year. Mall Cop' s victory pushed last week's winner, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, into second place with $22.2 million, although it dropped only 25 percent from its opening weekend. In third place was Lionsgate's My Bloody Valentine 3D. The film was not screened for critics, and surprisingly few of them went to see the movie over the weekend. Those who did review it agreed that the 3-D images significantly aided a movie that had little in the way of plot or performance. Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times commented, "From the moment you duck a flying mandible and gaze, mesmerized, at a severed hand oozing two inches from your nose, you'll be convinced that the extra dimension was worth seeking out." But Mark Olsen wrote in the Los Angeles Times , "The effects here can be startling, but after a while the minor thrill of the trick is gone. How often can the evil miner swing his mighty pickax straight toward the camera?"

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers 1. Paul Blart Mall Cop , $33.8 million; 2. Gran Torino, $22.2 million; 3. My Bloody Valentine 3-D , $21.9 million; 4. Notorious , $21.5 million; 5 . Hotel for Dogs, $17.7 million; 6. Bride Wars, $11.75 million; 7. The Unborn , $9.8 million; 8. Defiance, $9.2 million; 9. Marley & Me , $6.3 million; 10. Slumdog Millionaire, $5.9 million.

19/01/2009