Trade Roughage 12/17/07

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Was it star power? Strong reviews? The kind of holiday shopping climate that makes hiding out in a movie theater all weekend seem ideal? Whatever it was, I Am Legend bested all expectations this weekend, to take home $76 million at the domestic box office. That’s the best December opening of all time, stronger than any of the Lord of the Rings films. Meanwhile, from the Adding Insult to Injury File: The Golden Compass continued to disappoint, while Alvin and the Chipmunks scored $45 million in its first weekend.
On the “specialty” side: Atonement and No Country For Old Men rode their Golden Globe nominations into the overall top ten, landing at spots nine and five, respectively. Expanding to 140-something screens, Juno earned $36,018 per screen–more than any other film, and good for eleventh place overall.
Awards sludge: the Academy has declared 15 films, including the animated films Beowulf and Ratatouille, eligible for Visual Effects prizes; the American Film Institute put out their annual, totally unremarkable list of the ten best films of the year.
Is it even news, when Jon Favreau joins the cast of a film already starring Vince Vaughn? Apparently.

Christopher Campbell said 1 year ago
Shhh! If we don’t acknowledge the Alvin and the Chipmunks box office, it will go less noticed due to being at number 2. I hope. Actually, I’m completely expecting many sequels and more CGI versions of our beloved toons.

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