Unnecessary Fame remake bombs, Bruce Willis pod people bom..

UPDATE 1-'Cloudy' again leads struggling box office
Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:02pm EDT

* "Cloudy" total rises to $60 million after strong hold
* Bruce Willis, Dennis Quaid films disappoint

* No fortune for "Fame" remake

(adds details on new movies throughout)

LOS ANGELES, Sept 27 (Reuters, KJIH-TV Media) - The family cartoon
"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" led the North American box office
for a second weekend on Sunday while another slew of newcomers bombed
amid crippling reviews and moviegoer apathy.

"Cloudy," a 3D animated feature based on a popular children's book,
earned $24.6 million during the three days beginning Friday. The 10-
day haul for the Columbia Pictures release stands at $60 million.

The film lost just 19 percent of its audience, dashing Bruce Willis'
hopes of taking the top spot with his new robot thriller "Surrogates,"
which earned $15 million. The standard drop for films is about 50
percent.

Columbia, a unit of Sony Corp (6758.T) (SNE.N), said the audience for
"Cloudy" broadened to teens from young children and their parents. The
film is based on the 1978 book by Judi and Ron Barrett, in which a
nerdy outcast invents a device that sends hamburgers, pizzas and
pancakes dropping from the heavens.

Some industry pundits had expected "Surrogates" to open near $20
million but the film's distributor said the opening was within its
broad expectations.

"We would love to have more but this is the reality of the weekend,"
said Chuck Viane, president of domestic theatrical distribution at
Walt Disney Co (DIS.N).

The opening is decent by Willis' modest standards this decade. His
last major release, the 2007 "Die Hard" sequel, opened to $33 million
but many other films -- such as "Perfect Stranger," "16 Blocks" and
"Hostage" -- did not even open in the teen millions.

Disney said the film received poor ratings from moviegoers, in line
with the rotten reviews. It marks Disney's first release since studio
chief Dick Cook was ousted on Sept. 18 after a poor run at the box
office.

"Fame," a family-friendly remake of the 1980 musical, opened at No. 3
with $10 million. The film is the first release of the year from Metro-
Goldwyn Mayer Inc., which had hoped for an opening in the $15 million
range.

The struggling, closely held studio said "Cloudy" co-opted its core
audience of young girls and their mothers. The $18 million film also
received low marks from moviegoers and critics.

The Dennis Quaid sci-fi film "Pandorum" did even worse, opening at No.
6 with $4.8 million. Industry observers had expected an opening in the
high-single-digits for the Overture Films release.

The studio, a unit of Liberty Media Corp (LINTA.O), said its "total
investment" in the $40 million production was well under $10 million
as it paid only for North American rights.

Overture did better with the new Michael Moore movie "Capitalism: A
Love Story," which earned $240,000 from two theaters each in New York
and Los Angeles. The tragicomic indictment of the financial system
expands nationally next Friday.

The sub-par performance of the wide new releases come a week after
another bunch of newcomers -- "The Informant!," "Love Happens" and
"Jennifer's Body" -- all suffered disappointing openings. Their
respective totals stand at $21 million, $14.7 million and $12.3
million.

Early fall is traditionally a quiet time at the box office as the
studios quietly clear out their weaklings while laying the groundwork
for their awards-season hopefuls. (Editing by Bill Trott) (Los Angeles
bureau +1 213-380-2014))

On Sep 27, 2:35 pm, Taylor <lukebenw....TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
> UPDATE 1-'Cloudy' again leads struggling box office
> Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:02pm EDT
>
>
> The sub-par performance of the wide new releases come a week after
> another bunch of newcomers -- "The Informant!," "Love Happens" and
> "Jennifer's Body" -- all suffered disappointing openings. Their
> respective totals stand at $21 million, $14.7 million and $12.3
> million.
>

I saw Jennifer's Body over the weekend. Not nearly as bad as feared.
It's an eighties slasher flick rejigged into the emo age. Cody's
attempts to create catchphrases are embarrassing (as are all
intentional attempts to create catchphrases) but you can almost,
almost sense that she's got something to say but it gets lost
somewhere along the line, which is to say I didn't find the dialogue
and strained-hipness in Jennifer's Body nearly as annoying as it was
in Juno. The plot doesn't make any sense but taken as it is, an 80s
horror retread with bad emo music replacing bad synth scores, then
it's a passable 90 minutes and Megan Fox isn't bad. It's going to go
down as one of those bombs that people remember being a bomb, an
object of dumb ridicule a la Gigli or Catwoman, mocked by people who
didn't see it, but it's worth a DVD rental at least.