‘Megamind’ and ‘Due Date’ Open to Huge #1 & #2 at the Box Office
Will Ferrell
Megamind has won the box office battle, debuting with an estimated $47.6 million. The R-Rated buddy comedy Due Date opened in second place with $33.5 million. Both films opened exactly within their studios’ expectations, and both having aggressive marketing campaigns throughout the last 2-3 months.
The 3-D animated Megamind opened ahead of this Spring’s 3-D How to Train Your Dragon ($38 million) but behind the 3-D Despicable Me ($56 million.) Megamind also touted one of DreamWorks Animation’s most impressive A-List casts, featuring Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and brief appearances by Brad Pitt and Ben Stiller.
Warner Bros’ Due Date continued the career acceleration of Robert Downey Jr’s box office dominance, Zach Galifianakis’ rising star status and director Todd Phillips’ role as one of comedy’s most influential auteurs. Reuniting Phillips and Galifianakis, the film opened well behind The Hangover’s $44.9 million opening, but in line with other R-Rated buddy films such as Step Brothers ($30 million), Superbad ($33 million) and the PG-13 The Other Guys ($35 million.) Phillips and Galifianakis will next reunite for May 2011’s Mel Gibson-free The Hangover 2.
James Franco in 127 Hours
In limited release, James Franco’s Oscar-touted 127 Hours opened in just 4 theatres, for a total of $265,000. Long-lines and sellouts are being reported, with many reports of some viewers becoming nauseous during the pivotal arm-amputation scene. Franco stars in the true story of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber who was trapped underneath a boulder for 5 days, with no choice but to cut off his own arm. The film made a whopping $66,500 per theatre average (by comparison, Megamind opened to a $12,000 average, and Due Date with $9,900.) 127 Hours will gradually expand nationwide during the month of November, with the next roll-out begining on November 12th. A full list of the film’s release schedule can be found on the Fox Searchlight’s 127 Hours website.
Funny. Mel Gibson was kept out of Hangover 2 because of his personal issues and what Galifianakis thought of them…what about Charlie Sheen.
Nathan: I agree with you. As far as I’m concerned Charlie Sheen needs to be ostracized from Hollywood not rewarded as the highest paid star. He’s a creep!!!
As for Megamind, my Mom plays in Farmville on Facebook and she said Megamind gave her some free stuff for her farm. That is an awesome promotion for studios and others should strongly consider doing the same!!
~Bonnie
Yeah, I am a huge ZG fan, from Visioneers to the Purple Dragon and Hangover. If he is seriously going to make a point to remove one of the best actors of all time from a small scene in a movie, and doesn’t complain about Charlie Sheen and his two minute scene. Ridiculous, it actually makes me mad. I’m all for standing up for what is right, but I think I would have the intent on being consistent about it.
I saw Due Date tonight, what a disappointment. I hope Megamind doesn’t disappointment as much as this one did.
Do Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson really compare? Mel Gibson has his rants against race and religion, but all I know of Charlie Sheen is his drug and penchant for escorts history - not very uncommon in Hollywood, unless I’m missing something.
Pru,
He abused his wife!! Not to mention there’s definitely something that happened with Denise Richards. The only difference with Charlie is that he has a great PR team that destroys his exes credibility and none of his exes ever released audio tape on him. Not to mention there isn’t photographic evidence of a beat down on Brooke Mueller like there was of Rhianna.
Truth is Mel’s biggest crime is that he was caught. If there wasn’t audio on Mel then this would have turned out much different. There are just as much bad people in Hollywood that are worse than Mel or just as bad, the only thing is they haven’t been caught yet. So Nathan’s right if you are going to preach about morals and integrity then you have to do it for EVERYONE not just pick and choose the one you want.
There’s a lot of Oscar buzz surrounding James Franco in 127 Hours. But back to comedies, I have not seen Due Date yet and that’s probably a good thing. I’ve kind of lost excitement for it because of the poor reviews and word of mouth, but when I do finally see it I will be either pleasantly surprised or get what I was expecting. As for Megamind, I’ll see it in the distant future.