Will Smith Is A Box-Office Legend His new film makes a squillion dollars! Source: Box Office Mojo
He is legend. ‘He’ is Will Smith, and although legend may be pushing it a bit, when it comes to box office figures, he’s not far off. Smith’s latest movie, I Am Legend, in which Smith plays the last man on earth, besieged by cannibalistic mutants, opened in the States over the weekend and set a new record for the month.
The Francis Lawrence-directed movie blitzed the box office with an estimated $76.5 million opening salvo, beating the four-year record held by The Return Of The King (which, of course, had built-in franchise appeal) and posting a hugely impressive per-screen average of $21,000.
You could possibly attribute some of the huge gross to Batfans showing up for screenings of the new Dark Knight trailer (and, on the iMax I Am Legend screenings, the first Jokerific six minutes of the new Batflick), but we’d be guessing that they actually made up only a small portion of I Am Legend’s audience.
Which means that this opening once again reinforces the notion that Smith is, right now, the world’s biggest movie star. It’s hard to imagine any other star – not a Hanks, not a Cruise, not even a Depp – who could have propelled this dark and occasionally gruelling action thriller to such heady heights. It’ll be interesting to see how word of mouth affects the movie, given some criticism in the States about its CG villains, but otherwise Smith seems nailed on for another $200 million picture, an especially impressive feat given that he really does dial back his usual Big Willie Style wisecracks for this movie.
I Am Legend wasn’t the only show in town, though. Fox’s reinvention of Alvin And The Chipmunks, with extra CG, extra attitude and extra Jason Lee, went through the roof, grossing an astonishing $45 million in its opening three days. No, really, you read that right: a CG/live-action hybrid starring blinged-up chipmunks and Jason Lee (who’s awesome but has always been box office arsenic) made $45 million in three days.
That’s five million more than the much-heralded and hyped The Golden Compass has made in ten days, which really rams home how big a flop the New Line movie is (domestically, at least – it’s doing well overseas). After a poor opening weekend last week, there had been talk that positive word of mouth, coupled with the upcoming holiday season Stateside, would drive repeat business for the fantasy movie.
Not so. In fact, The Golden Compass nosedived by a staggering 65% from last weekend, grossing just an estimated $9 million, for a $40 million cume after 10 days. If it keeps this up, it will struggle to hit $75-80 million – and suddenly the future of the franchise must be in serious doubt.
Enchanted and No Country For Old Men (and there’s a double bill you should check out sometime) also dropped from last week, but not too damagingly. Enchanted should hit $100 million in the next fortnight or so, while No Country – which actually went up a place on the chart - has now grossed $33 million. With a further bump sure to come from the Oscars, it stands a chance of becoming the Coens’ biggest hit ever, with Intolerable Cruelty’s $60 million in its sights.
And, finally, huzzah for Atonement, which upped its theatre count this weekend and, as a result, posted a 136% increase on last weekend. Its $1.8 million take was just enough to propel it into the top 10, for a $2.9 cume so far. It’s hard to say if its multiple Golden Globes noms helped, but if it bags Oscar glory, expect it to hang in and around the top 10 for sometime. And it’s only in 117 theatres so far, so we expect big things from Joe Wright’s lush romantic drama.
Next week, it’s Christmas, but that won’t stop things in the States. In fact, next weekend could be one of the biggest in a long while, as Charlie Wilson’s War (Hanks! Roberts! Politics, but don’t let that put you off!) goes head-to-head with National Treasure: Book Of Secrets (Cage! Bruckheimer! History, but don’t let that put you off!), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Depp! Burton! Lots of blood and singing, but don’t let that put you off!) and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Reilly! Apatow! Bad impressions of the Beatles, but don’t let that put you off!).
We can’t choose a winner from that little lot, but there will be blood on the streets of Hollywood before the weekend is out. Merry Christmas, everyone!
it was actually a good movie and at least worth a look.
second half gets a bit predictable and the ending is a bit sudden....but other than that i thought it had great set peices and smith was excellent. ... Read More
I think the majority of the success should be attributed to Smith. In fact, with Tom Cruise going mad, he is probably the number one box office draw in Hollywood. Really almost everything the guy touches turns to gold. I mean he even managed to get a silly Rom com like Hitch to nearly $200 million.
... Read More
....A really big action movie. Some of us are just not content to sit through yet more quasi-mystical-themed movies that are aimed at a family (kids movie) audience, what we want, what we need is something big, noisy and if at all possible violent in order to balance out all of the boring xmas tv and relentless turkey consumption. Perhaps this is why I am Legend has had such a huge opening, cos it's, y'know not for kids. ... Read More
With the exception of Wild Wild West (Utter shite!) & maybe Legend of Bagger Vance, Smith has pretty much been box office gold since Bad Boys. I dont think it would have much to do with Batman trailers before the film. Would that mean that some of them actually left after the trailer was finished? Nah, Smith as the last man on earth fighting zombie type vampires, who wouldn't want to see that? ... Read More
So I Am Legend being a hit has something to do with some fucking Batman trailer attached to it? Most Batman fans I know are not only very poor, they're also extremely lazy. They would never get off their butts, visit a movie theater and pay $9 for something that can be viewed free on their computer screen. I've never seen that happen. ... Read More
