I’ve been staying at a no-internet zone for a couple of days, so I’m sorry for the slightly lower update frequency. This also caused the delayed roundup, but it’s an interesting one nonetheless.

1. The Incredible Hulk: $74,919,370 ($150 million budget)
2. Kung Fu Panda: $50,218,801 ($130 million budget, second week)
3. The Happening: $40,267,349 ($57 million budget)

Continue reading The delayed last week’s box office roundup

Mike Myers is a big name in Hollywood. But just how big? The first ‘Austin Powers’ in 1997 opened with $9.5 mill, the last in 2002 with $73 mill. But can he carry a new movie (character) into the twenties? The Friday box office numbers for the $62 million ‘The Love Guru’ don’t say so. It made an even lower than expected $5 million this Friday.

Steve Carell is a totally different story. He began to make a name for himself just a couple of years ago. He starred in some hits (‘Little Miss Sunshine’) and some mild flops (‘Evan Almighty’). But most of his movies didn’t flop as hard as ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ by his weekend competitor Myers. The first numbers for the $80 million TV adaptation are good though. Carell opened with about $14.5 million in ticket sales this Friday.

The last numbers indicate a good weekend for Carell and a low point for Myers. The final estimates for the weekend box office are a meager $14 million total for ‘The Love Guru’ and a decent $40 million for ‘Get Smart.’ Based on its budget + marketing, this isn’t looking good for Paramount (‘The Love Guru’). Time for another ‘Austin Powers,’ maybe?

The best deals are made when both parties involved are dissatisfied. No winners, no losers. But while the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the AMPTP (the studios) are both stubborn and dissatisfied, no deals are being made. In the media, there are actually no words about a deal at all. Everything is about the lack of a deal, the non-deal. An anonymous voice in favor of the AFTRA (SAG’s little brother and recent new enemy) said the SAG isn’t seeing progress “perhaps because it’s been too busy trying to undermine the AFTRA deal to be able to negotiate one of its own.” Nice.

Meanwhile, the SAG still didn’t decide if they will go through with the strike’s authorization vote. And the AMPTP is getting ready to make the SAG a final offer, which they never did before the writers’ strike last winter. In any case, the recent progress seems to be minimal at best. With the strike date nearing, the studios are expected to pressure with these kind of messages. And emphasize the lack of flexibility by the SAG, while the SAG will do the same in return.

In the end, the actors will strike and most of them will sink even deeper below the average national income. Still thinking about moving to Hollywood?