Nostalgia ruled at the box office this weekend, with a 3D re-release of 90s favorite “The Lion King” dominating the cinema world.
“Lion King” grossed an impressive $29.3 million, crushing estimates that had it pegged in the high-teens to low-twenties range. Even with its impressive hold, “Contagion,” the second place finisher, was still held back by a significant margin–it grossed $14.5 million.
Well-reviewed newcomer “Drive” was expectedly modest, launching to just $11.0 million. There were certainly no lofty box office ambitions for this one, although if the word-of-mouth does not produce a solid hold next weekend, it will be disappointing.
“The Help” followed in fourth with $6.4 million, positioning itself to cross the $150 million mark by the end of next week.
“Straw Dogs” and “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” the other newcomers, both underwhelmed at the box office. The “Dogs” remake was only good for $5 million and fifth place, while Sarah Jessica Parker-led “Does It” mustered an embarrassing $4.5 million.
This week’s MVP: Christina Hendricks
She excels with her performances in ‘Drive’ and ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’ and proves her talent and once and for all to those who can’t see past her ample cleavage, fuller legs and fuller backside. These roles are taking her to new places – less ‘Mad Men’ and more mainstream movies.
I would have liked to see ‘Stay Cool’ get a nationwide release. It has an interesting cast with stars who should be doing more mainstream movies – Winona Ryder, Sean Astin, Hilary Duff, Josh Holloway, Jon Cryer, Chevy Chase.
Straw Dogs marks the only return of James Woods to the big screen since An American Carol (2008) and it is so disappointing that they showed little to nothing of him in it and he didn’t promote the film. I wish he would do more major films like he used to.
I hope that Drive’s Ron Perlman only does theatrically released films from now on. He is an underrated actor and shouldn’t be doing straight to DVD films.