The Corpses of Movies Litter the Multiplex

So it really wasn't a good weekend for new releases.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT did do about $16 million, though that was below some expectations, and mediocre for this kind of movie. Solid, but not spectacular.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS did an impressive $5.1 million in only 564 theaters.

THE GAME PLAN and WHY DID I GET MARRIED? continued to do well. MICHAEL CLAYTON dropped only 32%, which is encouraging.

Otherwise, carnage.

GONE BABY GONE made only $6 million, despite playing on over three times as many screens as NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

THE COMEBACKS made only $5.9 million, averaging only about $2000 per theater. Awful.

RENDITION completely tanked, with only $4.1 million from 2250 theaters. Huge bomb. So was THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE, which despite playing in over 1100 theaters made only $1.6 million.

The biggest flops were SARAH LANDON AND THE PARANORMAL HOUR and the animated TEN COMMANDMENTS, which made about $560,000 and $480,000 -- averaging a respective $499 and $578 a screen.

If they had done five times as much business, they still would have been flops. As it is, they are two of the worst-performing wide releases of all time.

RESERVATION ROAD tanked on only 13 screens, while WRISTCUTTERS averaged an encouraging $12,000 each in three theaters.

What's the message learned this weekend? People don't want to see dour dramas, bad comedies, family movies without a hook, or cheesy-looking animated movies with Christian Slater(!) doing the voice of Moses.

******

I saw WE OWN THE NIGHT over the weekend, for one of the best/worst of reasons: the wife and I went to the multiplex to see INTO THE WILD, it was sold out, and WE OWN THE NIGHT was only movie starting in the next 45 minutes that we remotely wanted to see.

I liked the movie. It's melodramatic and hamfisted in spots, and Joaquin and Mark Wahlberg mumble too much, and there are a slew of dumb story points. But I got drawn into the tale anyway, and there are some great sequences here, particularly a car chase through the rain, which is one of the most visceral, harrowing things I've seen in a long time.

Worth checking out if it's your kind of thing, though the climax doesn;t really work that well.