Now Playing
By Steve Mason
November 22, 2006
Top 5 Kyle Gass Films – Domestic Box Office
1. Elf - $173,398,000
2. Shallow Hal - $70,839,000
3. The Cable Guy - $60,240,000
4. Evolution - $38,345,000
5. The New Guy - $29,760,000
All-Time Top 20 Movies About the Music/Music Business – Domestic Box Office
1. Walk the Line - $119,519,000
2. 8 Mile - $116,750,000
3. Mr. Holland's Opus - $82,569,000
4. The School of Rock - $81,261,000
5. Ray - $75,331,000
6. Purple Rain - $68,392,000
7. Coal Miner's Daughter - $67,182,000
8. The Blues Brothers - $57,229,000
9. La Bamba - $54,215,000
10. Amadeus - $51,973,000
11. What's Love Got To Do With It - $39,100,000
12. Shine - $35,892,000
13. Selena - $35,281,000
14. The Doors - $34,416,000
15. Almost Famous - $32,534,000
16. Get Rich Or Die Tryin' - $30,984,000
17. High Fidelity - $27,287,000
18. That Thing You Do! - $25,857,000
19. Rock Star - $17,008,000
20. The Buddy Holly Story - $14,363,000
Christmas With The Kranks opened on Thanksgiving weekend in 2004 and somehow managed to rake in $73 million. This awful film proved that even with marginal stars (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) and scathing reviews, a movie about Christmas has a certain built-in family audience. Along comes Deck the Halls (Fox), which will test this theory with even less of a movie.
I'm no Scrooge. I love Christmas and welcome good movies that celebrate the season. It's a Wonderful Life is the benchmark. Who among us can watch that final scene, with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in front of the Christmas tree as Clarence gets his wings, without reaching for a Kleenex? A Christmas Story from Bob Clark is still one of the best (I remember my Mom making me wear one of those bulky snowmobile suits when I was a kid), and Elf is a modern classic.
But when it comes to movies about suburban guys obsessively competing to turn their homes into the ultimate Christmas light display, I'll take Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, thank you. Although always a funny ensemble player, Danny DeVito hasn't headlined a successful film in a very long time and Matthew Broderick has rarely found a film role that showcases his unique talents (and this isn't it).
Dreck...er...Deck the Halls will not Krank out a big number this weekend. In fact, I say it misses the top five altogether. Look for $11-$14 million for the 5-day and $7-$10 million for the three-day.
Deck The Halls By The Numbers
Top 3 John Whitesell-Directed Films – Domestic Box Office
1. Big Momma's House 2 - $70,165,000
2. Malibu's Most Wanted - $34,432,000
3. See Spot Run - $33,357,000
Top 10 Danny DeVito Movies – Domestic Box Office
1. Austin Powers in Goldmember - $213,307,000
2. Batman Returns - $162,831,000
3. Twins - $111,938,000
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - $108,981,000
5. Terms of Endearment - $108,423,000
6. Space Jam - $90,418,000
7. The War of the Roses - $86,888,000
8. Romancing the Stone - $76,572,000
9. The Jewel of the Nile - $75,973,000
10 Get Shorty - $72,101,000
Continued:
1
2
3
4
5
|
|
|
|
Print this column
