So You Know What Audiences Like?
That’s right, you guessed it, movies about Greek gods and Adam Sandler in drag.
Director Tarsem Singh’s “Immortals” with soon-to-be Superman Henry Cavil in the lead role as the mythic hero Theseus ruled the box office this weekend. Meanwhile, Sandler’s holiday comedy “Jack & Jill” with Katie Holmes clearly fulfilling some kind of obligation to the Church of Scientology, finished second.
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo, here’s the weekend by the numbers:
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Immortals | Rela. | $32,000,000 | – | 3,112 | – | $10,283 | $32,000,000 | $75 | 1 |
| 2 | N | Jack and Jill | Sony | $26,000,000 | – | 3,438 | – | $7,563 | $26,000,000 | – | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | Puss in Boots | P/DW | $25,500,000 | -22.9% | 3,903 | -60 | $6,533 | $108,809,000 | $130 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 | Tower Heist | Uni. | $13,200,000 | -45.1% | 3,370 | +3 | $3,917 | $43,900,000 | $75 | 2 |
| 5 | N | J. Edgar | WB | $11,470,000 | – | 1,910 | – | $6,005 | $11,569,000 | – | 1 |
| 6 | 3 | A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas | WB (NL) | $5,900,000 | -54.5% | 2,875 | – | $2,052 | $23,222,000 | $19 | 2 |
| 7 | 5 | In Time | Fox | $4,150,000 | -44.5% | 2,591 | -536 | $1,602 | $30,667,000 | $40 | 3 |
| 8 | 4 | Paranormal Activity 3 | Par. | $3,625,000 | -56.5% | 2,776 | -510 | $1,306 | $100,823,000 | $5 | 4 |
| 9 | 6 | Footloose (2011) | Par. | $2,735,000 | -38.8% | 2,215 | -596 | $1,235 | $48,876,000 | $24 | 5 |
| 10 | 7 | Real Steel | BV | $2,000,000 | -41.8% | 1,758 | -680 | $1,138 | $81,748,000 | – | 6 |
With “My Week with Marilyn” set to hit theaters soon, New York Times film writer Pat Ryan recalls a 1956 press conference in which Marilyn Monroe’s dress strap broke. And, yes, kids, that sparked a furor.
Here’s the nut graf:
“The Plaza news conference was Monroe’s first major appearance since she left Hollywood to study theater in New York and find more challenging roles. By 1956 she was seriously immersed in Method acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio and making plans to wed the playwright Arthur Miller. She was also serious about business. She negotiated a new contract with 20th Century Fox and started Marilyn Monroe Productions to engage in all forms of theatrical enterprise. “The Prince and the Showgirl” was the first (and only) independent film for the new company, of which she was president, and the vice president was the photographer Milton H. Greene. Her Fox contract had given her the freedom to develop her own projects. For “The Prince and the Showgirl” she negotiated a deal with the Warner Brothers chief Jack Warner and Olivier. Greene became the executive producer, Olivier the director and producer, Warner Brothers put up the money and served as distributor. “Last week there was persuasive evidence that Marilyn Monroe is a shrewd businesswoman,” Time reported in January, “apparent when Marilyn Monroe Productions bought a property to serve as a starring vehicle for its president, M. Monroe.”
Read the full story here.
