Weekend Boxoffice Chart

[Evil Avatar]

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe snatched the box office crown from "King Kong" during another fierce four-day holiday battle for the top spot.

Here is the Weekend Boxoffice Chart for the weekend of December 30th to January 2nd.


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe $32.8/$224.8
King Kong $31.5/$174.3
Fun With Dick and Jane $21.0/$64.5
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 $19.3/$55.1
Rumor Has It... $11.6/$26.7
The Family Stone $10.2/$46.2
Memoirs of a Geisha $10.0/$30.4
The Ringer $8.0/$21.6
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire $7.4/$276.9
Munich $6.1/$15.6
The Producers $5.2/$11.8
Syriana $5.2/$38.8

[The Iron Weasel]

I have to say I'm surprised king kong was surpassed.

[Cool AN]

I am surprised that King Kong was surpassed to.

[TheKeck]

Woot for Narnia!

I hope King Kong does well, though. I've done my part for both movies. :)

[Citizen Philip]

I liked King Kong. I can't think for the life of me why I'd want to see Narnia: Lord of the Rings has already been done, and it's better.

[SMES]

Lord of the Rings has already been done, and it's better.

I kind of felt that way about Narnia as well. It reeked of "Lord of the Rings Lite"

King Kong was a little too long in my opinion. Good, but long. I'm not sure what I would have cut, though. It was one of those movies where I found myself looking at my watch, but I still was enjoying the movie when I did. I couldn't escape the feeling that it was a long movie, but I didn't want to stop watching either.

[spacerat100]

kong was better. by FAR.

[bstiff]

surprised to see Munich on there considering it was such a limited release. Only 2 theaters near Cleveland and one in Canton were showing it this weekend.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Syriana needs to do better, great movie. Screw the rest, but I cant deny that I want to see The Ringer.

[Murtaug]

I also can not help myself wanting to see The Ringer, it just looks like a goofy flick I'd laugh at.. though probably a rental. I want to see Syriana, but I am not sure why. I have not read one review, I only caught the very tale end of a trailer on TV, and otherwise have no clue what it is about.

[Pnorcio]

I loved Kong. I never looked at the time, which is a habit of mine. It just entranced me. The Mrs. wasn't into it as much as me. :p. Speaking of which, I went and saw Rumor Has It with her a couple days back. She loved it, but it just reeked of skankyness and almost-incest to me. :confused:..

[spacerat100]

kong begs for the drink when things die drinking game. The larger whatever dies the more you drink. I wager kong is a mug of tequilla.

[Adam Blue]

I thought King Kong was terrible. The acting wasn't too great and I didn't care about characters that the movie wanted me to care about. Watching Kong was awesome though...They should have cut all the crap and just had him and the girl.

[Sloth]

The CHRONIC-What-CLES of Narnia!

[Oddmaker]

Kong and Narnia were both great movies i have to admit.

[Mason]

Kong is a great story retold in a moderately well-done movie. It could've been tightened up a lot. Despite the large amount of time spent on exposition the characters weren't well defined. Long scenes were invested in subplots that later disappeared sans resolution. Overall, a lot more could've been done to have the Jackson-originated material amplify the film's main themes, rather than muddle them. Worth a watch, but frustrating.

[Abash Alarmist]

Where is my beloved The Producers?!

Gah! Wo ist meine lieben?! Ich tanze und trinke mit der Gutentag Hop-Clop! Haben sie gehuert das Deutsche Band? Just keep it gay.

[GrinR]

MR PIBB AND RED VINES = CRAZY DELICIOUS!!!

hahahahaha I love it!

[Switcher]

Yo where's the movie playing?
On the west side, dude!
Well lets hit up yahoo maps to find the dopest route!
I prefer MapQuest!
That's a good one too!
Google Maps is the best, true that, DOUBLE TRUE!

[Morrolan]

Snack Attack, Mutha-fucka!

[fndarkone]

i think that movie places should charge based on the length of the movie. i hate paying the same for a 3 hour movie that i pay for a 1.5 hour movie.

also, i wont see kong in theatres becuase it is 3 hours long. i sat through all the lotr movies and while they were incredible movies i have no desire to do that again.

[gloogan]

I hated king kong, some of the special effects were amature in the way they were done. Kong and other animals looked good and moved well. Some of the scenes were redicoulusly stupid/unbelieveable. It was way to long i looked at my watch several times. I laughed at the movie for being so stupid at times more than I payed attention to what was going on. I also felt like they tried to get to many stories in one movie. It seemed to have many loose ends at the end of the movie.


Narnia was ok, there was potential for a great movie but it came up a little short. There wasnt enough back story for the prophecy that was so important. I liked it though it just needed a little more.

[Thin_J]

Chronicles of Narnia would be more entertaining if the books and story weren't just screaming "JESUS CHRIST! CHRISTIANITY! JESUS CHRIST! CHRISTIANITY!" over and over and over again.

Except that if you can see any symbolism at all, that's exactly what the story and characters do.

[megaman]

Kong was just 'meh'. Like a B movie..dunno what everyone else saw in it.

And if Narnia is another one of them light hearted feel good disney movies i refuse to watch it.

[KarmaGhost]

I saw Kong after Christmas and Syriana the other night. Kong's effects (most of them, anyway) were amazing; they really did a good job with Kong in particular and all his features and movements. I love Jack Black, but there were times when his acting made me think he wasn't taking everything seriously ("Serious" Black, lol).

I didn't enjoy Syriana at all, really. I love a good, complex movie, but there was really just so much going on with so little emotion... the Middle Eastern teens that were focused on didn't even speak English and they showed more emotion than Clooney and Damon (both of whom I am usually a fan of).

Oh, also, I should probably get my verse in as well:
"Two! no Six! no Twelve! BAKERS DOZEN!
I told you that I'm crazy for these cup-cakes cousin!"

[Expugnare]

I heard that The Ringer is for people with no soul. A friend (who enjoys a good retard joke) said that it was just wrong. It was just making fun of retards. He said helaughed towards the beginning but it just got worse until you were thinking, "Johnny Knoxville has no heart."

[Morrolan]

I saw Munich last week and it was fantastic. Should have been cut down by 15-20 minutes, as it is a LONG movie, especially for the pace it moves at, and some scenes felt unnecessary. But if you have a strong bladder, and don't mind too much about the RotK-esque multi-endings, it's a really, really good movie. Much better than I would have expected out of Spielberg, to be honest.
Manages to walk the line between being too judgemental of either side, and too forgiving. It's told from the perspective of the Israelis, but the Arabs (and noteably the individual terrorists,) are not shown as monsters AT ALL. Walking out of the theatre, I felt the movie was pretty much completely neutral on the Palestine/Israel issue, which was a very classy, risky thing to have done. It doesn't simplify the issue, so you end up seeing hte truly cyclical nature of the conflict, and that the issue of "who started it" is pretty fucking stupid.

[51|RandoM]

I liked King Kong. I can't think for the life of me why I'd want to see Narnia: Lord of the Rings has already been done, and it's better.

Ok, every time you think about watching a fantasy movie, just watch Lord of the Rings. Its already been done, so you never need to watch any other fantasy movie again.

Just do that for every genre, you'll be able to be happy with about 10 DVDs for the rest of your life.


Funny thing is, you mentioned king kong. Guess what? It has already been done... and the same story. Why did you bother going to see this one?

[Adewade]

Go see The Producers! Laugh like mad! Go! Do it!

Well worth your money.

[TrackZero]

Syriana needs to do better, great movie. Screw the rest, but I cant deny that I want to see The Ringer.

Agreed. I saw King Kong, Narnia and Syriana this week. Of the bunch, Syriana definitely was the best bang for my buck. I got right into that flick.

Ah well, it's all about advertising I suppose, Memoirs of a Geisha made more money this week. *sigh*

[TrackZero]

Go see The Producers! Laugh like mad! Go! Do it!

Well worth your money.

Sweet, I was thinking about seeing it, now I definitely will.

[screwtape]

I heard that The Ringer is for people with no soul. A friend (who enjoys a good retard joke) said that it was just wrong. It was just making fun of retards. He said helaughed towards the beginning but it just got worse until you were thinking, "Johnny Knoxville has no heart."
The funny thing is, literally every scene from the movie was screened and approved by the Special Olympics Committee. The makers of the film wanted to be sure that it wasn't overly offensive.

Sure, it makes fun of the handicapped, but apparently the handicapped make fun of "normal" people just as much. I haven't seen the movie, but read a few articles and interviews on it.

Narnia was entertaining enough. A more kid-oriented version of LotR. And if you aren't looking for the Christian symbolism, the story is like almost every other fantasy.

[Roc Ingersol]

... and all this time, I thought it was "Lionel Richie's Wardrobe"

[zyzyx]

Narnia's playing to the same people that saw Passion of the Christ 1000 times over. Kong's playing to the people who love movies.

The Producers, while entertaining, is inferior to the original in virtually every way. Broderick is just snooze worthy and feels like he's bored of the role 10 minutes into the movie.

Go and see: Munich, if it's on near you. Best Spielberg picture so far this decade imo.

[Citizen Philip]

Ok, every time you think about watching a fantasy movie, just watch Lord of the Rings. Its already been done, so you never need to watch any other fantasy movie again.

Just do that for every genre, you'll be able to be happy with about 10 DVDs for the rest of your life.


Funny thing is, you mentioned king kong. Guess what? It has already been done... and the same story. Why did you bother going to see this one?

Thats funny! It's that kind of attitude that encourages Hollywood to continue to make absolutely shitty movies based on any property you might recognize to make a quick buck: especially after the unusual success of a movie (or trilogy) in a usually unprofitable genre.

I saw King Kong after I had seen sufficient evidence that Jackson tried to characterize Kong as an individual or some kind of intelligent (?) beast: not the stop-motion monster that didn't do the original story credit. What I wouldn't pay money for is a monster movie about destorying CGI cities with a 50 foot tall Gorilla. I have no problems with CGI gorllia destroying cities, mind you: and I might pay for that if I was in the mood - but I'd probably wait at least til video.

I saw the previews of Narnia and all I saw was "CGI battles". I mean jesus, it has Santa Claus handing out swords and bows in it. I would imagine the "owners" of Carol's work are hoping that people latch on to the Narnia teat so they can continue to make movies with low production values, because heck, we already know Narnia has many sequels: they literally steal the entire style of another movie and just change the characters around and give it a new name.

[captainspankypants]

I didn't see Kong as "intelligent." I saw him as a gorilla. He behaves the way most primates do in the wild and to a lesser extent in captivity. We're not talking Congo here. Yeah, it's better than the stop motion, but it's a step toward realism, not a step toward intelligence.

And if you think Narnia=CG battles, you're only looking at the trailer. There's one battle, at the end, and it's pretty short. When the battle's going on, there's far more emphasis on the lion coming back to life and reviving all the statue people. The movie's much more like a fairy tale or something than LotR. I might compare it to Willow, minus the midgets.

And anyone who complains about me spoiling the end of a story originally written decades ago can kiss my ass.

[DirtyChimp]

At least Narnia is making a profit. it only cost 108 million where as King Kong cost about 208 million.

[Citizen Philip]

I didn't see Kong as "intelligent." I saw him as a gorilla. He behaves the way most primates do in the wild and to a lesser extent in captivity. We're not talking Congo here. Yeah, it's better than the stop motion, but it's a step toward realism, not a step toward intelligence.

And if you think Narnia=CG battles, you're only looking at the trailer. There's one battle, at the end, and it's pretty short. When the battle's going on, there's far more emphasis on the lion coming back to life and reviving all the statue people. The movie's much more like a fairy tale or something than LotR. I might compare it to Willow, minus the midgets.

And anyone who complains about me spoiling the end of a story originally written decades ago can kiss my ass.

I didn't want to say "Gorilla with personality" so I settled with "intelligent (?)" for lack of better way to describe the characterization seen in the character. I was pleased to see how far the ability for them to 'emote' onto a CG model. When they can show you a dragon, the complete long snout, reptile eyes, etc. and they can somehow portray the face as being: sly, wise, intelligent or wrathful without using words: I will be impressed.

I don't think Narnia is only CGI battles, I read the books when I was much younger. I meant "CGI battles" in the sense of a movie that is held together at the ripping seams by CGI monsters, jump cuts, etc. ie. parlour tricks to distract you from an otherwise medicore (at best) movie. I haven't heard/read a thing about Narnia that doesn't make it anymore than that.

[Librum]

Narnia is a family-oriented movie playing during the holidays. Of course it's going to make a lot of money. I also thought the symbolism was handled with a pretty light touch (just like the books) - so to compare it to a movie about a story from the Bible is pretty silly. But if you're looking to get offended by spiritual themes, I'm sure you can come up with something.

I am surprised at Kong's weak showing so far, though it is a long movie, and not something I'd think most younger kids would enjoy, both because of its length and for some parts that would be pretty scary to younger minds.

[doyama]

There's a facinating article on slate.com about how the studios come up, or in some instances make up, numbers for their movie receipts for the weekends.

http://www.slate.com/id/2133482/?nav=tap3

[TrackZero]

Narnia was entertaining enough. A more kid-oriented version of LotR. And if you aren't looking for the Christian symbolism, the story is like almost every other fantasy.

Yeah, I enjoyed the movie. The only odd thing I noticed is that they gave the 3 "good" kids all bright blue eyes, and the "evil" one brown eyes. I don't know what kind of message was trying to be sent with that....(I have blue eyes, btw, I still found it odd).

[Murmillo]

Watched Serenity for the 4th time today on my 46" DLP tv. Saved myself another $8.

[GrinR]

Watched Serenity for the 4th time today on my 46" DLP tv. Saved myself another $8.

QFT .

[TheKeck]

Yeah, I enjoyed the movie. The only odd thing I noticed is that they gave the 3 "good" kids all bright blue eyes, and the "evil" one brown eyes. I don't know what kind of message was trying to be sent with that....(I have blue eyes, btw, I still found it odd).

Did they digitally alter anybody's eyes to achieve this? Was eye-color a key aspect of the auditioning process?

I'm guessing this is a simple case of your common garden variety coincidence.

[Abash Alarmist]

Everyone should go see The Producers...It is the funniest thing to hit the screens in a long time.