SATURDAY PM UPDATE: 'Dark Knight' Wins 4th Weekend In A Row With $26M vs 'Pineapple Express' $22M
SATURDAY AM: Friday's box office was a nailbiter, but Sony's Pineapple Express won the day with $7.8 million from 3,072. Warner Bros' The Dark Knight was close behind at $7.5 million from 4,025 venues. Oh, this is going to be a fun weekend at the two pics fight for domestic gross supremacy, and Hollywood emails are flying fast and furiously!
But the latest Batman installment should have a better Saturday and therefore take the No. 1 spot for its 4th straight weekend with around $25M, while the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen stoner comedy should end up with $23M. But Sony tells me that's a great outcome considering that Pineapple Express is R-rated with a negative cost of $27M and a 5-day total of $41M (after opening on Wednesday with a surprisingly hefty $12.1M). Meanwhile, Dark Knight can expect a gigantic domestic cume of $440+M by end of Sunday.
It's unclear what effect the Beijing Olympics will have on moviegoing for the next two weeks. Total box office looks to be down 20% from last year, but that may be due to the Wednesday opening of Pineapple Express and The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2 putting in $27M gross on Wednesday/Thursday rather than any Olympics impact. The No. 3 movie Friday was Universal's Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor which did $4.8M from 3,780 plays, down 68% from a week ago. It should finish the weekend with $15.7M and a $70M cume. Sisterhood 2 was in 4th place with $3.9M Friday from 2,707 runs for what could be an $11M FSS and a 5-day cume of $20.5M. And in the 5th spot, Sony's Will Ferrell laugher Step Brothers made $2.7M Friday for probably a $9M weekend. Universal's Mamma Mia! was No. 6 with $2.4M Friday for what should be an $8M weekend.
FRIDAY 2 PM: When there's a Wednesday opening, I'm writing the same box office news over and over until Sunday. Oh joy. So this'll be a quickie. Sony Pictures is hoping the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen stoner comedy Pineapple Express can finish this weekend in the high $20sM for Friday-to-Sunday and mid-$40sM for the five-day total. The R-rated pic is expected to finally knock off Warner Bros' uber-blockbuster The Dark Knight, which should earn $25M during this weekend. Meanwhile, Warner Bros' The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2, which also debuted Wednesday, should take in $15M for this weekend and mid-$20sM for the five-day total from 2,667 venues. Meanwhile, Sony was truly shocked that Pineapple Express is doing so well -- a surprising $12.1M Wednesday and another $6M Thursday from 3,072 theaters in North America. Guess they underestimated how well bongs and edgy comedy go together. (And the next time you movie execs or film agents partake of weed in the office, and a lot of you do, just say you're doing research.)
Oh, hooray. With the success of Pineapple Express it will mean a second summer to come, filled with pot jokes, masterbation jokes, homely guys bagging hot chicks and enough “F” bombs to make a nuclear holocaust look like a firecracker. Let me contain my excitement.
Comment by Original Joe — August 8, 2008 @ 3:36 pm
what “original Joe” said.
when will the Apatow express lose some wheels and give us a break???
Comment by ENOUGH ALREADY — August 8, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
Killjoys!
I’m sorry you’re so put out by a few comedies a year being made by somebody you don’t like. Eek. Sure, they aren’t brilliant films by any stretch, but they seem a slight step up from Sandler type fare… at least there are funny moments here and there. Just go home and watch your Criterion copy of 8 1/2 afterwards to balance it out.
Comment by ckn8 — August 8, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
C’mon guys. Pineapple Express is very funny. Plus its nice to see James Franco back in comedy. Don’t dig it, don’t see it.
Comment by john — August 8, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
I haven’t been out to movies that much recently, yes, I’m the guy who hasn’t seen Dark Knight. But the commercials didn’t thrill with excitment. Maybe I’m too old. I remember stuff from Ghostbusters to Ace Ventura to Rush Hour.
I knew a couple Pot heads in High School. Not that funny. I’m glad I never touched the stuff.
Comment by Alex — August 8, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
And I’m the girl who hasn’t seen The Dark Knight. Hi, Alex! (If you were irritated that Batman Begins’ music was so loud that you couldn’t hear the dialogue at times and that the movie was choppily edited, will you still like The Dark Knight?)
I’ve never seen anything Apatow has done but is it just me or does he seem to have a movie out practically every month? Isn’t he afraid people will get tired of him?
Comment by shelly — August 8, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
You know, watching an Apatow/Goldberg/Rogen collaboration isn’t so bad, watching them this often (ok, I was asking for it watching Superbad just last week) is problematic. So much awkward man-love humor, and the jokes are fairly recycled. I have nothing against them like some people, but rolling out two-men-in-love-experience-hijinks-at-insert age here…cannot keep rolling out at this pace. Apatow should vary it up a bit, work with McKay and Segel and some of his other people a little more. I could do a McKay movie, a Segel movie, and then a Rogen movie. But seeing the older, violent pot-enhanced Superbad…ONE YEAR AFTER SUPERBAD HIT THEATERS…just bothers me. Please Judd, slow down. Just a little.
Comment by Chris — August 8, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
It’s not as simple as “don’t like it, don’t watch it” - as the commenter above pointed out, it is one lousy Apatow movie after the next coming through the conveyor belt.
He has been dominating the movies and it isn’t right that those who don’t care for it are marginalized from the movies.
There are only a limited number of movies made, and for every Apatow movie made, or those of its ilk, another movie isn’t made.
The good thing is maybe moviegoers will burn out on this garbage and Apatow will get off the stage.
More importantly, this kind of sexist fare becomes acceptable behavior and it is NOT acceptable. If he used racist humor, his career would be shut down.
Apatow’s just another schmo making money off exploiting women.
At least if he were funny, that would be something. But he’s not.
Yuck it up, dudes.
Comment by A. — August 8, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Wow, what a bunch of fucking prudes you guys are. Thank god Pineapple Express is making a bunch of money. Please just go watch space Chimps again, pussies.
Comment by Average Moviegoer — August 8, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
Almost 50% drop from opening day..eem..troubling isn’t? No?
Well, if DK held spike on Fri & Sat gross, what we will have is a very tight weekend btw PE & DK.
My take is for DK to take the crown, and deservingly so. Time for the Batman to smoke out the potheads
Comment by Armand — August 8, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
Apatow’s last film was “Knocked Up”. “Superbad” and “Pineaple Express” aren’t Apatow films so to speak. He may have a hand in the production and maybe some of the writing, but he isn’t the director. Many other producers have had more films out at a time, but they aren’t marketed to that producer because usually it’s not a box office draw….Apatow’s name is becoming one. Anyway, my point is…stop your complaining.
Comment by Tyler — August 8, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
Alex & shelly–
You guys need to see TDK. It is quite brilliant. My 70 year old doorman saw and it and loved.
And he is not a “sueprhero” movie kinda guy. He heard the hype, saw it and as impressed as hell. It is more like a crime thriller. No lame CGI (although there are special effects, complex story and brilliant acting by the late Mr Ledger.
If you go see it and honestly hate it, I will refund your ticket cost via Paypal. I’m serious. I’m that confident you will like it. Just show me the receipt.
As far as Apatow, I don’t begrudge him one bit. I don’t mind his stuff and usually catch it on DVD. Being hated by nobodies is just part of being successful. No big deal.
Comment by Cartoons In Bed — August 9, 2008 @ 12:09 am
I wasn’t complaining, Tyler. Oversaturation is a legitimate concern for all celebrities/actors/people who work in Hollywood (think about how much fun people made of Jude Law a few years back when it seemed like he was in every movie that came out). Even the most devoted fans of Apatow-type movie are going to get turned off if they get churned out too quickly. I know Apatow didn’t direct them all, but it’s very easy to see his ’stamp’ on the movies he’s involved in. I’m not a fan or anti-fan of his, never seen anything he’s done and don’t care one way or another. I just think he’d be better off putting some more space between releasing these comedies because too much of the same thing, even a good thing, makes people tired of it eventually. IMHO.
Lol, cartoons, thanks for the offer but that won’t be necessary. I will go see it eventually; I was never a Batman fan so I’m taking my time. Although I was worried about not liking it because some of the production aspects of Batman Begins bugged me even though I liked the movie.
Comment by shelly — August 9, 2008 @ 3:22 am
All of the behavior in “Pineapple Express” seems to have been learned from watching Steven Seagal movies. Fortunately, the acting skills weren’t.
“Pineapple” has less on its mind than more ambitious movies from producer Judd Apatow’s factory (”Superbad,” “Knocked Up”), but it’s an entertaining little empty-calorie snack if you have the movie munchies. Its invariably-stoned heroes are a process server (Seth Rogen) and his pot dealer (James Franco), who get mixed up with bad guys and spend most of the movie trying to catch the crooks by using moves they learned under the tutelage of Seagal DVDs.
They’re nice guys and they’re in over their heads, which is where most of the film’s humor comes from. Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s screenplay isn’t as sharp about the way young men’s minds work as “Superbad” was, but the action-movie elements give “Pineapple” something different. And their dialogue has perfect pitch, as in a scene in which Rogen, exhibiting some of the neurotic bravado of Charles Grodin, is confronted by an evil-doer, and the only thing he can think to do is yell, “I hate you!”
It’s good fun, and the cast, which also includes Danny McBride and a squawkless Rose Perez, is perfect. If there’s a vague feeling of dissatisfaction from watching “Pineapple Express,” it’s probably because its creators seem to be repeating themselves (as a friend has suggested, what about a movie with a female protagonist for a change?), and it’s clear they’re capable of more.
Comment by Anonymous — August 9, 2008 @ 8:32 am
Cartoons in Bed, you are a loser.
Comment by HL Mencken — August 9, 2008 @ 9:29 am
I feel like many people leaving comments here haven’t even seen the movie, which is pretty retarded in my opinion. It’s like, “Hey, that hamburger at this restaurant looks like the hamburger at that restaurant down the street I ate at last week! What a rip-off!” Why don’t you refrain from stating an opinion about something you have yet to experience…David Gordon Green brings a completely different sensibility to the movie, it’s WAY more absurd than anything else Apatow has produced and the only similarity to Superbad is that it’s a “buddy” movie…2 protagonists running around together. The humor is totally on a different plain and when was the last time an Apatow movie had several long, huge action sequences? If it doesn’t seem like your cup of tea, no problem, it’s all subjective of course, but to say it’s a carbon copy retread of other movies when you haven’t even seen it is beyond lazy…
Comment by jd Kimler — August 9, 2008 @ 10:11 am
Apatow = simply not funny.
Dumb Apatow fans = hilariously defensive about being dumb Apatow fans.
Comment by Film fans — August 9, 2008 @ 10:18 am
The longer THE DARK KNIGHT stays #1 the longer its news coverage will last and the more people will be inticed to see it. If it does stay #1 again this weekend there’s little doubt in my mind that it will eventually get passed the 500 mil mark at the U.S box-office. Pretty impresive for this kind of Dark material.
Comment by entertainmenttodayandbeyond — August 9, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Pineapple Express has very little in common with other Apatow films. I looked at it as what happens when a better director and decent writer tackle the stereotypical stoner comedy and it was pretty entertaining, though nowhere near their best.
As for those saying the Apatow name is saturated, can you blame them? Look at what comedies have come out this year that weren’t Apatow. The only enjoyable comedies I’ve seen this year have been Harold and Kumar, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express (2/3 by Apatow), though I haven’t seen Step Brothers yet. Given the garbage everyone else is churning out, I wish Apatow would release more films. For all those that don’t like his brand of comedy, you guys can stick to Meet the Spartans and The Love Guru.
Comment by College Student — August 9, 2008 @ 11:23 am
Being a pothead loser isn’t funny. It’s almost as lame as the late night tv crowds that cheer anytime “pot” is mentioned…as if that’s something to cheer about. Lame. I hope Batman wins the weekend again. I’d hate to see a pitiful movie like that be the first to knock it off the top spot. Franco should pick better roles.
Comment by Chad — August 9, 2008 @ 11:55 am
First of all, I’m not a prude. I think pot should be legal. Secondly, I live fifteen minutes from where Rogan went to school. Vancouver treats the guy like he’s a genius, and he isn’t.
The saturation issue is what makes comedy like this so cyclical. The recycled jokes are getting old and the lack of originality is boring. These aren’t just buddy movies (which I happen to enjoy), these are unoriginal buddy movies.
I love a good action flick like anyone else. I don’t mind drugs, stupidity and humor, but when it’s the same crap time after time, I hate the fact money is constantly wasted on it and taken from movies that should be made.
Not all stories should be told…..over and over and over again.
Comment by Original Joe — August 9, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
It isn’t until you read talkbacks on forums that you realize how many jealous people there are.
Apatow this, rogen that. Not funny, recycled.
The poster above named Alex seems like a friggin’ square, and most of the people bitchin’ about Apatow and Co. probably haven’t even seen the film.
They are what they are. Genius? No. Good entertainment for a couple hours.
So many films are out in the world, from indie to blockbusters, that to waste time complaining about a producer making movies about potheads is pointless. Go make your own films negative talkbackers…
Comment by jake — August 9, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
To all the naysayers I bear one message in mind: TDK will cross the 600 million mark if this movie remains #1 for the forth week. People like me who think most of everything out now is just crap anyway can’t wait to see it again.
Comment by Alboone — August 9, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
Titanic got to $600 mil by being #1 for 15 consecutive weeks not just 4 weeks in a row. In fact Titanic was still #1 when it reached $500 mil.TDK will at best be #2 next week and could drop to 3rd or 4th place depending on how the openers do.TDK will probably be making less then $1 mil by weekend 10 and on its way to the bargain theaters so its chance of reaching $600 mil is zero.
Comment by Linda — August 9, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
“I love a good action flick like anyone else. I don’t mind drugs, stupidity and humor, but when it’s the same crap time after time, I hate the fact money is constantly wasted on it and taken from movies that should be made.”
This is a myth. You clearly do not know how Hollywood works, or you’re here and delusional and the only way you can rationalize your failure is by blaming it on the success of others. Are you saying Universal wouldn’t make an unrelated movie because Sony is making Pineapple Express? The only way in which your argument could have any credibility is if you’re saying Fox didn’t make a weed action movie because Sony was moving forward on this film. I’m not even sure that makes sense. What are you even trying to say? Thats there’s a limited amount of money in this world and the specific 35 million that was spent on Pineapple Express could have been spent on a different movie?
Comment by Anonymous — August 9, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
If TDK was crushing the competition and still breaking records in its 4th weekend then there would be a valid case for $600 million. But this is not the case, and it will definitely be dethroned next weekend unless Star Wars and Tropic Thunder bomb spectacularly.
Comment by Sandy — August 9, 2008 @ 8:51 pm
“Yeah, you know, I haven’t seen The Dark Knight, but I am sick and tired of it…”
Grow up. I would put $100 bucks that anyone that posts to an entertainment website has seen the second highest grossing film of all time.
Look guys, you don’t have to pretend you didn’t see TDK. I will still think you are cool if you admit you saw it and I will never call you a conformist.
Like TDK or hate it, just admit you have seen it - especially if you are going to participate in a discussion about it!
Comment by filmsnob2020 — August 9, 2008 @ 10:20 pm
A response to one of the previous comments… You know who you are: As much as I love movies that, you know, preserve my brain cells instead of killing them, I love comedies. But pineapple express wasn’t even funny. I mean how many times can they use the same damn story line? They could at least develope a new concept! I may be a prude but I have a good sense of humor. When apatow has an original thought trust me it will deserve the attention.
Comment by Taylor — August 9, 2008 @ 10:28 pm