‘WALL-E’ Outshines ‘Wanted’ For Box-Office #1 Debut
The Box-Office Top Five
#1 “WALL-E” ($62.5 million)
#2 “Wanted” ($51.1 million)
#3 “Get Smart” ($20 million)
#4 “Kung Fu Panda” ($11.7 million)
#5 “The Incredible Hulk” ($9.23 million)
Little boys like Pixar; big boys like Angelina Jolie. This weekend, both segments of the male population made their voices heard, and their mothers, wives and girlfriends seemed to have no qualms about going along for the ride.
“WALL-E,” the latest film from the computer-animation superstars behind “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles” and so many other instant classics, grossed $62.5 million to debut in first place. The tale of a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class robot in the year 2700 that may just hold the key to Earth’s future, the film features the vocal talents of Ben Burtt, Jeff Garlin, Sigourney Weaver, Fred Willard and Pixar veteran John Ratzenberger.
According to $51.1 million worth of theatergoers, however, it was Angelina and James McAvoy who were the most “Wanted.” The movie about professional assassins jumped off the comic book page to average $500 more per screen than the sparsely worded robot flick, and it achieved the feat on some 800 fewer screens, causing speculation that “Wanted” would have won the weekend if it had only opened bigger. Marking the American debut of Russian visionary Timur Bekmambetov, the film represents a rare box-office smash for tabloid target Jolie, opening larger than either of her “Lara Croft” clunkers ever did. Appropriately enough, a sequel is already in the planning stages.
In third place, Steve Carell’s hit spy spoof “Get Smart” proved itself as well-built as Hymie the robot, taking in $20 million more in its march towards the $100 million plateau. The film also managed the rare task of falling less than 50 percent in its second weekend.
“Kung Fu Panda” continues to kick butt this summer, as the animated film hung tough against its robotic competition for the family dollar. The Jack Black comedy is now approaching $200 million. Meanwhile, Mike Myers’ “The Love Guru” limped toward the far-less-holy $30 million mark, dropping to sixth place in its second weekend behind Edward Norton and “The Incredible Hulk.”
Rounding out the top 10 this week were “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening,” the lovely ladies of “Sex and the City” and Adam Sandler’s “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.” In its second week of limited release, “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” continued Abigail Breslin’s success story; the film once again did strong business, ensuring that the makers of the period film won’t be suffering from any great depressions of their own.
Check out everything we’ve got on “WALL-E,” “Wanted” and”Get Smart.”
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