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Nicolas Cage Knows Box Office Success

March 23, 2009

Knowing Nicolas Cage Secret to Box Office Success with $25 Million Bow

Love You, Man is sweet for $18 mil yet Duplicity may not repeat with only $14m

By Keith Williams

HOLLYWOOD, CA (RPRN/Hollywood Today) 3/23/09 — Apocalyptic secrets were revealed this weekend with Nicolas Cage’s Knowing opening 3332 time capsules to find an estimated $24.8 million lurking inside. I Love You, Man, the new comedy starring Paul Rudd embraced $18 million at 2711 male hug-ins, while the new Julia Roberts romantic drama Duplicity took a less-than-stellar $14.4 million at 2574 cosmetic counters.

Giving Nic Cage a far better opening than his last offering Bangkok Dangerous, this sci-fi (?) action thriller has a great trailer, an intriguing premise, and promises trash fans an early taste of the kind of fare usually reserved for summer. Reviews beg to differ, but then they would, rarely having the taste for such popcorn-crunching fare. While not up there with the grandiose opening figures of Ghost Rider ($45 million), it’s still a reliable enough start for Summit who crashed to the bottom of the mountain with Push after the spectacular debut of Twilight. Blu-ray sales should be massive.

Not to be confused with the forthcoming gay comedy/drama I Love You, Philip Morris starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, I Love You, Man features the ever dependable Paul Rudd in the kind of comedy audiences love to see him flounder around in. The spectre of Judd Apatow hangs over this tale of a friendless, about-to-be-married bachelor searching for a best man for his wedding, and a smattering of positive reviews suggests it is an Apatow film but isn’t. Appealing to liberal-minded straight men (17 and above) and their sentimental girlfriends, this could prove to have legs in the same way Role Models did - and at least it’s not one of those low-budget, sex-obsessed juvenile comedies Hollywood has been churning out of late like bonuses to AIG.

The world moves on, tastes change, who was once hot now merely simmers. Such seems to be the case with Julia Roberts, not really that long ago the sweetheart of audiences everywhere. Could it be the subject matter (corporate shenanigans, how… exciting), the title (duh, what’s that mean?) or co-star Clive Owen who doesn’t appear to be exactly drawing in the masses as much as studios thought or hoped he would. His last release The International didn’t set the box-office alight, but then, what has? King Arthur? Children of Men? Shoot ‘em Up? That thriller thing with Jennifer Aniston a few years back? He’s a decent enough bloke in a monotone kind of way, and combined with Ms Roberts’ sparkle could have meant box-office magic lacking in his performances so far. Apparently not, so expect Duplicity to quietly fade into the not-too-distant realms of rental, or turn up on one of those bargain DVD double-bills with Charlie Wilson’s War.

Knocked to no 4 in the charts, Race to Witch Mountain lost 46.7% of its audience to take $13 million, Watchmen plunged another 62% for $6.7 million, The Last House on the Left a 58% decline in diseased tastes to $5.9 million, and ever reliable Taken a 37.6% decline to $4.1 million (grand total - $ 133 million). Down at no 8, Slumdog Millionaire faded to $2.7 million by 46%, Madea faces parole on a 50% drop-off for $2.5 million, leaving Coraline at no 10 to say her goodbyes to her non-clay fans in the top ten by melting 21% to $2.1 million ($72 million gross to date).

Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Knowing (Summit Entertainment)
$24.8 million | 3,332 | $24.8 million | 1

2. I Love You, Man (Paramount (DreamWorks))
$18.0 million | 2,711 | $18.0 million | 1

3. Duplicity (Universal)
$14.4 million | 2,574 | $14.4 million | 1

4. Race to Witch Mountain (Buena Vista)
$13.0 million | 3,187 | $44.7 million | 2

5. Watchmen (Warner Bros.)
$6.7 million | 3,510 | $98.1 million | 3
Weekend Estimates courtesy boxofficeguru.com




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