The Ali
Larter/Beyoncé Knowles catfight thriller
Obsessed
opened at number 1 this weekend with a $28.5 million take.
Calling to mind the "blank-from-hell" thrillers of the
'80s and '90s,
Obsessed
's "blank" is a temp and wannabe mistress, played by Larter
(TV's
Heroes
), who, after failing to seduce her coworker, wrecks havoc on
his life,
Fatal Attraction
-style (although this pic's gotten more
The Temp
-style reviews). Knowles costars as the Anne Archer-esque
endangered wife, adding racial overtones and
"oh-no-she-didn't" spunk to the proceedings. Despite the
fact that Knowles doesn't sing her ubiquitous rendition of
"At Last" in the film, the Screen Gems release still
manages to deliver a number of effective scares.
The Zac Efron comedy
17 Again
slipped to number 2 this weekend, taking in $11.6 million for a
two-week total of $39.9 million. Its 50% drop from last week
suggests the Warner Bros. body-switching comedy is headed for
less-than-
Big
numbers. Matthew Perry costars as the older version of Efron's
character, while the always hilarious Leslie Mann (
Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin
) plays his wife. Things get a little awkward for the Mann
character when she ends up developing a cougar crush on the
Efron version of her hubby. I'm sure she's not alone in having
age-inappropriate feelings for the well-coifed teen-beater, but
I'll take a Tatum over an Efron any day.
OK, if you don't know
Channing Tatum from the 2006 guilty-pleasure dance drama
Step Up
, trust me, you'll know him by the end of this summer, after
his two blockbusters-in-waiting,
G.I. Joe
and Michael Mann's
Public Enemies
, are released. Right now, the former Abercrombie and Armani
fashion model's not quite a household name, as evidenced by the
modest third-place finish and $11.4 million take of his latest
film,
Fighting
. Tatum stars in the Rogue Pictures release as a young
counterfeiter introduced to the world of underground (and
sometimes shirtless) street fighting by a seasoned scam artist,
played by Terrence Howard (
Hustle & Flow, Iron Man
).
The
Paramount/Dreamworks drama
The Soloist
debuted in fourth place with $9.7 million. Robert Downey Jr.
stars in the film as a Los Angeles journalist who discovers a
schizophrenic musical genius (Jamie Foxx) living on the
streets.
The Soloist
was originally scheduled for release last winter during awards
season. So far, results have been less than melodious in the
more lighthearted and light-headed spring season.
Disney debuted both its
new release label Disneynature and the label's first offering,
Earth
, this weekend for an $8.5 million take and a fifth-place
finish. The filmmakers behind the acclaimed BBC series
Planet Earth
directed this new nature documentary, which traces the
migration paths of four animal families. Apparently, Morgan
Freeman was busy, so James Earl Jones provides the sage
narration.
In six place,
Monsters vs. Aliens
frightened moviegoers out of another $8.5 million, bringing its
five-week cume to $174.8 million. The Paramount/Dreamworks
animated hit features the vocal talents of Will Arnett, Stephen
Colbert, John Krasinski, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd,
Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, and
Renée Zellweger -- basically, half of Hollywood should
receive lifetime residual checks from this thing.
In seventh place, the
Universal thriller
State of Play
entered a state of box office emergency, earning a mere $6.8
million for a dire two-week total of $25 million. That number
is especially low considering the fact that, individually,
stars Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, and Rachel McAdams have
proven to be viable box office draws. Maybe moviegoers would
have preferred seeing the cast in a state of fun, instead of in
a probing, adult thriller about journalists investigating
political crime.
Hannah Montana: The Movie
earned $6.3 million in its third weekend for an eighth-place
finish and a $65.5 million cume. Although
Hannah
may be dying a bit at the box office, its Miley-driven
soundtrack counterpart is currently number 1 on the Billboard
200.
In ninth place,
Universal's F
ast & Furious
stalled out a bit with a $6 million take. With a four-week
total of $145.2 million, the fourth installment in the hot-rod
franchise did finally manage to dethrone 2001's
The Fast and the Furious
to become the highest-grossing entry in the series (we'll
ignore inflation, because that's what Hollywood does when
celebrating earnings).
Jason Statham's action
sequel
Crank: High Voltage
landed at the hot bottom of the list this week, earning an
un-muscular $2.4 million for an $11.5 million two-week total. I
think this Lionsgate franchise is pretty much ovah, unless the
next one features Statham transporting something in the
nude.
Stay tuned for next
week, when we report on the already
available-for-illegal-download
X-Men Origins: Wolverine,
the Matthew McConaughey/Jennifer Garner romcom
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,
and the animated epic
Battle for Terra.
*Weekend grosses based
on studio estimates