March 11, 2010

2012 Destroys the Competition

by Rebecca Pahle | Published November 16, 2009

Roland Emmerich directs 2012 (2009).

Roland Emmerich’s disaster flick 2012 took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, earning $65 million in its first week of release. Robert Zemeckis’ computer animated family-friendly A Christmas Carol fell to the number two spot, while The Men Who Stare at Goats, starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, held steady at spot number three. Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), which came out in limited release last weekend, went from number 12 to number four, and the Michael Jackson concert film This is It fell from number two to number five.

The British comedy Pirate Radio—called The Boat that Rocked when it was released in England—had a disappointing box office take on its first week stateside, earning $2.8 million and failing to crack the top 10. Fantastic Mr. Fox—Wes Anderson’s stop-motion version of Roald Dahl’s classic kids’ book—came out in limited release, as did The Messenger and Dare.

Next weekend sees several new releases, including New Moon, the second movie in the hugely popular Twilight series. A Christmas Carol will have to compete with Planet 51, another animated family movie, this one about aliens. Werner Herzog’s new film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans comes out in limited release, as does John Woo’s Chinese-language epic Red Cliff.