February 12, 2012

The Proposal Cures the Box Office's Hangover

by Goldy Moldavsky | Published June 22, 2009

2009 Kerry Hayes / Walt Disney Pictures

Never doubt the combined power of two aging American sweethearts and one muscular Canadian. Not to call Sandra Bullock and Betty White old, but the two stars destroyed the younger, more novel competition with The Proposal. The romantic comedy (also starring Canuck Ryan Reynolds) took the number one spot at the box office with an estimated $33.6 million, the biggest opening in Bullock’s career.

On the other side of the new releases spectrum, Jack Black and the once hot, now increasingly hated Michael Cera failed to find an audience with Year One. The Harold Ramis-helmed comedy looked like a sure thing, but came in at an embarrassing fourth place with $19.6 million. Beating it were The Hangover, still strong in second place with $26.8 million, and Pixar’s Up, in third place with $23.5 million. In fifth place, The Taking of Pelham 123 finished with a distant $12 million.

Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, with Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, opened in limited release and made off with $266,162 at nine sites.

Next week seems to be a pretty sure bet with the Shia LaBeouf/Megan Fox-starring Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens. But there is some counter-programming with tugging-at-the-heartstrings fare such as My Sister’s Keeper, starring Abigail Breslin and Cameron Diaz; the period romance Chéri, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend; and The Stoning of Soraya M., an Iranian drama, which opens in limited release.