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Monday, June 23, 2008
Box Office Hindsight: Get Smart stomps Love Guru
So this weekend was supposed to be the battle of the comedy titans. Call me crazy, but I see only one titan here.
Get Smart pulled off a very solid opening, just shy of $40 million, and it got a B+ from audiences polled audiences polled by Cinemascore, though it’s interesting that Variety notes it got the best grades from viewers 25 and under - the ones least likely to remember the original TV show. Still, I would not be at all surprised if WB tried to make a series out of this, and I’d welcome a follow-up. I’d also like to see the writing and directing be a touch sharper than it was the first time.
Meanwhile, that lapping sound you hear is Mike Myers licking his wounds after The Love Guru opened to a less than worthy $14 million, which means it wasn’t able to beat The Incredible Hulk or Kung Fu Panda. I can’t say I’m sorry to see Myers get taken behind the woodshed. I’m still eyeing him with daggers after what he did to the Cat in the Hat, and if anything The Love Guru looks even worse. The previews had turned me off long before the critics puked all over the film. Quite honestly, the B- Cinemascore seems kind.
Now, a question about The Incredible Hulk. If it’s really so much better than the 2003 film, why is the new movie’s box office performance so far pretty comparable with the older movie? The Incredible Hulk fell 61 percent - not quite as much as the first did, but that’s still pretty steep.
As expected, The Happening took an even bigger tumble, of about 67 percent. That means that among the M. Night Shyamalan’s movies, it will do better than Lady in the Water, but not as well as The Village - and that’s about where it deserves to rank.
Finally, this has nothing to do with box office, and George Carlin didn’t traffic in movies all that much, but I feel I would be remiss not to note his passing here. Looking over his credits, I was surprised to find I best remembered his performance in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and I completely forgot he was in Barbra Streisand’s The Prince of Tides. No comedian had a gift for language like Carlin, and that is what I will miss most about him. Read our blogger Mark Fisher to find out more about Carlin’s local connections.
Would you like to see another Get Smart? Did you actually see The Love Guru? And if so, what the heck for?
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