"G Force' summer 2009 surprise biggest hit? Also comments on new Harry Potter.

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Anyone seen "G Force'? The animated live action film had shocked the American film industry to debut at #1 over the lastest Harry Potter film for the weekend ending July 26, 2009.

Here AP story. Feel free to comment on either "G Force" or the new Porter film. I may go see "G" force next weekend my:cool:self.

 

'G-Force' shocks Entertainment industry and overthrows 'Harry Potter' to top the box office.

 

Associated Press News staff LOS ANGELES(July 26) -- An elite squad of guinea pigs has worked its own brand of magic at the box office, taking the No. 1 spot from boy wizard Harry Potter.

 

The 3-D "G-Force" was the top movie at the box office this weekend, and thus shocking the entire Entertainment Industry. "G-Force' opened with $32.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney release from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with its mixture of live action and computer-generated animation, is a "Mission: Impossible"-style adventure. It features voiceover work from Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Tracy Morgan and Penelope Cruz as resourceful rodents.

 

Last week's No. 1 film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," came in a close second with an estimated $30 million. That's a whopping 61-percent drop from its huge opening last weekend of $79.5 million.

 

Coming in third was another of the week's wide releases, the battle-of-the-sexes romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth," which had a $27 million opening.

 

The sixth installment in the Harry Potter franchise has now made $222 million total, which is $14 million ahead of where part five, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," was after 12 days in theaters in 2007. And this week, "Half-Blood Prince" will start showing on 166 IMAX screens, which the last "Harry Potter" movie did from the start.

 

"So we're coming in with this one (in IMAX) a little bit late, but it's going to be a great addition and it'll keep our momentum going," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros.' head of distribution.

 

"G-Force" triumphed in a crowded summer marketplace with its combination of 3-D effects and the Disney and Bruckheimer brands, said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group.

 

"You never go into a situation where you're competing against two important movies -- the second weekend of 'Harry Potter' and the opening weekend of 'The Ugly Truth' -- you never go in cocky," Zoradi said.

 

The one-two of PG-rated movies reinforces the fact that summer is prime family movie time, and thus the summer movie industry is almost recession-proof said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "This summer is all about packaging and escapism," Dergarabedian said of the strong showing for "G-Force."

 

 

"People were scratching their heads and dragging their kids to go see this thing. They were watching the trailers with absolute shock going, 'Is that really happening?' But as a kid you're like, 'I gotta go see it.' This is a testament to the fact that Jerry Bruckheimer, like ('Transformers' director) Michael Bay, knows exactly what summer movie audiences want."

There also been some box office disappointments as well this summer, most notably the remake of the cult-classic Action-Thriller "Taking of Pelham 1-2-3" Starring Denzel Washington and John Travolita.

 

With $27 million, "The Ugly Truth" performed at the high end of Sony Pictures' expectations, said head of distribution Rory Bruer.

 

"The chemistry between Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler is a blast. It's really a lot of fun, everything we'd hoped it would be," Bruer said. "From sneak previews to word-of-mouth screenings we had on the movie, we knew people liked the movie."

 

Critics weren't so enamored, though: "The Ugly Truth" received just 15 percent positive reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes Web site.

 

"If I have a choice of deciding between what the audience's opinion is going to be versus the critics', I'll definitely go with the audience's every day, and they spoke loud and clear," Bruer said.

 

Also opening nationwide this weekend was another Warner Bros. release, the horror movie "Orphan," about a couple who adopts a little girl who's not nearly as sweet as she seems. It came in fourth place with $12.8 million.

 

Expanding in its second week of limited release, the Fox Searchlight romantic comedy "500 Days of Summer" made $1.63 million. Going from 27 screens to 85, it's grossed just over $3 million. The critical hit stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in an out-of-order tale of boy-meets-girl.

 

On the other end of the cinematic spectrum, the dominant blockbuster movie of the summer, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," is now the 10th-highest grossing film of all time with just over $379 million. The Paramount sequel made $8 million this weekend, pushing it past 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which made just over $377 million.

 

Dergarabedian said movies like "Transformers," "Harry Potter" and the R-rated, surprise-hit comedy "The Hangover," which has now made over $247 million, have kept this summer's revenues right in line with 2008, when "The Dark Knight" was all the rage. Overall according to analysts, most executives in Hollywood are very happy with ticket sales despite the worst global recession in at least 30 years .

 

 

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

 

1. "G-Force," $32.2 million.

 

2. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," $30 million.

 

3. "The Ugly Truth," $27 million.

 

4. "Orphan," $12.8 million.

 

5. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $8.2 million.

 

6. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $8 million.

 

7. "The Hangover," $6.5 million.

 

8. "The Proposal," $6.4 million.

 

9. "Public Enemies," $4.2 million.

 

10. "Bruno," $2.7 million.

 

c)2009 Associated Press, Inc.

 

Reactions?

[R32 3348]

rofl Orphan has the worst plot twist it's not even funny (actually it's hilarious). I watched HP6 and I didn't bother to take the movie seriously. The sixth book in the series hardly has any action so most of it is just leading up to the finale. I thought the movie was good, considering how it was interpreted from the book, except they did leave out a few parts...still, it was worth the money.

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rofl Orphan has the worst plot twist it's not even funny (actually it's hilarious). I watched HP6 and I didn't bother to take the movie seriously. The sixth book in the series hardly has any action so most of it is just leading up to the finale. I thought the movie was good, considering how it was interpreted from the book, except they did leave out a few parts...still, it was worth the money.

 

I have only seen the 'oringal' HP in full myself but is this series played out or jumped the shark?

[R32 3348]

I have only seen the 'oringal' HP in full myself but is this series played out or jumped the shark?

I don't know what you mean by jumped the shark (as you say, you went to high school with Moses :cool:) but the series is a bit overrated. It's definitely not UNDERrated. That being said, the series is still extremely good (definitely no Twilight). I know a lot of adults think the series is only for kids (even some of the actors playing the movie haven't read the books for this reason), but if you watch the movies you can tell that it's not.

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I don't know what you mean by jumped the shark (as you say, you went to high school with Moses :cool:) but the series is a bit overrated. It's definitely not UNDERrated. That being said, the series is still extremely good (definitely no Twilight). I know a lot of adults think the series is only for kids (even some of the actors playing the movie haven't read the books for this reason), but if you watch the movies you can tell that it's not.

 

 

 

"Jump the shark' is phrase used by tv and movie exces meaning that a hugely popular tv show and or movie series is near the end of its series. In other words i was asking do you think "potter' is running out of topic/story lines?/B]. If you seen the 1970's era classic tv show "Happy Days' it a reference in which Fonzie' jumped the shark literaly during the 1978-79 tv season and show popularity went down. "Happy Days" ended about 4 years later.

 

I not much of Potter fan(maybe an age thing is part of it)but as a little boy back in ancient late 1970's/early' 80's most tweens/teens like myself were into "Star Wars" and to certain degree "Star Trek."

[R32 3348]

So do you know these TV/movie execs too? Did you all have Moses lunchboxes too back in the 70s and 80s too? :cool: nah just kidding...

 

Well technically Harry Potter is about to jump the shark then. 6 out of the 7 books have been made into movies, and the 7th book will be made into two movies. The running out of topic/story lines doesn't apply because the storyline is continuous throughout all of the movies and it all ended when the 7th book came out two years ago anyway.

[Shortline Bus]

So do you know these TV/movie execs too? Did you all have Moses lunchboxes too back in the 70s and 80s too? :cool: nah just kidding...

 

Well technically Harry Potter is about to jump the shark then. 6 out of the 7 books have been made into movies, and the 7th book will be made into two movies. The running out of topic/story lines doesn't apply because the storyline is continuous throughout all of the movies and it all ended when the 7th book came out two years ago anyway.

 

Hey young man.

 

Moses is a great man. I went to high school with Moses. Moses was a friend of mine. Young man, you're no Mosess:tup::cool:(joking)

 

On serious matter, with the very good box office sales, at least here in US n middle of a terrible recession and still to be 'even' with 2008 record breaking summer according to AP story i am sure movie exces are happy.